The Bottom Line
by District 28 Senator Mike Breitbach
It has been a very busy week. I proposed a fix to the Disabled Veteran’s Property Tax bill that passed last year, but needed to be adjusted. The revised legislation eventually made it through the Senate and a companion bill went through the House. This bill passed Wednesday, and I’m sure will be signed shortly by the Governor.
A bill to address the needs of our roads and bridges came to the floor on Tuesday for debate. This bill will add a 10-cent increase to our fuel tax to pay for our infrastructure needs. This increase will be split as follows: approximately 32 percent to counties, 20 percent to cities, and 47 percent to the Department of Transportation for state highways.
No one likes to increase taxes on hard-working Iowans, but after looking at the alternatives I felt this was our best course of action. It is estimated 20-30 percent of the traffic on our roads is vehicles from out-of-state. My feeling is the out-of-state traffic that uses our roads should help pay a portion of the cost to build and maintain them. This provides a way to do that.
Next Friday is our first funnel. Any bills which have not made it through all standing committees in either the House or the Senate will be considered dead for the rest of the session. This helps us to focus on bills which have gained support in at least one chamber. Tax or appropriation bills are still eligible for consideration.
My Senate email is michael.breitbach@legis.iowa.gov or you can call me at 563-920-7399.
If you would like to schedule a time for me to meet with your local group, please feel free to contact me to see if we can find a time that would work out.
Please listen to my interviews with Darin Svenson on KDEC radio (Decorah) at 7 a.m. every Thursday morning, or listen online at soundcloud.com/kdecnews.
Please join me at upcoming forums:
March 7: 10 a.m. – Freedom Bank in Postville (parking available at the grocery store across the street).
March 21 - 9 a.m. Oelwein Farm Bureau - Oelwein Luigi’s; 11:15 a.m. Allamakee Farm Bureau.
March 28 - 10 a.m. - Garnavillo Public Library.
