The Register’s Editorial

The Iowa Legislature is scheduled to convene in less than one month. To set priorities for the session, lawmakers should pay attention to what their constituents are doing right now: snowmobiling, hunting, ice fishing, and birdwatching. Iowans will receive bicycles and paddle boards from Santa. They'll make New Year's resolutions to get outside and exercise.

Will 2015 be the year lawmakers finally invest in what their constituents value? Will legislators get money flowing to a trust fund for the outdoors that Iowans voted overwhelmingly to create in 2010?Only if we pressure them, which is exactly what we should do.

More than four years have passed since voters across the state supported a constitutional amendment to provide a dedicated source of revenue to conservation and recreation. Amending the constitution is no simple task, but Iowans cared enough about this issue to show up at the voting booth and do it. They did their part to try to rescue our parks, trails, public spaces, soil and waterways.

They certainly expected lawmakers to listen and do their part: Increase the state sales tax as little as 3/8 of one cent to generate money for the fund. But lawmakers have refused.

While other states have used constitutional amendments to generate billions of dollars for recreation, our amendment is simply words on paper. It is meaningless when not a single penny has been placed in the trust fund.

Our fearless leaders sit on their hands while soil erosion threatens our economy, waterways are spoiled, and state landmarks crumble. Destroyed wetlands contribute to devastating and expensive flooding. Lawmakers mumble about "tax increases" or refuse to make any changes to the law unless those changes are "revenue neutral."

But let's just call raising the sales tax what it is: a tax increase. And let's recognize that for what it is: something Iowans have repeatedly said they want on this issue.

A poll released last month found 81 percent of Iowans support the creation of the fund and 66 percent of respondents want it funded. Previous polls show the majority of voters are willing to pay more in taxes when they know the money is being spent on conservation and recreation. Iowa voters have passed every single local ballot measure to dedicate more money to the outdoors, including one recently in Polk County that will generate millions for the outdoors.

An investment in our natural infrastructure is an investment in this state's economy and future. Trails and parks attract businesses and tourists who spend money on everything from hotels to ammunition. Recreational opportunities improve quality of life for everyone. People want lakes they can swim in and recreational trails they can walk on.

Yet many of the 150 people voters send to the State Capital refuse to listen to their constituents. Perhaps they don't care. Or they are not embarrassed that Iowa scores painfully low on national rankings for dedicating dollars to conservation and land set aside for public use. Or they think the more than 60 percent of voters who supported the constitutional amendment in 2010 will simply forget about it.

Iowans should not forget. In fact, this should be the year they demand lawmakers act. The same coalitions of hunters, farmers, cyclists, anglers and environmentalists that came together to pass the amendment should descend on the Capitol in 2015 and insist lawmakers finish the job. Instead of more political bickering and partisan grandstanding, this year our elected officials can do something that actually makes Iowa a better place to live.

Because the people of this state have waited long enough. And so has Mother Nature.

Other states have acted on funding

The Natural Resources and Outdoor Recreation Trust Fund was created by Iowa voters in 2010. It is a permanent and constitutionally protected source of funding for the outdoors. An increase in sales tax would allow 3/8 of one cent to be dedicated to conservation and recreation. That would generate an estimated $150 million per year.

This is a drop in the bucket of the money needed to address this state's filthy water, soil erosion, crumbling landmarks, and disconnected recreational trails. But it is a start.

Many other states got their start much earlier.

Concerned about the loss of topsoil, Missouri voters voted in 1984 to a one-10th-of-1 percent sales tax to fund soil and water conservation efforts. They renewed the tax in 1988 and again in 1996. When the tax was renewed in 2006, more than 70 percent of voters supported it.

The roughly $100 million generated annually is earmarked for conservation. Water quality has improved. Precious topsoil has been preserved. Interestingly, a Gallup poll several years ago found only about half of Missourians even realized they were paying the tax.

"It is estimated that more than 148 million tons of soil have been saved since the start of the sales tax," according to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.

In 1996, Arkansas voters approved a constitutional amendment dedicating a portion of sales tax to land conservation. It generates $40-$60 million in annual revenues.

Minnesota voters have approved three constitutional amendments to dedicate lottery, sales tax and legislative bond revenues to conservation. The sales tax is expected to generate $5.5 billion in a few decades.

Even conservative, tax-averse Alabamans amended the constitution in 2012 to fund green spaces with oil reserves. The measure received support from 75 percent of voters.

More than 30 states provide a dedicated source of revenue for the outdoors. About a dozen of them, including Iowa, used a constitutional amendment to do this. Yet Iowa is the only state where not a single penny has been collected to actually provide money for Mother Nature. We are a national embarrassment.