The House has killed legislation from House Transportation Chairman Joe Palmer, R-Meridian, to shift $17 million from state highway funds that now goes to the Idaho State Police to roads, phasing the shift in over five years at roughly $3 million a year. After much debate, the bill died on a 33-37 vote.

House Appropriations Chair Maxine Bell, R-Jerome, told the House that HB 157 would put a “Band-Aid” on transportation funding but leave a “gaping wound in another part of the budget.” She said, “I hope you’ll leave this with those state troopers, and let’s go find some other ways.”

Palmer said the shift would mean more money for sorely needed road funding, and lawmakers could replace the ISP funding from the state general fund when they set budgets each year. Rep. Eric Redman, R-Athol, asked Palmer whether a replacement source has been identified for ISP. “Not in this bill,” Palmer said. Redman said, “Up in northern Idaho, I’ve had conversations with ISP there and they’ve gone from four cars to two cars in Kootenai County there, because they’ve lost funding. What we don’t need is more lost funding for the ISP. I will vote against the bill.”

Rep. Ryan Kerby, R-New Plymouth, said, “Whether the general fund should be used for transportation, to me that’s a separate discussion. … On this particular discussion I think the point’s been made. … To me it’s fairly easy to understand that the troopers should get some of that money because that’s who’s out there working our highways.”

Rep. Patrick McDonald, former U.S. marshal for Idaho and a longtime state trooper, argued at length against the bill, saying ISP needs the money. “This is not a positive thing for the state police, it’s not a positive thing for the general fund,” he told the House. “You can’t take that chance. You don’t know what’s going to happen in that general fund.”

Rep. Greg Chaney, R-Caldwell, spoke in favor of the bill. He said he agreed that there “should be a better way to do this.” But, he said, “The bottom line is we have a shrinking revenue source that has priorities that aren’t being addressed,” referring to the state highway fund. “We have a growing revenue source,” in the general fund. Chaney said the only options that Gov. Butch Otter has proposed to lawmakers “are to raise taxes to address the shrinking revenue source and do nothing about the growing revenue source.”

Here’s how the vote broke down:

Voting in favor: Reps. Armstrong, Barbieri, Bedke, Boyle Chaney, Crane, Dayley, DeMordaunt, Dixon, Gestrin, Giddings, Hanks, Harris, Hixon, Holtzclaw, Horman, Kingsley, Loertscher, Manwaring, Mendive, Monks, Moon, Moyle, Nate, Packer, Palmer, Scott, Shepherd, Stevenson, Thompson, Trujillo, VanderWoude and Zollinger.

Voting against: Reps. Amador, Anderson, Anderst, Bell, Blanksma, Burtenshaw, Cheatham, Chew, Clow, Collins, Erpelding, Gannon, Gibbs, Hartgen, Jordan, Kauffman, Kerby, King, Kloc, Luker, Malek, McCrostie, McDonald, Miller, Perry, Raybould, Redman, Rubel, Smith, Syme, Toone, Troy, VanOrden, Wintrow, Wood, Youngblood, and Zito.

---

---