Highway 95 Repair Bill Dies In Committee Senate Panel Kills Bond Proposal In 5-4 Vote

A bid to let voters decide on a $400 million bond offering to fix U.S. Highway 95 failed Thursday.

The measure, proposed by Rep. Hilde Kellogg, R-Post Falls, died in a 5-4 vote in the Senate Transportation Committee.

“I wasn’t surprised,” said John Goedde, vice president of the Coeur d’Alene Chamber of Commerce. For years, the chamber has championed U.S. 95 improvements as vital to commerce statewide, particularly in North Idaho.

Proponents of the bill said it would bind the state’s economy together and help protect travelers’ safety.

“The worst road in the United States of America is Highway 95,” said Ron McMurray, head of the Idaho Republican Party. “It’s time to bring this state together once and for all. … It’s time to tie the people of Idaho together.”

Rep. Don Pischner, R-Coeur d’Alene, said, “We’ve got to make a choice whether or not to give the people of Idaho a choice to vote on it.”

But many committee members were not willing to give the people of Idaho that vote.

“I don’t think the voting public is informed enough to vote on this,” said Sen. Robert Lee, R-Rexburg. “We’re not even informed enough.”

Major stumbling block was the 4-cents-a-gallon hike in the fuel tax and the $12 increase in annual registration fees for light trucks and cars, subject to voter approval in 1998. It would have brought in $34 million a year to pay off the bonds, but lawmakers were leery because of their approval just a year ago of a 4-cent fuel tax hike and an average registration fee increase of $7.

Fuel jobbers were especially critical, claiming that every fuel tax increase makes Idaho diesel fuel less competitive. Truckers frequently buy fuel in border states before entering Idaho.

Ironically, truckers also would benefit from the highway improvements. Some shipping firms will not allow their drivers to use Highway 95, citing safety concerns.

Kellogg said she plans to resurrect her proposal next year.

“We didn’t make it, but we’re one step closer,” she said. “We’re not finished. We keep getting more support and we keep getting better.”

Rep. Jim Clark, R-Hayden, said the measure cleared its hurdles in the House and now must pass muster with state senators.

Supporters of the highway repairs worry that the cost will increase with each year the work is delayed.

“The fund mechanism will be different,” said Goedde. “Obviously, the price will be higher.”

Pischner said that now is the time for anyone who has an interest in the bill to come out and show his support. A geographic chasm has separated North Idaho and southern Idaho since statehood, he said. Kellogg’s bill could pave the way to bind the people of Idaho together.

“There’s more to it than economic value and safety,” said Pischner. “There’s a tradition at stake.”

, DataTimes