Leading Republican says speed limit increase still possible

A Republican senator who has repeatedly said “no” to tax increases says a proposal to raise Iowa’s Interstate speed limits has a better chance of becoming law because it would double speeding fines. The proposal has cleared two committees in the House and awaits action in a third House committee. Senate Co-Leader Stewart Iverson, a republican from Dows. Iverson says the bill will get a “fair hearing” in the Senate because it would raise up to six million dollars to spend on the state’s court system. Money’s tight, and Iverson says that would be seen as a way to spend more on the courts without taking dollars from other areas of state government. The bill calls for using some of the money raised from higher speeding fines to buy new vehicles for state troopers. “If they tie those two together…it has a better shot,” Iverson says. A bill that focused solely on raising the speed limit on Iowa highways failed the Senate Transportation Committee last month, but it did not include the plan to double speeding fines.