Dozens of environmentalists and hunters crowded into a committee room at the Iowa statehouse to show support for a bill that would increase the state sales tax by three-eighths of a percent. The extra 150-million dollars that would be raised each year would be deposited in a state trust fund for water quality and wildlife habitat projects, as well as parks and trails. Kristin Aschenbrenner is a policy coordinator for the Nature Conservancy, one of more than 85 groups that support the move.

In 2010 Iowa voters passed a constitutional amendment that created the trust fund, but it remains empty until the state sales tax is raised.

The constitutional amendment creating the Iowa Natural Resources and Outdoor Recreation Trust Fund passed with 63 percent of the vote in 2010.

The bill that cleared a senate subcommittee would raise Iowa’s sales tax rate by three-eighths of a percent and put the extra money generated in the trust fund.