The Senate is now debating the newly amended HB 312a. From the debate:

Sen. Grant Burgoyne, D-Boise, said, “I would just suggest that haste makes mistakes. We first saw this bill a few hours ago. … If we pass this, my constituents will never be heard. I didn’t think that was the way we did business.”

Sen. Jim Rice, R-Caldwell, said, “This issue is one of the two top priorities for the citizens in my district, that must be addressed.”

Sen. Steve Vick, R-Dalton Gardens, said, “This is a very large tax increase.” He said lawmakers should have instead tapped into the state general funds, which pays for schools, prisons, and other state services. “It seems to me that we could find something in there to help with roads on,” Vick said. “In my opinion, to come in, in the best revenue year since I’ve been here, to take all of that money and allocate it and raise taxes on  top of that, I don’t think is frugal or conservative.”

Sen. Marv Hagedorn, R-Meridian, said, “This is a pay me now or pay me later oil filter commercial. That’s exactly the situation we’re in. I wasn’t sent here to raise taxes, I suspect that none of us here were. But we were sent here to take care of our infrastructure, and take care of our roads and transportation needs. This is just taking care of it.”