Gas tax hike is ruled out in Senate

“The Senate has already voted against that,’’ Murray told reporters after Patrick signed a bill overhauling state ethics laws. Asked whether the Senate would revisit it, she gave an emphatic no.

Patrick said Monday that a future boost in the gasoline tax might be needed to put the state’s transportation network on sounder financial footing. His aides have since said that there are no current plans to raise the tax.

The Legislature has been cool to the idea of raising the gas tax in the past, deciding instead to dedicate a portion of revenue from a sales tax increase that takes effect next month, an estimated $275 million annually, to help offset toll increases, improve regional transit, and alleviate some of the financial strain on the MBTA.

“A gas tax is not going to pass in the near future, in the House or the Senate,’’ said state Representative Charles A. Murphy, chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means, though he conceded that the state might eventually need a new source of transportation revenue.

Aides said Patrick will not advocate for a gas tax increase in the foreseeable future.

“The governor is not pushing for a gas tax or any other broad-based tax increase, and won’t sign one as long as the recession continues,’’ said spokesman Kyle Sullivan. “People are struggling right now. Another broad-based tax, in the governor’s opinion, is too much to ask of people right now.’’

Still, Sullivan reiterated Patrick’s belief that $275 million from the sales tax increase might be insufficient. “He has been candid with people from the outset that the Legislature’s sales tax increase is not a permanent fix for transportation,’’ Sullivan said.

In signing the ethics bill yesterday, Patrick was joined by Murray and House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo. Patrick singled out three people for their work: Ben Clements, his chief legal counsel; House majority leader James Vallee; and DeLeo.

Notably absent from his thank you list was anyone from the Senate, with whose leaders the governor has had rocky relations.

“My hope is that with the passage of this law, we will restore the public’s confidence in government,’’ DeLeo said.

The ethics overhaul, which follows a series of scandals on Beacon Hill, is one of a group of bills that have dominated discussion at the State House over the past few months.

Patrick and the Legislature have also approved major revisions in state pension and transportation laws.

On Monday, Patrick signed a $27 billion budget that includes more than $1 billion in new taxes, including an increase in the state’s 5 percent sales tax to 6.25 percent starting Aug. 1.