Vilsack still not saying how he’ll handle speeding bill

Opponents of raising the speed limit on Iowa’s interstate highways are lobbying Governor Vilsack to use his item veto authority on the speed limit bill. The bill not only raises the speed limit on rural stretches of interstate to 70 miles an hour, it also doubles speeding fines. Opponents of the speed limit hike want Vilsack to approve just half the bill — the half that doubles speeding fines. “That won’t happen,” Vilsack says. “That will not happen.” Vilsack for years has opposed the idea of raising the speed limit because he has said it would increase the number of deaths on the highways and raise auto insurance rates for Iowans. Now, though, Vilsack has little to say about the issue and will not say whether he’ll sign or veto the speed limit bill. “I haven’t thought much about it,” Vilasck says of the speed limit bill that cleared the Senate last week.