U.S. 95 ‘Conversation’ May Continue Riggs Wants To Make Bill A Statewide Advisory Vote To Keep It Alive For Six Months

Sen. Jack Riggs counted votes Monday, and figured his bill to upgrade U.S. Highway 95 could not pass.

So this morning, he’ll amend it to make the measure a statewide advisory vote. Then, if voters say they want the upgrade, it’ll be up to next year’s Legislature to enact it.

“This way, the conversation will stay alive for the next six months, if we can get it through the House,” Riggs said late Monday. “It’s not over yet.”

At least one Senate committee chairman said Monday that he wanted his committee to adjourn for the session this week, but Riggs said he was confident there would be time for his advisory vote bill to clear the Senate and get to the House for a vote.

“Hilde Kellogg’s waiting for this in House Transportation,” Riggs said. “We talk every day.”

Kellogg serves on the House committee, along with North Idaho Reps. Don Pischner, R-Coeur d’Alene, and Chuck Cuddy, D-Orofino.

Riggs’ bill is designed to raise millions to upgrade Highway 95 and several other highways around the state by imposing an additional car registration fee. The fee would last for 12 years, until the projects were completed.

Last week, Riggs amended the bill to include fees on trucks, at the urging of Senate Transportation Committee members, highway districts and the Idaho chapter of the American Automobile Association. While that change will appease those interests, it could also stir up opposition from the powerful trucking industry.

Riggs’ idea originally included a penny-a-gallon gas tax increase along with the registration fees, so truckers would have paid along with motorists. But with widespread opposition to a general tax increase in an election year, Riggs revised the bill before introducing it to rely solely on registration fees.

Riggs said he had hoped to make the bill a referendum that would take effect if voters approved it, but Idaho law doesn’t allow for legislative referendums.

“I would rather take it to the people, where I think there is support, and let the people decide,” Riggs said.

Highway 95, the state’s only north-south route, includes stretches that are narrow, winding and dangerous. Riggs’ bill has received strong support from the University of Idaho, whose students must drive the route from all over the state to get to and from the Moscow university.

Riggs said when he attended hearings up and down the state in October, people wanted Highway 95 made safer and they were willing to pay.

“I think there’s always been more public support than legislative support, since I started on this.”

Though Riggs included safety-oriented improvements on other routes around the state, the majority of the money raised by the plan would go to Highway 95. That’s sparked opposition from some southeastern Idaho legislators who say their districts won’t get enough benefit to justify the registration fees they’ll pay.

Riggs structured the proposed fees so owners of older cars - those made before 1990 - wouldn’t see any increase. That’s 51 percent of the cars in the state.

He said that’s partly because the newer cars are more likely to still be on the road and benefiting from the projects when they’re completed.

Riggs plans to introduce his amendment to the bill, SB 1467, this morning. He expected a Senate vote on the amended bill by late today.

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