By Mike Glover, Associated Press Writer
JOHNSTON — Gov. Chet Culver's proposal to divert $50 million from a highway repair fund to the Iowa State Patrol is dead for the year, two key legislators said Friday.
The top Republican and Democrat on the House State Government Committee said a cold, snowy winter that likely will cause significant damage to Iowa's roads was the final straw, ending consideration of a proposal that never was especially popular.
"The roads are bad now and we have yet to go through the rapid freeze-thaw cycle of spring," said Rep. Doug Struyk, R-Council Bluffs, the ranking member of the committee.
Iowa City Rep. Mary Mascher, the committee chairwoman, agreed.
"In Iowa City, people have said please don't touch that. Have you seen what our roads are like in the rural areas? Have you seen what the winter has done to them?" said Mascher, a Democrat.
The two spoke during a taping of Iowa Public Television's "Iowa Press" program.
Diverting money from the road fund to the state patrol was a big part of Culver's plan for covering a shortfall in the state's general fund. The road fund is financed with a gasoline tax.
Culver said the move makes sense, in part because state troopers are essential to keeping the roads safe. He also noted then-Gov. Terry Branstad made a similar transfer to help balance the budget in the 1980s.
And Culver has pointed out that state and federal stimulus spending has meant an explosion of road work in the state.
But his proposed shift was never popular in the Legislature, even before Iowa was hit with a series of winter storms.
"It's a bipartisan proposal that we're not going to touch the road use tax fund," Struyk said. "There are other ways to take care of the highway patrol."
Mascher said the state is already far short of the money needed to maintain the highway system, and few want to make the situation even worse.
"There's hasn't been a lot of discussion about it," said Mascher. "We are woefully inadequate in terms of our road fund."
Culver's proposal was among recommendations in a consultant's report addressing ways the state could streamline state government.
"If the Legislature does not want to act on a proposal in the efficiency report, the governor expects the Legislature to find those savings somewhere else," Culver aide Troy Price said.
