The Iowa Legislature will have to wait until next year to decide if the state’s legal threshold for drunken driving will be changed from .10 to .08. This is because the Iowa House of Representatives declined to take up the issue before the end of the legislative session. And they failed to touch on the pending bill at the special session held this week.

An October 2000 federal law requires states must have a .08 blood-alcohol limit to be eligible for federal road money. Iowa will be eligible for $2 million a year if it approves the change, and stands to lose $47.2 million between 2004 and 2007 if it does not change the limit.

Twenty-nine states, in addition to Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico, have adopted .08 blood-alcohol limits, according to the United States Department of Transportation.

And it appears as though the Iowa public wants the change as well; a Des Moines Register poll in December showed that 75 percent of Iowans support the stricter drunk driving standard. The Iowa County Attorneys Association, state law enforcement agencies and Mothers Against Drunk Driving all support the change, along with Gov. Tom Vilsack. All agree that a .08 limit would make highways safer, seeing that those who are driving above that blood-alcohol limit are indeed impaired and a danger to others on the roads.

So why has the Legislature failed to act on the issue thus far?

That’s easy – they’re stubborn.

Republican lawmakers have held up the bill, claiming that they don’t want to lower the limit because of federal government blackmailing. “It’s something that the feds have said `Well, gee, we need this,’ ” said Senate Majority Leader Stewart Iverson, R-Dows. “A number of us have looked at all the statistics and think it doesn’t always bear out.”

Way to take a stand Sen. Iverson. Tell them dirty Washington no-nothing know-it-alls that the great state of Iowa won’t be blackmailed by an overreaching federal government that has abandoned the basic tenets of federalism.

This view on the issue is pretty pathetic. This bill is not a priority in the Legislature merely because stubborn Republican leaders don’t want to be bullied around by the feds? It’s bad enough to lose federal funds during times of budget difficulties because of the irresponsibility of the Legislature, but the safety of Iowa’s drivers are put at risk.

If a bill changing the limit to .08 is passed next year, that would still be enough time to salvage our federal road money. But is that the only reason to pass such a bill?

We need the federal money; there’s no denying that fact. But the Legislature also needs to show its constituents that it is in favor of safer roads and safer highways. That it is firmly behind anything that can make passengers feel safer.

The Legislature didn’t care enough this year. Let’s make it a priority next year, even if it is a year too late.

editorialboard: Andrea Hauser, Tim Paluch, Michelle Kann, Charlie Weaver, Omar Tesdell