Legislature moves forward on transportation this week

DES MOINES - Transportation hot-button issues will move into the fast lane at the Iowa Legislature this week.

Gov. Terry Branstad is slated to outline the efficiencies and cost-saving measures the state Department of Transportation has come up with in an effort to free up $50 million in funds that can be redirected to highway and bridge projects. Department Director Paul Trombino is expected to join the governor Tuesday to discuss the proposed changes as part of Transportation Day activities at the state Capitol complex.

Rep. David Tjepkes, R-Gowrie, chairman of the House Transportation Committee, said that report will be of special interest to legislators who are crafting a bipartisan plan aimed at raising more than $200 million annually in extra revenue. The money is meant to address critical transportation needs that aren't being covered by the state road use tax fund.

The governor had directed Trombino to identify at least $50 million in administrative savings and efficiencies to aid in that effort. Tjepkes said however much money the department can come up with would lower the amount of an eventual state gas tax increase, which might be needed to cover a projected shortfall in state and federal transportation aid.

Tjepkes and Sen. Tom Rielly, D-Oskaloosa, chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, have proposed a plan that would raise some vehicle registration fees and calls for an 8-cent motor fuel tax increase to be phased in over two years beginning in 2013. The package would raise about $180 million a year when fully implemented.

Tjepkes said the changes to vehicle registration fees have run into some resistance, but it's possible that money could be supplanted by the transportation department's savings. Alternatively, the proposed gas tax increase might be revamped upward to 5 cents per gallon beginning Jan. 1, 2013, and another 5 cents on Jan. 1, 2014, depending on what's announced Tuesday.

“That could possibly affect the totals,” Tjepkes said. “We're looking at the equivalency of a 10-cent gas tax increase.”

Nancy Richardson and Allen Thoms are co-leaders of a citizens' task force that conducted public hearings before recommending gas tax and vehicle registration fee increases among ways to generate more revenue for roads and bridges. Tjepkes expects to have the pair present their findings to legislators before his panel would start work on a bill that would include the proposed tax and fee increases this session.

Consumers in Iowa are now assessed taxes of 21 cents per gallon for regular gasoline, 19 cents per gallon for ethanol-blended gasoline and 22.5 cents per gallon for diesel fuel. Officials project that each 1-cent increase to the state gas tax would raise about $22 million a year.

Iowans for Tax Relief, a Muscatine-based group that is influential with Republicans, issued a statement last week encouraging its members to urge their local legislators to oppose a gas tax increase. The group pointed out that gas prices themselves are expected to rise, and it suggested that consumers from communities bordering Iowa would rethink their trips into the state if the higher gas tax went into effect.

Traffic cameras

On another transportation-related legislative front, a House subcommittee tentatively is slated Wednesday to begin discussing a proposal sponsored by 24 House Republicans to prohibit traffic-monitoring cameras and to have all automated enforcement equipment removed from Iowa roadways by July 1.

“I think there's a lot of will and a lot of desire to go down this route,” said Rep. Walt Rogers, R-Cedar Falls, lead sponsor of House File 2048 and chairman of the three-member subcommittee that will give the measure its initial legislative look this week. “To me I think it's just because Iowans don't like the surveillance-camera culture.”

Branstad said last week that he would sign legislation to ban the traffic-monitoring devices - which are in use in Cedar Rapids and other communities around the state - if the General Assembly sent him a bill this session.

Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs, who voted against the ban when the issue came before the Senate last session, said the presence of more cameras around Iowa “obviously gets more people excited about them” and there are “conflicting views” on the issue.

“We'll have to wait and see what the consensus is,” he said. “I personally continue believe that if you don't want to get a ticket for running a stop light, you probably should stop running stop lights.”

Other topics this week

• Separate House and Senate committees dealing with natural resources issues are expected to consider a joint resolution nullifying an administrative rule adopted by the state Natural Resources Commission last year that prohibited the use of ammunition containing lead for hunting mourning doves. The proposed change was sought by the Legislature's Administrative Rules Review Committee, which concluded the commission overstepped its authority and went beyond legislative intent by adopting a lead-shot ban.
• A House Education subcommittee is slated to continue work on Branstad's 156-page education reform package.
• The House Ways and Means Committee is slated to tackle another session priority - easing commercial property tax burdens while avoiding shifts or increases to residential or agricultural property classes and preventing local governments from taking a revenue hit in the process.