BRANSTAD TRIES TO RUN AWAY FROM HIS OWN "BAD BUDGETING" RECORD ON ROAD USE FUND
THE ISSUE:
Terry Branstad is taking up both lanes of the road now with his latest stance on the road use tax fund. He says he's running on his record but he seems not know where he stands.
Branstad's record shows he was the first governor to divert road use tax fund dollars to pay for operations expenses at the Iowa State Patrol for more than a decade before being forced to end the practice. Last week, candidate Branstad attacked a similar proposal for the 2010 budget year as a "road raid" and "bad budgeting" and issued a press release trumpeting his successful defeat of the practice while failing to reveal that he was the one who started it in the first place.
THE FLIP:
Branstad's campaign sent out a press release late last week attacking Governor Culver:
"Culver touts $50 million in "savings" that would raid Iowa's Road Use Tax Fund to pay for the Iowa State Patrol...This is a bad budget practice that was used in the past, and as governor I put an end to it."THE FLOP:
Branstad's record of using the road use tax fund to pay for the Iowa State Patrol stretches over the majority of his administration.
In 1984, Branstad began funding the Iowa State Patrol with the state's road use tax fund which comes primarily through the state's gas tax.(1)
In 1988, he asked the legislature to to raise the gas tax by $.04/gallon to fund a new transportation proposal. During this time he made no changes to the method of funding the state patrol. (2) Legislators that year tried to change it, but the bill did not pass the House. (3)
Ten years later, the Iowa Good Roads Association sued the State of Iowa over this funding method. Branstad promised to work the shift payments for the patrol from the road use tax fund to the general fund.(4)
In January 1995, 11 years after Branstad began "road raiding" as he now calls it, State House Republicans announced they were introducing a bill that would restart the practice after then-Governor Branstad asked them to.(5) It passed overwhelmingly.(6)
In May, the state legislature agreed to a transportation funding bill that would gradually shift funding over to the general fund again. (7) Branstad signed it. (8)
In December of that year, I-DOT was behind in funding for its 5-year road building plan by over $280 million. (9) Using what The Des Moines Register called "fiscal magic", $248 million was discovered by then-Governor Branstad. (10)
THE FACTS:
Terry Branstad can't escape the fact that he's criticizing Governor Culver for practices he himself carried out for over 10 years.
Sources (pdf):
- With the 1984 budget year, Branstad began the practice of funding the Iowa State Patrol out of the state's road use tax fund, which is generated primarily through the state's gas tax. [The Des Moines Register, p. 6, Dec. 21, 1994.]
- In January 1988, Branstad asked the legislature to raise the gas tax in order to fund a new transportation proposal. [The Des Moines Register, p. 2, Jan. 13, 1988.] While he persuaded legislators to pass half his proposed 4-cent increase, he made no changes to the method of funding the state patrol. [The Des Moines Register, p. 2, Dec. 28, 1988.]
- However, legislators tried to make the change in a 1988 bill that passed the Senate 32-9 but could not muster the votes to pass the Iowa House. [The Des Moines Register, p. 2, April 9, 1988.]
- In December 1994, The Iowa Good Roads Association, a trade group for road builders, announced it would sue the state, challenging the legislature's action since 1984 to pay for operations of the Iowa State Patrol from the state's road use tax fund. [The Des Moines Register, p. 6, Dec. 21, 1994.] The Governor had promised to work to shift payments for the patrol from the road use tax fund to the general fund. [Id.]
- In January 1995, Majority Republicans in the Iowa House announced they were launching a bill that would move more than $33 million in funding for the Iowa State Patrol out of the state's Road Use Tax Fund and back into the state general fund. (One lawmaker said Branstad "asked" for the change.) [The Des Moines Register, p. 1, Jan. 31, 1995.]
- In February 1995, the majority Republicans in the Iowa House introduced and overwhelmingly passed (92-3) a bill shifting financing of the state patrol to the state general fund by 2001. [The Des Moines Register, p. 6, Feb. 15, 1995.]
- In May, legislators in both chambers agreed to a transportation funding bill that included the provision gradually shifting funding for the state patrol over to the general fund. [The Des Moines Register, p. 6, May 2, 1995.] Describing the mechanism at the time, The Des Moines Register's David Yepsen wrote: "When Iowa's budget deficit problems began in the 1980s, lawmakers started paying for the state patrol from the road fund in order to free up money in the general fund." [Id.]
- The legislature passed a budget bill that gradually shifted the $33.5 million cost of the state patrol and sent it to Branstad. [The Des Moines Register, p. 5, May 4, 1995.]
- In December 1995, the Iowa Department of Transportation was more than $280 million behind in funding for its 5-year road building plan. [The Des Moines Register, p. 4, Dec. 13, 1995]
- Under pressure from Gov. Branstad, the Department used what the Des Moines Register called "fiscal magic" to discover $248 million in new dollars for road construction.