Idaho Republicans test-drive transportation plan

BOISE – House Republicans unveiled a new transportation funding proposal Thursday as Idaho’s legislative session stretched into its 102nd day, but whether it will be enough to resolve key differences on the issue and bring the session to a close remained unclear.

“I’m encouraged that they’re hatching a plan. Whether this is the plan, I don’t know,” said Senate President Pro-Tem Bob Geddes, R-Soda Springs. “It’s encouraging to see that their creative juices are flowing.”

Gov. Butch Otter met with lawmakers multiple times Thursday, but his press secretary, Jon Hanian, said, “I wouldn’t say we have an agreement – we’ve had some productive meetings. We’re still having those meetings.”

The key piece of Otter’s transportation proposal – raising the state’s gas tax of 25 cents a gallon to pay for a big annual backlog in road maintenance – is missing from the House plan. Asked if the governor would settle for a transportation deal that doesn’t include a gas tax increase, Hanian said, “I’m not going to preclude anything.”

The House GOP proposal has four pieces:

•Eliminating a gas tax exemption for ethanol. This idea already has passed both houses, but the bill was killed after it was amended. It’s expected to save the state between $4 million and $18 million a year.

•Raising an array of Department of Motor Vehicles fees that haven’t been increased in decades, to raise $13.1 million a year. A title fee would increase from $8 to $14, a driver’s license fee from $28.50 to $40.

•Reducing the vehicle-age brackets for car and pickup registration fees from five to three, which would raise the fees for some owners, raising $3.1 million a year.

•Setting up a mechanism to shift as much as $50 million in state general tax funds to transportation whenever the state’s revenues increase by a certain amount.

House Majority Caucus Chairman Ken Roberts, R-Donnelly, estimated the first three pieces of the proposal would raise more than $30 million a year. He and other members of House GOP leadership said they came up with the fund-shift idea after talk of economic “triggers” for a gas tax increase that would delay its start until Idaho’s economy improves.

Idaho currently doesn’t use its general tax funds for transportation, relying instead on a combination of gas taxes and vehicle registration fees.

Sen. Joyce Broadsword, R-Sagle, said her constituents seem to favor a modest increase in the state’s gas tax.

Broadsword said a 3-cent gas tax increase would cost the average person $20 a year. “It’s a whole lot less than hitting a pothole and having to pay for alignment on your car,” she said, noting that many view gas taxes more as user fees.

Rep. Frank Henderson, R-Post Falls, developed the proposal to change the car registration brackets. But objections to that came because of what his proposal doesn’t include: any change in registration fees for heavy trucks.

Keith Allred, a former Harvard professor who leads the citizens group the Common Interest, said owners of cars and light trucks would pay 8 percent more under the plan, but owners of heavy trucks would see no increase. “Our suggestion is whatever you do on cars and pickups, do an equal amount or more on heavy trucks,” Allred said. “The best evidence suggests heavy trucks are already underpaying their share (for road maintenance). … With this proposal, car and pickup owners would subsidize heavy truck owners even more.”