BOISE, Idaho (AP) - A massive transportation funding bill cleared the Idaho Statehouse on Tuesday, leaving legislative leaders hopeful they are inching nearer to the end of the 2017 session.
Senate and House lawmakers spent nearly all day debating a roughly $320 million proposal to funnel more money to roads and bridges. A similar proposal had failed in the Senate just last week, sparking fears the Legislature would adjourn without addressing the state’s aging infrastructure that had taken a beating this winter from severe storms and flooding
“You might not like the bill, but there are many people who need this help,” said Sen. Patti Anne Lodge, R-Huston, pleading with her colleagues to help improve the state’s infrastructure despite their hesitancy to take on more bonds.
The Senate voted 19-16 on Tuesday, with the House voting 51-19 several hours later.
“I don’t see how we can call ourselves fiscally conservative yet we’re going into debt to pay for roads,” said Rep. Ron Nate, R-Rexburg, opposing the measure’s use of bonds to pay for big transportation projects.
The fate of the proposal - which primarily uses bonds to pay for new road projects and repay it with future federal highway payments - now lies with Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter. The bill also includes allowing leftover state general funds to be used for transportation projects and funneling 1 percent of the state’s sales tax revenue to other road and congestion funds.
“I’m not always comfortable with all of the things we need to do to do business in Idaho, but this is something we need to do,” said Rep. Joe Palmer, R-Meridian, chairman of the House Transportation and Defense Committee.
House members tinkered briefly with the details of the transportation plan by introducing a separate bill to allow state officials to consider improving sidewalks near schools and other pathways children frequent while selecting transportation projects.
However, the majority of the House spent the day taking long breaks to recess with both the GOP caucus privately, as well as with other legislative leaders in the Senate, to ensure they had enough support to carry out their key legislative goals in order to adjourn by Wednesday.
For example, House amended a bill regarding unemployment insurance taxes to include $28 million tax relief plan by slashing the state’s personal and corporate income rates by one-tenth of a percent.
House Majority Leader Mike Moyle had introduced a similar proposal earlier this year, but the plan got hijacked by the Senate and was transformed into a repeal of the state’s sales tax on groceries. That proposal is opposed by Otter, but he has not yet vetoed the proposal.
The newest tax cut proposal must now get final approval from the Senate.
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This story has been corrected to show that the tax cut plan has not yet cleared the Statehouse and still needs approval from the Senate.
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