Iowa House panel rejects bonds to fund building upgrades

DES MOINES - The Iowa House Appropriations Committee approved an $89.6 million infrastructure spending plan Thursday that is $19 million less than what the Senate approved a day earlier.

A major difference is that House majority Republicans rejected bonding to finance improvements at the Wallace State Office Building, the State Historical Building and the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy. The Senate plan called for borrowing $110 million to upgrade the three buildings.

Floor manager Rep. Dan Huseman, R-Aurelia, said the GOP is committed to operating on a pay-as-you-go basis.

'My position is that we've been able to do things on a pay-as-you-go basis, and I don't think we need to change that,” he said.

Also Thursday, the House approved a $1 billion higher education budget, after amending it to increase private college tuition assistance.

Sen. Matt McCoy, D-Des Moines, chairman of the Senate Transportation, Infrastructure and Capital Appropriations Committee, included bonding in the Senate plan, approved 27-23 on Wednesday, because pay-as-you-go isn't always possible.

'If we don't bond, there's no money,” he said of the building projects. 'They just continue to deteriorate.”

However, Huseman said repaying bonds for Vision Iowa and former Democratic Gov. Chet Culver's I-JOBS program costs about $70 million a year.

'That's $70 million I don't have to spend in this budget,” Huseman said, adding he doesn't see what the state got out of the I-JOBS program.

I-JOBS was a bonding program that funded 1,700 projects in all 99 counties, including repairs and replacement of public buildings, roads and bridges damaged by flooding in 2008.

Gov. Terry Branstad has indicated he would not support bonding but recommended $65 million over five years from the Rebuilding Iowa Infrastructure Fund to renovate the Historical Building.

The House RIIF budget was approved 15-9 with bipartisan support and only Democrats voting 'no.” House leaders expect floor debate Monday.

Both the House and Senate versions set aside $79.4 million for RIIF. The House version proposes to use the bond repayment fund to pay for repairs to the Capitol dome and new outdoor lighting at the building.

In floor action, the House voted 52-41 to approve an education appropriations bill that will provide a $6.3 million increase to regent universities - the Board of Regents had asked for $20 million - and a $3 million boost to community colleges.

The budget increase would provide an extra $1.3 million for the University of Iowa, $2.2 million for Iowa State and $2.78 million for the University of Northern Iowa.

The House voted 94-0 to amend the bill to increase funding for the private college tuition grant program by $250,000.