Farm Bureau takes a step, not a leap

With news that the Missouri Farm Bureau is adopting a position somewhat friendlier to new taxes for transportation, the state's transportation-funding discussion clearly is entering a new phase.

Last year, the Farm Bureau's implacable opposition helped to doom Gov. Bob Holden's transportation funding package -- the largest proposed tax increase in state history -- in the General Assembly.

Earlier this month at its annual meeting, Farm Bureau delegates adopted a resolution of support for efforts to boost funding for the Missouri Highways and Transportation Department as long as certain conditions are met.

This resolution listed 14 conditions, and key among them are the following:

A fair allocation of highway funds should be implemented using such objective criteria as vehicle miles traveled, recognizing not only the importance of the interstates, but also the importance of the state-federal highway system and the farm-to-market roads.

Any plan for system expansion, rehabilitation, reconstruction or maintenance should identify specific projects and commit to general timelines for completion.

The projects of the 15-year plan should be a major emphasis for system expansion as provided by the distribution of available funds.

All earmarked federal highway and transportation-related funds received in Missouri should be taken into consideration in the allocation of the state funds and remaining federal funds.

The resolution concludes, in pertinent part:

"If these types of steps are taken by the governor, the General Assembly, the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission ... and are implemented in a manner so as to assure that commitments are fulfilled, then we would support a reasonable increase in state taxes for highways and bridges, with an emphasis on user fees such as the fuel tax and-or vehicle registration fees and-or with consideration given to an increase in the state sales tax."

There is nothing in these qualifiers that is unreasonable, and there is much with which a majority of Missourians will likely agree. Still, those who jump to assume that some major milepost has been passed, with the Farm Bureau now on board for a tax increase, would do well to parse, with some care, each of the above-quoted conditions.

In each of these carefully worded sentences lies the nub of contentious debates, in both House and Senate, that will precede the passage of any funding bill that can gain Farm Bureau backing.

Put another way, it's a bit of a thaw, but one thaw doesn't a spring make.