Move Underway to Axe Road Funding Plan
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Omaha Sen. Brenda Council has proposed legislation that would roll back lawmakers’ decision last session to begin earmarking a portion of sales tax revenue to build and maintain roads. 
The bill, LB1098, would repeal the Build Nebraska Act, which requires the state to begin diverting a quarter of one cent of the state sales tax to roads for 20 years beginning in 2013, generating up to $65 million annually for road projects.
Council said she thinks lawmakers need to “put that issue on the table” as they consider the governor’s proposed tax cuts, funding needs for the Department of Health and Human Services, schools and state aid to counties.
“I believe that revenue source ought to be considered,” she said.
When lawmakers debated the roads bill spearheaded by Sen. Deb Fischer last session, Council said it was often mentioned that it wouldn’t be implemented until 2013, allowing lawmakers to revisit the issue before then.
“We need to determine whether or not we can (afford it),” Council said. “I think this is the most appropriate time to do it.”
In response to Council’s bill, Fischer released the following statement: “Last year, the Legislature held a lengthy debate on this issue, and I believe my colleagues still support this important investment in Nebraska’s infrastructure. The Department of Roads has already released a ten year plan of projects that will now be built because of this legislation. Communities are excited about these projects that will create economic development and jobs across the state.”
Council said she supports roads.
“It in no way is any expression of my lack of support for appropriately funding roads and infrastructure improvements,” Council said.
Reported by Deena Winter, deena@nebraskawatchdog.org.
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Posted under News.
Tags: Brenda Council, Brenda Council roads bill; Fischer roads bill repeal, Deb Fischer, Deena Winter
9:15 am on January 20th, 2012
Good for Sen. Council. Sen. Fischer’s bill takes funds from the human side of state government (schools, child welfare, BSDC, etc) and puts it to asphalt. I’m all for good roads, but Fischer’s bill is poor public policy. Roads should be funded by users.
4:06 pm on January 20th, 2012
Yea, we don’t need roads. We need more government hand-out programs. That’s one thing I look to the my tax $$’s to go to.
10:56 am on January 23rd, 2012
No sales tax-No asphalt, no asphalt-no roads, no roads-no economic development, no economic development-no new jobs, no new jobs-no new houses, no new houses-no new property taxes, no new property taxes-bad schools, bad schools-bad education, bad education-no job, no job-welfare recipient, welfare recipient-government ward, government ward – more taxes.
Yes by all means, let’s increase the number of wards of the state in Nebraska. That’s just good policy, senator Council. thumbs up!=)
3:26 pm on January 23rd, 2012
@ Terry and Rick. Your logic is faulty, but that is to be expected by those who can not think critically. Rick, your “build it and they will come” mentality only works in fantasy movies, not real life. Nebraska is not, nor ever will be, a highly industrial, dense population state that needs an extensive network of high-grade roads. Throw away the first half of your model up to no new property taxes. Everything from there may be valid, but government ward – greater stress on already limited tax resources. Stealing funding from education and human services to pay for roads is a fool’s economic model, the only thing you gain out of that is a population of un or undereducated people who are not healthy nor socially or economically stable. How do we get the innovation and creativity from such a population to come up with the new ideas, create the new products or have the entrepreneurial wherewithal to create economic growth and expansion? We don’t. The only thing we wind up with by your model is a population with two classes, those very few who are rich enough to afford decent education through private schooling, and with that education can get a job that can afford health care and to eat; and those who are consigned to be only functionally literate and educated only to the extent to hold menial labor jobs, without healthcare or any other benefits and destined to be on the “Government handout” you so dread and that you WOULD create if your theories of economics would become reality.
Unfortunately, with the proposed tax handouts to Big Business and the further erosion to the tax base proposed by Davey “Let’s make Nebraska a Dickensian Novel” Heineman in his budget, what you fear will very well become reality if Deb Fisher’s short-sighted, ALEC-inspired piece of take the food out of babies mouths so they can later build our roads for minimum wage law isn’t overturned.
Let those who use the roads pay for them. Fuel taxes is not the only method. Why not make I-80 from border to border a toll road? It works well elsewhere. $15 to travel from Wyoming to the Missouri River for 454 miles on I-80 is not unreasonable for a car, after all I paid that much to travel 250 miles through Ohio on the turnpike. A buck or two for the daily commute between Omaha and Lincoln? Not too bad at all. Charge semis through the nose, after all, it is the heavy semi traffic on the main East-West corridor across the US that is tearing the crap out of I-80 here in Nebraska. We could pay for Deb Fisher’s apparent need to upgrade Nebraska’s highways between two places out in the “middle of nowhere” that are lightly traveled, finish the Kansas to South Sioux City 4-laning of US 77, US 281, US 81, and do this all just in time to run out of oil globally without a viable alternative, that viable alternative that just might have been found by that child you so cavalierly decided to deny a decent Public Education to.