Gas tax bill introduced in Iowa

DES MOINES - Legislation that would raise the state's gas tax by 10 cents to generate revenue for transportation projects was introduced Tuesday in the Iowa Legislature.

Identical bills - one each in the House and Senate - were filed Tuesday afternoon, and subcommittee meetings on the legislation have been scheduled for this week. The legislation aims to address the state's estimated $215 million annual shortfall for road construction and repair projects.

Gov. Terry Branstad has been meeting with top state lawmakers in hopes of generating a proposal that will be supported by both parties.

'The results of all that hard work are in this bill,” said Sen. Tod Bowman, D-Maquoketa, chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee.

A Senate panel will hold the first meeting on its bill Wednesday afternoon; a House panel will meet to discuss its bill Thursday morning.

Bowman and Rep. Josh Byrnes, R-Osage, chairman of the House Transportation Committee, said that if the bills are approved, they could come before full committees next week and the House and Senate floors the week after. States nationwide are dealing with transportation funding issues as vehicles become more fuel efficient and people drive less. More than a dozen states are considering a gas tax increase, according to the liberal Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy.

Iowa's proposed legislation features an immediate 10-cent increase of the state gas tax, which has not been raised since 1989. It also increases the airplane diesel fuel tax and some permit fees.

Branstad and legislative leaders have said a gas tax increase will not pass unless it has bipartisan support in both chambers.

Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs, has said that means a majority of members of both parties in the Senate must pledge to vote in support of the measure. House Speaker Kraig Paulsen, R-Hiawatha, has been less specific.

Byrnes and Bowman said there is bipartisan support in all four caucuses, but they could not predict whether there is enough support to pass the bill and send it to the governor's desk.

'Factions of those caucuses (support the gas tax increase),” Byrnes said. 'It's going to be one of those game time decisions, I think, for some.”