Chairmen Cameron and Bell, Committee members

Your willingness to listen to us and hear our case has been greatly appreciated. If we have come across as too strident or too insistent it is because the loss of the OHV gas tax cuts right to the heart of the recreation program in Idaho. It is a program that has worked admirably for decades and is enthusiastically supported by the over 274,000 owners of registered boats, atvs, snowmobiles, and dirt motorcycles.

I think it important to note that motorized recreationists have never lost their right to get a gas tax refund for fuel burned off road. Instead we have willingly pooled those funds to be transferred to IDPR. Using this money, along with registration and federal gas tax money, Idaho has built a recreation infrastructure that is second to none and envied by all. It contributes not just to the quality of life in Idaho but, as we have said repeatedly, to the economic stability of many rural communities. Many of those communities that once depended on logging and mining have now turned to motorized recreation.

The recreation community has found itself in the middle of a most difficult situation. I do not know of one recreation organization that took a position on the gas tax with respect to highway funding, not because our members didn’t have strong feelings about the issue, but rather because we didn’t in our wildest dreams suspect it would become our fight. We still maintain that there is no logical justification for utilizing off-road recreation gas tax to address highway infrastructure needs.

We sincerely believe that reinstating the transfer of gas refunds to IDPR is the only answer to the question of how to fund recreation in Idaho. It is truly an efficient use of off-road gas tax money; it is fair and it works. However, as much as we would like the problem resolved this year, we see the wisdom of postponing the decision to 2011. We do that reluctantly but we are willing to trust that you will all be re-elected and do the right thing in 2011. We trust that you will “give us back our gas tax”.

Once again, thank you for listening to our plea and being supportive of our quest for a satisfactory resolution of this important issue.