GARVEE bill passes House

BOISE - An attempt to slam the brakes on a statewide bonding program for highway improvements failed Tuesday afternoon in the House.

Opponents of House Bill 657 said they wanted to delay for one year the $134 million bonding authority segment of the $998 million Grant Anticipation Revenue Vehicle (GARVEE) program while an audit of Idaho Transportation Department procedures occurs.

“We are not being prudent if we continue to put ourselves in bondage for this amount of money,” said Rep. Tom Loertscher, R-Iona. “You've got to consider the consequences of this burdensome debt. It's going to come back and bite us.”

The House on Monday unanimously passed legislation approving the estimated $550,000 ITD audit, which would include a look at the transportation agency's GARVEE contract manager procedures.

But Loertscher and other opponents of HB 657 - saying a future decrease in federal funding for GARVEE could lead to huge fuel tax and vehicle registration fee increases in Idaho - failed to sway enough votes Tuesday to force a one-year GARVEE moratorium.

Rep. Frank Henderson, R-Post Falls, was the floor sponsor of HB 657, which passed the House 47-23.

Answering questions about what some view as the slow construction pace of the GARVEE roads-building program originally named “Connecting Idaho,” three years ago by now-former Gov. Dirk Kempthorne, Henderson said the ITD last week issued $179 million in new bonds for GARVEE.

“The $179 million in bonds issued last week will be obligated by mid-summer,” Henderson said.

The GARVEE program construction timetable has been slowed by environmental studies and right-of-way land acquisition processes, Henderson said.

But Reps. Dick Harwood, R-St. Maries, and Phil Hart, R-Athol, stood in opposition to HB 657 - legislation that authorizes the $134 million more for GARVEE and $3.3 million for state debt service.

“In order to get that study (audit) you're gonna have to hold this thing,” Harwood said. “I would encourage you to give this a red light for this year.”

Seven of 10 members of the North Idaho House delegation voted in favor of HB 657.

Ongoing North Idaho GARVEE roads projects don't get additional borrowed money for the $134 million in new bonding authority for the state budget year starting July 1.

The Idaho Legislature approved bonding authority for $450 million on GARVEE projects during the 2006 and 2007 legislative sessions.

“I voted for the first $200 million (in GARVEE bonds) and I saw how that was handled and I've been against it ever since,” Harwood said, also asserting that roads improvement projects on the non-GARVEE list “have been deleted, basically.”