Panel: Hike registration fees

BOISE (AP) - An Idaho lawmaker panel recommended boosting vehicle registration fees by $10 to cover money the Idaho State Police was set to lose in a bid to shift more money to highway maintenance.

The hike, if it passes, would raise $15.6 million annually, about a quarter of the agency's operating budget.

After a 2009 session-ending compromise between Gov. Butch Otter and the Legislature, ISP was set to lose its share of gas tax revenue.

Otter and lawmakers gave this panel the job of replacing the money, and this plan is what they came up with.

Even so, hiking fees on cars at a time when studies show heavy trucks aren't paying their fair share could be controversial.

Tuesday's panel also recommended not raiding $4.3 million from off-highway vehicle users' gas taxes to benefit highways.