Gas tax battle puts brakes on session

BOISE — House leaders and Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter have yet to reach an agreement on how best to raise more money for Idaho roads, despite the best efforts of Bonner County’s House delegation.

The Idaho House adjourned its 2009 session, delivering a note to the Senate that nobody received — because all senators had left.

Representatives wrapped up their business about 8:45 p.m. against the wishes of senators and Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter, who are demanding a gas tax hike to shore up a roads maintenance backlog some project at an annual $240 million.

In its final day, the House blasted through at least 45 bills.

Once finished, House Speaker Lawerence Denney sent two three-person delegations to inform Otter and the Senate that the House was wrapping things up. Neither could be reached.

Rep. Rich Wills left a note for senators taped to the majority leadership office’s door.

It read, “See ya’ later. Gone Home. Best wishes, Sincerely, The House.”

Most representatives predict they’ll be back Monday, though. Idaho’s Constitution doesn’t allow one chamber to adjourn for more than three days without the other’s consent.Rep. Eric Anderson, R-Priest Lake, supports Otter’s plan but admits he is in the minority among house members.

“I think there’s been some movement (toward Otter’s proposal), but I don’t know if there has been enough to get a majority,” he said.

Anderson said the tax hike is a necessary — though unpopular — part of maintaining Idaho’s infrastructure, and he said feedback from his constituents has echoed that opinion.

“A lot of people down here are saying they don’t have the public opinion behind them, but I disagree with that,” Anderson said. “The e-mails I’ve been getting say ‘Take care of business and take care of the roads.’”

After 108 days in session — the second longest in Idaho history — Anderson said he wants the issue resolved and cannot understand why some of his colleagues will not come on board.

“I think that what happens with any organization is that you get a lot of personalities involved,” he said. “I don’t have a psychology degree, so I can’t tell you what’s causing some people to do things, but some things that happen down here make absolutely no sense.”

George Eskridge, R-Dover, also supports Otter’s request for increased transportation funding. Eskridge and Anderson are two of only four House Republicans who voted in favor of last week’s gas tax bill.

“I’ve always supported the governor’s funding request,” Eskridge said. “I’m firmly convinced, even in economic times like we see now, that we need to do something with our roads.”

That concern is shared by Otter, who feels the state is obligated to ensuring its roads are safe for Idahoan to travel on, Eskridge said.

It is also something his constituents favor, he said.

While he supports Otter’s proposal, Eskridge said the House voted to adjourn because the legislative body’s work was done.

“We felt like we had gotten as far as we could on (transportation) and all of our work was done,” Eskridge said.

If the House had not voted to adjourn, Eskridge said the legislators would have been sitting around waiting for the Senate to wrap up for the session.

“We would have been sitting around doing nothing,” he added.

Provisions in Idaho’s Constitution don’t allow one chamber to adjourn for more than three days without the consent of the other. So even if the House keeps its promise to leave Boise, the Senate, which generally supports the governor on his gas tax plans, could force representatives to return, probably by next Monday.

Representatives have rejected six different proposals to raise the current 25 cents-per-gallon gas tax by anywhere from 2 cents to 7 cents.

Currently, the House is offering some $30 million, raised by repealing a tax exemption on ethanol and hiking Division of Motor Vehicle fees, which is well short of the $80 million Otter is asking for.

The Republican governor, who abandoned his original demand of $174 million more for roads, is giving even more ground this week by offering to delay the start date of the gas tax increase to 2011 and spreading it over two years.

House Democrats were flabbergasted by the Republicans’ apparent insistence on concluding business Wednesday, since all of them would be forced to come back to Boise if the Senate and governor don’t concur.

They noted that it costs $30,000 a day to keep lawmakers in the city.

“How long do they intend to play this game of chicken?” asked Rep. Liz Chavez, D-Lewiston, during a minority caucus.

House Minority Leader John Rusche, D-Lewiston, shrugged his shoulders.

“I don’t know,” Rusche said. “I think we’re at this until somebody has a change of heart. I have the impression that House leadership feel the general population is with them.”

With transportation funding still unresolved, Eskridge also predicted that House members would head back to Boise to work on the issue.

Sen. Shawn Keough said it’s almost certain that the Senate won’t wrap up it’s work by the weekend.

“We have a consitutional duty to balance the budget and we  haven’t passed all the bills to do that,” Keough said. “The Senate feels we have to do our constitutional duty and that we still have work to do.”

• Staff writer Caroline Lobsinger contributed to this report.