By Bob Katzen

House 149-4, Senate 37-0, approved an amendment imposing a $2 tax on car rentals to fund municipal police training.

Amendment supporters said the small fee would raise up to $10 million annually for this fund established by the criminal justice law signed by Gov. Charlie Baker last month.

“Over the past few years, the role of police officers in our country has changed,” said Rep. David Linsky (D-Natick). “We are continually asking more and more of the men and women who risk their lives to protect us, without providing the funding they need to ensure adequate training. We need a consistent revenue source – not reliant on language passing in the state’s budget – to ensure that our police officers are trained in the ever-evolving roles we are assigning to them.”

“I am a strong supporter our police,” said Rep. Shauna O’Connell (R-Taunton). “State revenue is $809 above expected projections. We don’t need to create a new fee to fund police training. This legislation is just another money grab from hard-working people.”