Battle for water, land
and wildlife continues

The time we spend outdoors working, farming, hunting, fishing or just playing, is a big part of what makes living in Iowa so special. Yet, Iowa ranks close to the bottom in state funding for environmental protection and outdoor recreation per capita.

That’s why Environment Iowa is working with a broad coalition of environmental, hunting, fishing and other groups on the Water, Land and Wildlife Campaign. Our campaign is a six-year effort to establish a constitutionally protected trust fund dedicated to outdoor recreation and environmental protection.

Future legislatures and governors would be constitutionally prohibited from spending sales tax dollars placed in this trust fund for any other purpose.

Minnesota created a similar trust fund via ballot approval on Nov. 4, 2008 after a 10-year effort, and Missouri created such a fund in the 1970s.

Member action makes headway

The campaign cleared its first hurdle in the spring of 2008, when phone calls, visits and e-mails to legislators from Environment Iowa members and others persuaded lawmakers to approve the measure. But since it’s an amendment to the state constitution, the measure requires a second Legislature’s approval and approval from Iowa citizens at the ballot.  

To build support for approval in 2009, the coalition held 12 legislative forums across the state in October. We educated legislators, their challengers and the public about the issue, and asked candidates for their views and positions on the trust fund.

The information generated at the forums, and the knowledge of experienced coalition members, makes it clear that passing the amendment this second time is possible but will be harder than it was a year ago.

Addressing the public’s concerns

Environment Iowa is leading the effort to address the objection by progressives that the sales tax that generates the trust fund will harm the budgets of low-income Iowans.  Together with low-income advocates, Environment Iowa is planning to advocate a specific change in the tax code to offset this cost. As of press time, the specific tax code change has not been selected.

Environment Iowa members signed postcards urging Gov. Chet Culver to make his support more visible to the public.  By the time this newsletter reaches you, we will have delivered those postcards—more than 9,000—to the governor.  

Taking the next steps

If the Legislature approves the amendment again in 2009, the measure will go up for a public vote on the November 2010 ballot. The upcoming ballot campaign is going to require a public environmental education effort more extensive than any seen before in Iowa. Environment Iowa is preparing the messages and conducting the fundraising to enable it.