Surviving spouses, parents, children or siblings of an armed forces member who died while on active duty during war may order a special gold star emblem plate under Senate File 586, which was approved Friday by the Iowa House.
Iowa's special license plates typically cost between $15 and $25 more per year. Extra money generated from the star plates would go to help improve Iowa's roads.
Earlier in the session, the Senate included a provision that would have raised $4.3 million or more annually by applying the 5 percent state sales tax to digital material that has been downloaded from the Internet: songs, audio books, cell-phone ring tones, movies and computer software.
State transportation officials warn that Iowa faces a multi-billion-dollar shortfall over the next 20 years in making essential improvements to its network of roads.
A House-Senate study committee would meet over the summer or fall to come up with recommendations by Jan. 15, 2008, for raising road improvement money that would be deposited into the new fund.
A Des Moines Register investigation published in January found that the rate of driver's licenses suspended, revoked or barred has doubled in Iowa in a decade, with nearly 146,000 new sanctions in effect in 2005. Almost two-thirds of the sanctions in Iowa in 2006 were brought on by people failing to pay court fines and fees.
A provision in House File 641 allows offenders to establish a payment plan so the state can better collect the millions of dollars owed in fines.
House File 920 would allow the Iowa Board of Regents to take on the debt. The state currently pays $24.3 million to the repay previously authorized debt. That allocation was anticipated to decrease during the next 16 years, but under the proposal approved Friday, the payments would be maintained to cover the payments for the additional debt.
The projects mostly include new construction or renovation to old buildings. The University of Iowa will get $35.9 million; Iowa State University, $53.9 million; and the University of Northern Iowa, $17.6 million.
A total of $24 million will be used for fire and environmental safety, maintenance and campus security improvements at buildings deemed necessary by the regents.
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