Transportation funding package clears Iowa House
- Font Size:
- Default font size
- Larger font size
DES MOINES — Iowa drivers would see their vehicle registration fees increase under a plan narrowly approved by the House and backed by Gov. Chet Culver on Wednesday.
The bill, approved on a 53-46 bipartisan vote, would partially fulfill the Iowa Department of Transportation’s request for $200 million in new road and bridge construction money. The plan would ramp up funding over several years, bringing in an estimated $161 million by 2013.
Culver said he will sign the bill into law.
Lawmakers from both parties have worked on the package for more than five years to vet both the state’s transportation need and potential funding solutions, said Rep. Geri Huser, D-Altoona, the House Transportation Committee chairwoman and the bill’s floor manager.
“I am proud of the fact that this state began looking at this issue before there were catastrophes ... in the state of Minnesota,” Huser said, referencing the Aug. 1 collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge in Minneapolis.
The package would protect Iowans from paying larger amounts on their current vehicles’ registration fees. But after the bill goes into effect at the start of next year, Iowans who purchase a different vehicle would be moved over to the higher scale.
Car and SUV owners’ rates, which decline as the vehicle ages, would take an extra three years to bottom out to a minimum, flat fee when the vehicle is 12 years old. That minimum fee would be increased to $50 from $30 under the bill.
The legislation would end a longstanding break for most pickup truck owners, who currently pay a flat registration fee much lower than cars’ rates. Iowans who buy a truck beginning in 2009 would be charged a rate calculated by the same value and weight formula used to generate car owners’ rates.
Farmers or business people who use their trucks for work would be charged a flat $150 — about twice what most pickup owners are charged today.
The plan does not call for the state to increase its cents-per-gallon fuel tax, which Culver took off the table earlier this year but since has signaled could be revived next year.
Lawmakers should have considered the tax, because it would have required out-of-state drivers to shoulder the cost of fixing the state’s infrastructure since they are partially responsible for its disrepair, Rep. Jamie Van Fossen, R-Davenport, said.
“I think we have to have a larger discussion that has a gas tax in it, right or wrong,” he said.
Whitney Woodward can be contacted at (515) 243-0138 or whitney.woodward@lee.net.
del.icio.us
Digg
NewsVine
Fark
redditMore Stories By Whitney Woodward
() comments
» More Iowa Stories
- Iowa House panel pares open meetings legislation
- Gov. Culver will travel to China on trade mission
- Transportation funding package clears Iowa House
- Police make arrest in school threat
- Billy Joel can't pass up Des Moines Beetle
- Davenport Promise grinds to sudden halt in Iowa Senate
- Davenport man’s classic automobile takes a star turn
Highest Rated Articles from the last 7 Days
- Free Credit Report with All 3 Scores
- Free 3-bureau Credit Report – includes Transunion, Equifax, Experian.
- FreeCreditReportsInstantly.com
- Refinance $300,000 for Only $965/Month
- $300,000 Mortgage for only $965/month. Save $1,000's - No obligation.
- www.HomeLoanHelpLine.com
- Refinance and Save $1,000S
- $150,000 Mortgage for $483/month. Compare up to 4 free quotes.
- www.pickamortgage.com
- Ads by Yahoo!
