Transportation bill clears House committee on 11-6 vote
SB 1206 has been approved by the House Transportation Committee on an 11-6 vote.
As soon as Sen. Chuck Winder, R-Boise, finished presenting the Senate-passed transportation funding bill, Rep. Patrick McDonald, R-Boise, moved to send the bill to the full House with a recommendation that it “do pass.”
But other House Transportation Committee members had questions. Rep. John Gannon, D-Boise, asked Winder, “We are taking $15 million away from the general fund. We’ve already taken $79 million away from the general fund for grocery tax, we’re looking at $28 million for an income tax reduction bill, for a total of $122 million in general fund hit. In some years, that’s been the total amount of increase in revenue from year to year. … Do you have any ideas on how we are going to fund next year’s budget, the career ladder that we have coming up a fourth year, and some of the other expenses of government, if we continue to reduce general fund revenue like this?”
Winder responded, “I think what’s happened this year is we all had some good ideas, and we’re now allowing the governor to be the referee or the sherifff. … He’s responsible for balancing the budget. I don’t know exactly what he’ll do. He’s never said that he liked the grocery tax provisions. We don’t have any other tax bill yet that I’m aware of. ... We made a commitment to education, we funded that, we’ll be in our fourth year of that, and we’re going to do everything we can to prioritize and continue that funding and support. … And it may take some tough decisions next year.”
Both Rep. Jason Monks, R-Meridian, and Rep. Melissa Wintrow, D-Boise, asked about the provisions in the bill lifting sunsets on several fund diversions, from lottery funds going to the bond levy equalization fund to cigarette tax funds going to water recharge projects. “I’m just wondering what the implications are if we let that sunset or not,” Wintrow said.
Winder said, “This was, my understanding, at least, was something that was very important to many of your house colleagues, that they wanted to make sure that that funding continued through on an ongoing basis. It actually on the Senate side cost some votes, because they felt like this was perhaps an improper use of lottery funds.”
Rep. Terry Gestrin, R-Donnelly, asked why the 1 percent of sales tax that the bill dedicates to a new fund would come after revenue-sharing is calculated, rather than before. “It keeps the locals whole and we don’t have that battle to fight,” Winder responded.
No one signed up to testify on the bill.
Here’s the vote breakdown:
Voting yes: Reps. Palmer, Shepherd, Hixon, Kauffman, Packer, Youngblood, McDonald, Holtzclaw, Monks, DeMordaunt, and Syme.
Voting no: Reps. Gestrin, Dixon, Harris, King, Wintrow and Gannon.
