One Idaho road-funding bill down, four to go The defeat of the fuel tax hike leaves Otter's plan for highways in tatters. Idaho Statesman, March 20, 2009 BY: CYNTHIA SEWELL

Two Republican powerhouses who often have their fingers on the pulse of the House had vastly different reactions to Thursday's vote on Gov. Butch Otter's proposed 7-cent fuel tax hike.

Immediately after the 43-27 defeat, Assistant Majority Leader , R-Oakley, who carried Otter's bill on the floor, was red-faced and shocked.

"I'm disappointed. I didn't take on the responsibility of carrying this bill lightly," he said. "I don't understand some of the votes."

Meanwhile, House Transportation Committee Chairwoman JoAn Wood, R-Rigby, was calm and collected.

Katherine Jones/Idaho Statesman Assistant Majority Leader Rep. Scott Bedke, R-Oakley, who had presented Gov. Butch Otter's bill to raise the fuel tax, was disappointed when it failed. "We have work to do," he said later in his office. "The problem of roads is not going away."

"I tried to tell the governor this would happen," she said.

These expectations are indicative of a deeply divided House. The governor and lobbyists pushed the bill hard, and all of GOP leadership voted for it, yet more than half of House Republicans voted against the bill.

"It shows the different factions, that a consensus has not been reached," said House Majority Leader , R-Star.

OTTER FORGES AHEAD

"I'm disappointed by today's outcome, but I appreciate the constructive debate, and I am not giving up," the governor said in a statement.

Otter started the session with a $174 million transportation-funding package composed of six bills. He has since whittled the package down to $119 million. This $61.6 million gas tax increase was key, providing half of the proposed revenues.

The other major piece, a $31.6 million increase in vehicle registration fees, stumbled out of the starting gate this week with an $11 million miscalculation. The bill was supposed to have been on the floor Thursday, too, but it had to be revamped. The Transportation Committee has not yet scheduled a hearing for the new bill. A FEW IDEAS STILL OUT THERE

Of Otter's remaining four bills, a rental car tax failed in committee, a bid to eliminate the ethanol exemption awaits Senate action, and two bills are languishing in committee: a proposal to shift Idaho State Police funding out of the highway account, and an increase for specialty and personalized license plates.

Wood's committee is also sitting on two other gas tax proposals - her own bill proposing a 2-cent increase and another proposing a 5-cent increase - and two competing vehicle registration-fee increase proposals.

Wood is not sure what - if anything - will happen with any of these pending bills.

"If the vote is going to be the same," she said, "there's not a whole lot of reason to bring more out."

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION HOW THEY VOTED

BY PARTY:

Republicans: 24-28

Democrats: 3-15

S.W. IDAHO VOTES: 9-19

YES: , R-Emmett; , R-Boise; , R-Midvale; Elfreda Higgins, D- Garden City; Rich Jarvis, R-Meridian; , R-Boise; Mike Moyle, R-Star; Pat Takasugi, R-Wilder; Rich Wills, R-Glenns Ferry.

NO: Cliff Bayer, R-Boise; , R-Midvale; Darrell Bolz, R-Caldwell; Grant Burgoyne, D-Boise; , D-Boise; Gary Collins, R-Nampa; , R-Nampa; Brian Cronin, D-Boise; Branden Durst, D- Boise; Marv Hagedorn, R-Boise; , D-Boise; , D-Boise; Steve Kren, R-Nampa; Raul Labrador, R-Eagle; , R-Mountain Home; , R-Meridian; Anne Pasley-Stuart, D-Boise; Robert Schaefer, R-Nampa; Steven Thayn, R-Emmett.