BATON ROUGE - Lawmakers are considering whether to raise driver's license fees by $1 and deposit the estimated $2.4 million raised over five years into a veterans assistance fund.
 
The House overwhelmingly supported the measure by Pineville Rep. Chris Hazel, a Republican, in an 81-14 vote. But the idea ran into concerns Thursday in the Senate transportation committee.
 
Senators said while they want to support veterans, they objected to charging drivers a fee that doesn't pay for a service tied to that fee. They called that a way to get around taxes and said they didn't think boosting costs on drivers was the best way to raise money for veterans.
 
But rather than jettison the bill, senators recommended that it be diverted to the Senate Finance Committee.