Will Iowa ever fill its trust fund?

According to the U.S. News and World Report, Iowa ranks lower than over half of the states in water quality. Biological sampling done by volunteers through the Izaak Walton League at 150 stream sites across the state in 2022 found that two-thirds of streams only had poor or fair water quality.

These high levels of pollution have led to harmful algae blooms, fish-kills, human health issues and even caused a swimmer to die from brain-eating amoebas.

Watershed pollution is are causing many issues in Iowa. A watershed is an area of land that drains into lakes or streams, bringing chemicals and sediments into bodies of water. The most effective ways to fix watersheds include terraces and buffers to reduce pollutants reaching lakes and streams. Unfortunately, Iowa has too little funding for these practices. So what can be done?

The Natural Resources and Outdoor Recreation Trust Fund would be beneficial. According to the Iowa DNR, 17 years ago, an advisory committee appointed by the Iowa Legislature initiated a four-year internal and multistate research project that found that supporting the benefits connected to natural resources would be a feasible investment for Iowa, supporting agriculture, the economy, and outdoor recreation. In 2010, the people of Iowa voted to amend the state constitution to dedicate a funding source generated by a sales tax of three-eights of 1 percent, named the Natural Resources and Outdoor Recreation Trust fund (IWILL). This amendment stated that any time the Iowa state sales tax was increased, three-eighths of 1 percent would go to the trust fund, estimated to create $120-$180 million per year for environmental concerns.

From 2015-2023, at least five bills were introduced in the Iowa Legislature regarding the trust fund. However, these bills proved unfruitful and were pronounced dead.

A poll done in March of 2020 for the Des Moines Register found that increasing the state sales tax to fund the trust was supported by 76% of Democrats, 44% of Republicans, 59% of independents, and 57% of all Iowans. Republican legislators have opposed raising the state sales tax, believing that Iowa can’t pass a straight sales tax increase without reform.

This same poll found that Iowans highly valued the state’s water quality, with 62% of people surveyed saying they believe improving water quality deserves a larger share of tax dollars. The poll found many Iowans would support funding the Natural Resources and Outdoor Recreation Trust Fund as approximately 41% of the money generated, or about $61.5 million per year, would go toward water quality.

Despite being supported by Iowa voters and 85 environmental organizations, the Natural Resources and Outdoor Recreation Trust Fund sits empty after 13 years. Unfortunately, until Iowa voters make themselves heard and Iowa legislators change their philosophy on taxes and government, the trust will continue to sit empty, and environmental conditions in Iowa will continue to degenerate.

Samantha Szymanowski of Northwood is an environmental studies major on the social science track at Gustavus Adolphus College.