The Week -- A dime passes, a smokeless casino fades and bottle rocket ’bros unite!

WHAM BAM TAX MY GAS

Next time some legislator says, 'Patience, my fair constituent. Issues in the Legislature must take time, like fine wine,” point out the great gas tax rush of 2015.

Within less than three hours on Tuesday, a 10-cent increase in the gas tax was approved in both the Iowa Senate and Iowa House. The next morning, it was signed into law by Gov. Terry Branstad.

This has got to be a land-speed record for the old General Assembly, which usually seems to move with the agility of a leaky dirigible tied to a sinking ship, moored to a derailed train. Although things can move plenty fast in the final hours of a legislative session, especially when lawmakers' daily expense payments run out, it's rare to see this sort of speed in frozen February.

OK, it's true that the gas tax issue has been on the legislative radar for years. The tax hasn't been changed since 1989. The Department of Transportation report showing a $215 million annual gap between available dollars and 'critical” repair needs came out in 2011. So the rushin' rocket that took off this week was ferried to the launchpad by a very, very slow tractor.

The last time I can remember a bill moving this fast was in March 2011, when Sen. Dick Dearden, D-Des Moines, quietly, and at the last minute, popped a bill out of his Natural Resources Committee allowing dove hunting. It swiftly passed the full Senate, and the next day, it passed the House.

House leaders, instead of sending the bill through pesky committees, called up another bill dealing with raccoons and magically transformed it into the dove hunting bill through the fine art of shameless procedural shenanigans. So the Shamadovecoon Act of 2011 passed and the governor signed it. The whole thing was over in two shakes of a raccoon's tail.

Shenanigans and speed usually go hand-in-hand. Last week, House Speaker Kraig Paulsen reshuffled the membership of the House Ways and Means Committee so the gas tax increase could make it to the full House. He magically changed no votes into yes votes, but no raccoons into doves.

Once all four top Republican and Democratic House and Senate leaders were on board with raising the gas tax, it was time to lock in who exactly would vote yes and who would vote no. You might be shocked, shocked to learn that politics was a big factor.

For instance, you might have noticed that Sens. Liz Mathis, D-Cedar Rapids, Chris Brase, D-Muscatine, Brian Schoenjahn, D-Arlington, Steve Sodders, D- State Center, and Mary Jo Wilhelm, D-Cresco, voted no. They all represent competitive swing districts where a tax increase vote could have been a political problem. Ditto with some Republicans in both chambers.

There was some political courage amid all the calculating. Rep. Josh Byrnes, R-Osage, has been pushing for a gas tax boost for years, despite warnings of electoral peril. He stuck with it, convinced that Iowa's infrastructure needs transcend politics.

At the other end of the spectrum is Rep. Chip Baltimore, R-Boone, who skipped the House vote. 'I refuse to legitimize either the bill or the process with a vote,” he told Radio Iowa. Brave.

Once the pieces were in place, the bill jumped to light speed. You'll start paying the extra dime Sunday.

Sure, the persuasive power of lobbying titans, including the Iowa Farm Bureau and the Associated General Contractors of Iowa, played a big role. If only they'd get behind a school funding bill.

It's clear that the once-impressive clout wielded by Iowans for Tax Relief, which opposed the tax increase, is all but gone. And the perceived new-school influence of Americans for Prosperity, brought to you by your anonymous friends at Dark Money, was overrated.

But the single biggest factor that turned this issue on a dime from doubtful to sure-thing was the fortuitous drop in gas prices. If gas were sitting at $3.50 per-gallon right now, the tax increase still would be stuck in neutral and idling on fumes. And make no mistake, legislative leaders who put the hammer down this week had an eye on reports that prices are about to jump.

So backers worked hard, and got lucky. But what will gas prices look like in the fall of 2016, when voters get a chance to weigh in on the work product of this Legislature?

And how much would you be willing to bet that on the wistful notion that the bipartisan nature of the tax hike push will make it a non-issue in hot legislative campaigns? Not more than a dime, I hope.

UP IN SMOKE

Cedar Rapids' hopes for a legislative casino miracle are down to a faint flicker. In a hurricane.

'We don't have any traction right now in the Legislature,” Mayor Ron Corbett said during his State of the City presentation Wednesday, answering an audience question as to whether the city has a backup plan if its Statehouse effort fails.

Corbett gave no sign that he's ready to give up and move on. But at the Statehouse, all signs point to no dice.

The original, ambitious 'gambling reform” package, including a smoke-free casino in Cedar Rapids, more gambling dollars for non-casino counties and other provisions, has been pared back considerably. What's left are bare-bones House and Senate bills that basically direct the Racing and Gaming Commission to license a smoke-free casino. The Senate bill, sponsored by Sen. Wally Horn, D-Cedar Rapids, calls for one license granted to a city with a population over 50,000 (where could that be?), while the House bill would permit up to two casinos without specifying where.

The Senate bill cleared a subcommittee Thursday, but it has to clear the full State Government committee before Friday's bill-eating funnel deadline. The House bill got a brief subcommittee hearing this past week, but that's it. It's committee prospects are doubtful. Nothing is dead until the deadline, but some things start to smell dead sooner.

'Meeting adjourned without clear direction as to next steps,” Rep. Ken Rizer, R-Cedar Rapids, the bill's lead sponsor, wrote in an email after the meeting. Not a good sign.

Even if the bill got through a committee this week, there's still nothing but banana peels, thumb tacks and land mines as far as the eye can see between there and passage by the Senate or House.

Back in Cedar Rapids, Corbett asked his State of the City audience whether they thought the city should continue fighting for a casino. Using instant smartphone polling, people in the crowd voted 176-77 for continued efforts. Now, if a bunch of those folks can just win seats in the Legislature, it's a slam dunk.

POLL OF THE WEEK

Sure, our gasoline now is pricier, but state lawmakers may save us from schlepping to Missouri or South Dakota to buy fireworks. Thoughtful.

A pair of bills blasting Iowa's Depression-era ban on selling and shooting fireworks are making progress in the Legislature. A Senate bill, SF 226, has cleared the Senate State Government Committee on 9-4 vote. Sen. Wally Horn, D-Cedar Rapids, was among its committee supporters.

In the House, HSB 161, cleared a subcommittee this past week and is headed for consideration by the Ways and Means Committee.

A Des Moines Register Iowa Poll released this week found 54 percent of Iowans surveyed favor making fireworks legal, with 42 percent against. Parents, folks under age 35 and Republicans like the idea most. Men are way more supportive, 62 percent, than women, 46 percent.

Four percent are unsure. Maybe couldn't hear the question. Ears ringing since last July, for some reason.

So, if polling can be believed, it's dudes and dads who want legal fireworks.

You've heard of the political power of soccer moms. Well, now we've got fireworks dads and bottle rocket ‘bros. Forces to be reckoned with, for sure. Better bring the burn cream. Roll around a little, you'll be OK.