Section 1

Suspends the motor fuel excise tax beginning the day after the act becomes law through November 30, 2026, setting the tax rate at 0 cents per gallon during this period. Requires a person to still file a return during this suspension despite the lack of tax liability accruing on the fuel.

Considers motor fuel or alternative fuel (exempt for dyed diesel fuel) as taxed during the suspension for determining (1) whether fuel is exempt from sales and use tax; and (2) the existence of a violation under the specified statutes concerning penalties for highway use of dyed diesel or other non‑tax‑paid fuel, civil penalty for buying or selling non‑tax‑paid motor fuel, and for using or dispensing non-tax-paid fuel.

Specifies that the suspension period is disregarded for the purposes of calculating the 2027 motor fuel excise tax rate.

Specifies that the following apply during the suspension period: (1) the cost of motor fuel does not include the amount of motor fuel tax that would have otherwise been included but for the suspension so that the price per gallon paid by the consumer reflects the savings due to the suspension of the tax; and (2) retailers are not required to reduce the price per gallon if the cost includes the motor fuel excise tax because the tax accrued before the effective date of the tax suspension.

Requires the Secretary of Revenue (Secretary) to monthly inform the State Controller of, who must then transfer, the hold harmless amounts from the Stabilization and Inflation Reserve to the following funds and accounts: (1) Highway Fund; (2) Highway Trust Fund; (3) Commercial Leaking Petroleum Underground Storage Tank Cleanup Fund; (4) Water and Air Quality Account; (5) Wildlife Resources Fund; and (6) Shallow Draft Navigation Channel Dredging and Aquatic Weed Fund. Specifies that the hold harmless amounts are the distribution those funds and accounts would have received under GS 105-449.125 and GS 105-449.126 if not for the fuel tax suspension.

Section 2

Prohibits the Secretary, upon the act’s effective date and through December 31, 2026, from imposing a civil or criminal penalty under the specified statues against (1) a person who uses dyed diesel fuel for farming or agricultural purposes in a highway vehicle that is licensed or required to be licensed under GS Chapter 20 or (2) a person who dispenses, or allows to be dispensed, dyed diesel fuel into the supply tank of a highway vehicle. Defines farming or agricultural purposes as including crop cultivation, livestock rearing, forestry, aquaculture, and related agribusiness activities.  

Section 3

Prohibits the accruing of tax liability from October 1, 2026, through December 31, 2026, for a person who uses dyed diesel fuel to operate a licensed highway vehicle if they have been issued an exemption certificate by the Department of Revenue as a qualifying farmer, a conditional farmer, a commercial logger, a commercial fisherman, or a wildlife manager; requires these individuals to still file a return despite no tax liability accruing.

Section 4

Requires the Department of Revenue, in coordination with the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, to endeavor to notify people with an obligation to collect or remit motor fuel tax, person who sell motor fuel at retail, and persons covered by Sections 2 and 3 above of this act’s provisions as soon as possible when it becomes law.