And at a caucus meeting Thursday, their lead budget architect, Rep. Ron Bigelow, R-West Valley City, cautioned lawmakers to scrutinize every spending proposal not related to road construction.
"This is going to be a transportation year," Rep. Brad Dee, R-Washington Terrace, told the caucus.
Senate President John Valentine says that statement may go a little too far, but he names transportation, education and tax reform as the Legislature's top issues this session.
"We have a strong feeling about putting a significant amount into transportation," he said.
The House's figure also far exceeds Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s budget recommendation to ease congestion with a one-time $33 million infusion from an expected $358 million surplus.
"Even the governor believes there is a need," Bigelow said. "The question is how far do we go to addressing those needs this year."
The elevation of transportation to the top of the House spending priorities has Pat Rusk, president of the Utah Education Association, worried.
"I do believe that the push for transportation dollars will be the biggest obstacle for other programs to get full funding," she said.
Utah has the lowest per-student spending on kindergarten to Grade 12 education among the 50 states. The state also is facing an increase of more than 100,000 students over the next decade.
Rusk points to numerous opinion polls, including a recent Tribune survey, that show taxpayers want most of the surplus to go to education, not transportation. In the Tribune survey, transportation came in fourth.
House Republicans recognized public sentiment and decided Thursday to create a new fact sheet showing the reasons transportation tops their priority list.
Those in charge of the state's transit and road projects say the entire surplus would not cover half their needs.
Transportation officials say $7 billion in the next decade is needed to keep Utahns moving smoothly.
Part of the problem stems from deficits in recent years. Legislators raided the Centennial Highway Fund repeatedly, slowing down the debt payments for the Interstate 15 remodel in Salt Lake County. And if lawmakers don't put new money in now, that $7 billion figure will continue to rise, said Majority Leader Jeff Alexander.
With bottlenecks forming on I-15 in Davis and Utah counties, not to mention the dozens of smaller roads that need work, transportation officials and business leaders say they can't afford to hold off on new construction.
Part of the funding is expected to come from the federal government after Congress passes the long overdue transportation appropriations bill. Utah would get millions under the proposed plans, but the state and local governments would still have to come up with a significant amount.
A number of bills would help facilitate that need.
Rep. Rebecca Lockhart, R-Provo, is sponsoring legislation that would create the Transportation Investment Fund. Her bill is expected to increase a variety of funds as well as transfer about $90 million from the general fund. The House's figure of $85 million may be part of this plan or something separate, Lockhart said.
A plan to streamline the sales tax also may result in a bump in transportation funding. A proposal to help buy land for later road projects also includes new revenue.
But lawmakers are not ready to increase taxes to pay for the new roads and light-rail lines.
"I would be surprised to see a gas-tax increase when we have a lot of surplus," said Bigelow, co-chairman of the powerful Executive Appropriations Committee
Bigelow cautioned House Republicans to scrutinize all requests for new money because the state must make an investment in transportation at some point.
"When you decide you want to fund a program, you better be pretty committed to it because you may have to come back next year and raise taxes . . . or take that money back from that program," he said.
mcanham@sltrib.com
