The legislative task force has begun taking public testimony, and there are 11 people signed up to testify. First up is Clark Collins, founder of the Blue Ribbon Coalition, who spoke in favor of what Sen. Jim Hammond, R-Post Falls, and Rep. Maxine Bell, R-Jerome, already advocated earlier today - undoing the decision to take away the fuel tax money paid by off-road vehicle operators, boaters and snowmobilers from the state parks for their trails programs, and shift it into road repairs. "No hard feelings - we understand how the Legislature got cornered into a hasty vote to sidetrack the fuel tax funding that has been going to our trails," Collins told the panel. "There is no fair way to replace that funding from other sources. I just hope that there are no hard feelings, now, when we say WE WANT OUR GAS TAX BACK."

Collins, whose comments were echoed by subsequent speakers, said the existing system - slated to end in a year - is "based on the user pay, user benefit principle, and that's how it should be." The amount of money involved, about $4.5 million a year, "wouldn't really buy a lot of miles of highway, but it buys a lot of miles of trails and trail improvements," Collins told the lawmakers. "It's a significant benefit to Idaho's trails, and we really want to see it going back to that purpose."

Tom Glass of the Idaho Recreation Council told the panel, "Finding an alternative that is as fair and works as well is indeed a daunting task." He said one idea suggested to him by a young friend was to slap a surcharge on video games, DVDs and the like and "have the couch potatoes fund recreation." That drew a laugh. But overall, Glass and others said the gas taxes paid by off-roaders should stay with parks.