Branstad: ‘Big, bold’ water quality plan may take time

DES MOINES - It's unlikely he will win approval this year of his 'big, bold” proposal to pay for long-term water quality improvements by extending a 1-cent sales tax intended for schools and diverting some of the money, Gov. Terry Branstad acknowledged Wednesday.

'Obviously, I'd like to see it all get done this year,” he said. 'Big things like property tax relief and education reform weren't accomplished in one session, so I'm also realistic about what's the art of the possible.”

On the same day, House Republicans instead got a peek at a plan to use sales tax money from metered water, as well as money from the Rebuild Iowa Infrastructure Fund, to begin a water quality initiative.

In his Condition of the State speech in January, the Republican governor proposed extending the Secure an Advanced Vision for Education sales tax - or SAVE, formerly known as the statewide school infrastructure sales and services tax -- from its planned expiration in 2029 to 2049 instead.

With the extension, he proposed diverting SAVE revenue growth in excess of $10 million a year to addressing statewide water-quality issues. Under his pitch, schools would get $20.7 billion for infrastructure otherwise paid for with property taxes and water quality improvements would get $4.7 billion.

Iowa is one of the leading contributors of nutrients that have flowed down the Mississippi River into the Gulf of Mexico, creating a dead zone where oxygen is insufficient to sustain fish and marine life. The federal government has required Mississippi River states, including Iowa, to develop solutions to reduce the amount of nutrients flowing into the river.

Although there is support for both outcomes of the governor's proposal, there is little support in the Legislature for coupling the issues of schools and water quality.

Rep. Matt Windschitl, R-Missouri Valley, who is floor managing Branstad's plan, said he 'will divorce the water quality issue from the SAVE fund.”

Several other proposals for funding water quality improvements have been offered, and Wednesday the House GOP caucus and Ways and Means Committee members were given a taste of one way to raise as much as $28 million a year for municipal clean water efforts.

House Republicans said Appropriations Committee Chairman Pat Grassley, R-New Hartford, briefed them on a plan to redirect sales taxes collected on metered water to a water quality revolving loan fund administered by the Iowa Finance Authority.

Money from the RIIF, the state's primary fund for infrastructure projects that draws money from several sources including wagering, would also be used.

Branstad has been working with lawmakers, including House Ways and Means Chairman Tom Sands, R-Wapello, who said the Legislature must address water quality before adjourning.

'We think that there's an opportunity to make some progress,” Branstad said. 'We may not get the whole big, bold, proposal that I presented, but I want to do as much as we can on water quality this year to show that the state is making a big, significant, long-term commitment.”

Legislative leaders are optimistic that lawmakers will at least make a start on water quality funding.

'Our goal is to do something on water quality,” House Speaker Linda Upmeyer, R-Clear Lake. However, like the speaker, Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs, stopped short of calling water quality funding a 'must-do.”

'We should have more than a year ago had allowable growth set for this fall,” he said, referring to school funding that was approved by both chambers Wednesday. 'That is a must-do by code. It did not get done.

'So there are lots of must-do things that still don't get done,” Gronstal said.

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