The point of contention is a proposal by Gov. Joe Manchin to freeze the motor vehicle tax rate to prevent a projected 3-cent-per-gallon decrease scheduled to go into effect next year. It also would prevent a 5-cent-per-gallon decrease scheduled for 2013.

The special session was supposed to wrap up Thursday, but now the House of Delegates and Senate will head back Friday because House Republicans refused to vote with Democrats to suspend the rules so a Senate bill with the freeze could be considered twice the same day.

However, Republicans noted Democrats could have instead moved an identical House bill containing the provision. That would have ended the session and perhaps save the state as much as $30,000 by not having lawmakers come back a fourth day, they said.

“We have a defective process of how we fund road construction and rod maintenance in West Virginia,” House Minority Leader Tim Armstead, R-Kanawha, said. “Continuing to do these (tax) extensions perpetuates that defective process.”

The wangling over the energy legislation added a bit of strife to what largely had been a politically mild special session. Legislators passed bills allowing cities to move away from an expensive pension system for police and firefighters, and allowing counties to issue bonds under terms spelled out under the federal stimulus bill.

The session began Tuesday after Gov. Joe Manchin called lawmakers to the Capitol to take up roughly a dozen agenda items. The Senate com

Manchin is pushing for the freeze because the states motor fuel taxes are based in part on the wholesale price of fuel. That price has dropped over the past year thanks to the economic recession.

Road funds in West Virginia and other states are struggling right now thanks to a backlog of maintenance and declining tax revenue as drivers cut back on fuel purchases during the recession. Delegate Samuel Cann, D-Harrison, said West Virginia maintains both state and county road, maintains sixth largest highway system and leads the nation in the percentage of miles it maintains.

Delegate Barbara Evans Fleischauer, D-Monongalia, said her constituents say that want better roads. “I think roads are an important issue,” she said.

House Democrats defeated two amendments to keep in place the tax reductions. Republicans, however, wouldn’t vote with them to get the super majority needed to suspend Constitutional rules so the bill could be considered again the same day.

The House adjourned until 10 a.m. Friday, at which time they’ll take up the bill.