William Petroski, and Brianne Pfannenstiel

DesMoines

Hope is fading that the Iowa Legislature can agree on funding statewide water quality programs in the final days before the 2016 session adjourns.

An Iowa Senate subcommittee approved a bill Thursday raising the state sales tax by three-eighths of 1 cent, which would generate about $180 million starting next year. About 60 percent of that revenue would be directed to cleaning up Iowa's polluted waters.

But Democratic and Republican Senate leaders soon after said that a tax hike has virtually no chance of winning approval this year.

”My sense is that, regardless of party, and particularly in the Republican ranks, there is no interest in raising taxes to come up with a new revenue stream," said Senate Minority Leader Bill Dix, R-Shell Rock.

Senate Majority Leader Michael Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs, also said it's clear that other water quality funding proposals face opposition, either from Democrats, Republicans or both. Time is running out for lawmakers to act, because this year's session could end as soon as next week.

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The focus on improving Iowa’s water quality sharpened in 2015 when Des Moines Water Works filed a federal lawsuit against drainage districts in three northwest Iowa counties. The lawsuit contends that the districts’ tile lines exacerbate pollution in drinking water by moving nutrients more quickly from farm fields to waterways, which cities like Des Moines must pay to remove.

State officials have said the water supplies of about 260 Iowa cities and towns are highly susceptible to being contaminated by nitrates and other pollutants. The state's Nutrient Reduction Strategy, adopted in 2013, aims to reduce rural and urban nitrogen and phosphorous levels through a science- and technology-based framework.

Several plans proposed this year

A proposal by Gov. Terry Branstad to divert a portion of future sales tax revenue growth meant for school infrastructure toward programs to curb water pollution has already been rejected by the House.

Instead, House Republicans have passed their own plan to generate nearly half a billion dollars for water quality efforts over 13 years by shifting money from state infrastructure projects and using revenue Iowans already pay on their water bills. But Senate Democrats reject the House bill as a shell game that would reduce revenue available for education programs.

Meanwhile, Gronstal has developed a plan to divert a portion of future state revenue surpluses to water quality initiatives, saying that estimates by the Legislative Services Agency show it would generate hundreds of millions of dollars over the next decade while avoiding a tax increase. His proposal, for example, would shift $100 million annually to water quality programs in years when the state's ending annual budget balance was $400 million, and lesser amounts for lower ending balances.

But House Speaker Linda Upmeyer, R-Clear Lake, criticized Gronstal's plan as falling short of what the House-backed plan could accomplish.

“We worked hard to come up with a plan that is sustainable, predictable, stable — I mean, all the things you would want a good plan to be,” Upmeyer said. Gronstal’s proposal, she believes, doesn’t accomplish any of those goals.

Support shown in Senate hearing

Although raising the state's sales tax to pay for water quality programs appears unlikely to win approval this session, about 60 people attended a Senate subcommittee hearing Thursday, and many applauded the advancement of the sales tax legislation.

Democratic Sens. Robert Hogg of Cedar Rapids and Janet Petersen of Des Moines agreed to support Senate File 504, which would raise the sales tax by three-eighths of 1 cent Jan. 1. The legislation would provide funding for the Natural Resources and Outdoor Recreation Trust Fund, which was overwhelmingly ratified by Iowa voters in an amendment to the Iowa Constitution in November 2010.

Hogg expressed enthusiasm about the proposal, saying it could become the "signature legislation" of the 2016 session. Iowa has more than 700 impaired waterways, problems with drinking water, and its polluted waters heading down the Mississippi River makes it a leading contributor to the "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico, he said.

Jan Glendening, Iowa state director of The Nature Conservancy, said a sales tax increase would provide a sustainable approach to address conservation issues, reduce flooding, improve outdoor recreation and have other positive impacts.

"We are 100 percent behind this, and we hope the House can rally around this," she said. A host of lobbyists for other groups, ranging from the Sierra Club to the Iowa Environmental Council, also praised plans to raise taxes.

But Deborah Bunka of Ames, a member of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, expressed concerns that a voluntary nutrient-reduction plan promoted by state officials is a "failed strategy." She said corporate agriculture needs to "have some skin in the game" and begin to take responsibility for polluting Iowa's waters.

Republican lawmakers, who represent 24 of the Iowa Senate's 50 members, expressed little interest in endorsing a sales tax increase. Without their bipartisan support, many Senate Democrats would be hesitant to vote to raise taxes.

"Water quality is an extremely important issue," said Sen. Jack Whitver, R-Ankeny. "Everyone in the Capitol is willing to work on a solution that could sustain water quality for the long term. I am personally not in favor of increasing sales taxes, especially after we just increased the gas tax last year."

Upmeyer said she remains optimistic that the Senate will consider the House water quality plan. She added that it's possible lawmakers will extend their session to debate the issue if the Senate is willing to take up the House bill.

But if the Senate simply sends proposals to the House that Republicans have already rejected, Upmeyer said extending the session is unlikely. In that event, the Legislature will have to take up water quality funding issues again next year, she said.