Iowa’s still-empty natural resources trust fund.
by Rick Hollis
Brad Freidhof shared Todd Dorman’s column from Monday’s CR Gazette. I would take issue with the headline. Yes the Natural Resources Trust Fund is Still Empty. But this is not a rough patch, it has been a rough patch ever since we, the voters in Iowa voted to create this fund and defined where the money would go.
In 2010 we voted by a 63 percent to 37 percent margin to direct the legislature to form this fund with a tiny percentage of the next sales tax increase. Since then, we have occasionally had our hopes raised slightly but have never been close to passing. I am not sure it ever came close to a vote. I for one am tired of waiting.
The Constitutional Amendment we passed even defined where the money would go.