NAMPA — Treasure Valley commuters say they are angered by the Idaho Legislature’s handling of local-option taxes for transportation needs.

A group rallied outside the Nampa Gateway Center on Garrity Boulevard south of Interstate 84 during the afternoon rush hour Tuesday.

It was a fitting time and location, given the freeway’s tendency to become congested during the evening commute. More than a half dozen people joined the effort.

Even as the disgruntled commuters stood on the sidewalk holding signs with slogans like “Local option now,” traffic backed up in front of the stoplight at Garrity and Flamingo. Protesters said the backups illustrated the need for local-option taxes.

Over the weekend, the group decided to rally against a plan that would seek a constitutional amendment to allow authorities to levy a local-option tax for public transit or roads. An amendment isn’t necessary, they said, when lawmakers could merely provide the option in state law.

“We just want to see the chance for people to vote on a local-option tax,” said Julie Fanselow, a Boise resident who writes the online Boise Bus Blog.

Legislators are divided on the amendment issue. House Majority Leader Mike Moyle, R-Star, said earlier this week that the amendment would protect taxpayers.

“When we start raising taxes, it should not be easy,” he said, “and that’s what this is all about.”

The protesters said a constitutional amendment would stall the issue even longer and make it more difficult for a local-option tax plan to get off the ground. The amendment would require approval by two-thirds of both the House and the Senate before it could go to voters, a simple majority of whom would have to vote to approve the amendment. The issue would likely go to voters in November 2009 at the earliest.

It would also require two-thirds approval county-by-county, not by region, to levy the local option tax.

Fanselow said that with those requirements in place, the local option tax could take years to come to fruition.

“Clearly we have a problem,” she said. “I don’t understand why the Legislature doesn’t want to do something about it.”

Meridian resident Liza Morris also came out to support transit options, saying that “local-option tax is pretty much the only way to get it done.”

Treasure Valley leaders and residents will get a rude awakening when growth continues to cause traffic problems but no plans are in place to fix the issue, she said.

“We’re going to be in a real crisis,” Morris predicted.

GOP Sen. John McGee of Caldwell, who chairs the Senate Transportation Committee, is in favor of giving residents the right to decide if they want to raise revenue using a local-option tax.

But he said he favors the amendment only if legislation to create a local-option tax for transit wouldn’t otherwise pass.

“Constitutional sideboards require a high level of public acceptance, which (is) needed in order to give many legislators comfort to do a local option,” he said.