House votes 33-32 for combo bill cutting ISP funding, repealing hybrid fee
The House has voted 33-32 in favor of HB 624, House Transportation Chairman Joe Palmer’s bill to tie together a phaseout of state gas tax funding for the Idaho State Police and repeal of the unpopular $75 fee on hybrid vehicles.
“I feel really torn here,” said Rep. Melissa Wintrow, D-Boise. “I think these two issues are separate. They should have been dealt with separately. … I don’t think it’s fair to put them together at all.”
No replacement source of funding for ISP is identified in the bill, but Palmer argues that because the cuts wouldn’t start for a year, the state police would have time to request replacement funds.
Rep. Heather Scott, R-Blanchard, spoke in favor of the bill, saying, “We see so few tax cuts come across this body. This is a no-brainer for me. I’ll be voting for the bill.”
Rep. Rich Wills, R-Glenns Ferry, spoke against the measure, saying the ISP can’t afford the cuts, and can’t afford to pay competitive wages now – and loses officers to higher-paying places like Spokane.
“This is about our job to fund transportation,” Palmer said. He argued that there are few other sources for transportation funding. “The police will be taken care of,” he said. The bill’s fate now is uncertain; it would need Senate passage and the governor’s signature to pass, but senators are talking about adjourning sine die tonight. UPDATE: The Senate adjourned sine die on Thursday night without taking any action on this bill; it's now dead.
