JOHNSTON --- Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal said Friday a plan to expand the state's bottle bill is in significant trouble in the Legislature, but he has hope for a statewide sales tax to fund school infrastructure.

Attempts at changing the bottle bill over the last three decades have been futile, and the Council Bluffs Democrat said lawmakers over the years have reached something of a "cease fire" on the issue.

"One side wants to repeal the law; the other side wants to expand it. Neither side can muster the votes to get that done," Gronstal said at a taping of Iowa Public Television's "Iowa Press."

Iowa's can and bottle deposit law requires consumers to pay a 5-cent deposit for carbonated and alcoholic beverages. The nickels are returned to the consumers when they bring back the containers for recycling.

Gronstal said it's unlikely lawmakers would vote this year to raise the 5-cent deposit or include more types of containers in the law.

Gov. Chet Culver, a Democrat, has urged lawmakers to include more types of beverage containers than those currently covered by the law. Culver says it would cut down on litter and the number of containers that end up in landfills.

A House committee has approved a bill that would include more types of containers, but that's as far as it has moved in the Legislature, which is scheduled to adjourn later this month.

One of the issues Gronstal is optimistic will pass is the statewide sales tax for schools. The proposal would replace local-option sales taxes that have been approved by voters in Iowa counties and replace it with a penny sales tax that would be distributed more equitably among schools.

"I think it's likely that it's going to pass in the House, and I think it's got a very good shot in the Senate," he said.

Gronstal said he's committed to finding a long-term funding source for local school infrastructure.

"Our generation, the Baby Boom generation, has done the worst job in the history of the state in terms of providing school buildings for their kids," Gronstal said.

House Minority Leader Christopher Rants, R-Sioux City, said Republicans are concerned money raised from the tax would end up being used for other purposes than school building projects, such as salaries.

They'll push to pair the tax change with a constitutional amendment directing the dollars only to school infrastructure.

"If they're honest about their intentions to leave the money alone, then they should have no problem constitutionally protecting those dollars," Rants said.

Charlotte Eby can be reached at (515) 243-0138 or [email protected].

http://www.wcfcourier.com/articles/2008/04/04/news/politics/10249142.txt