Passenger rail funds stripped from House bill, remain in limbo

DES MOINES - Supporters of developing passenger rail in Iowa were not surprised that funds to match federal dollars for an Iowa City to Chicago link were not included in an infrastructure bill approved Monday by the House Appropriations Committee.

House Study Bill 220, approved on a party-line vote, removed $6.5 million of Rebuild Iowa Infrastructure Fund money budgeted to the Department of Transportation for the proposed passenger rail line through the Quad Cities.

The federal government has awarded $230 million to establish Iowa City-Chicago passenger rail service in 2015. It would pass through the Quad Cities, and there's talk of eventually extending it to Des Moines and having a route to Dubuque.

The committee did let stand $302,000 that previously was appropriated and spent on the link.

Rep. Dan Huseman, R-Aurelia, HSB 220's floor manager, said Gov. Terry Branstad didn't include the funding in his proposed budget. Branstad does not support picking up Iowa's share of operating costs, estimated at $3 million annually.

Rep. Todd Taylor, D-Cedar Rapids, objected to removing the funding, saying he didn't think Branstad had “slammed the door” on passenger rail.

“I don't think he's said, ‘No way, we don't want to invest at all,'” Taylor told the committee.

That's true, according to Tim Albrecht, a spokesman for the governor. Branstad continues to gather information on the project and funding options, he said, “with no final decisions being made.”

“His decision on the project will come after examining all of this information,” Albrecht said.

That's what Johnson County lawmakers are counting on.

“I don't think this will be an issue on the other side,” Rep. Mary Mascher, D-Iowa City, said, referring to the Senate.

In the meantime, Mascher said, passenger rail supporters will have more time to build their case.

“Whatever happens,” Huseman said, “will happen in the last few weeks of the session.”