Last week, the Legislature hit the first self-imposed deadline we use to narrow the number of bills still eligible for debate, called the funnel. While there are a few exceptions for tax and budget bills as well as official resolutions, any bill that has not cleared a House or Senate Committee this week is dead for the year.
Funnel week is one of the busiest of legislative session. I was designated as “ranking member” on 10 different subcommittees concerning a wide-range of bill topics such as; expanding use of carbon-monoxide detectors, agricultural land-lease agreements, improvements to laws requiring public meeting notices and water-quality enhancement efforts among others. In addition, nearly 30 bills were up for consideration in the seven committees I serve on. Needless to say, the Capitol was a great place to be this week. It’s great to see good ideas move forward while bad ones get left behind.
Some of the bills that are still alive this session include increasing penalties for identity theft, making it easier for Iowans serving in the military to vote and giving kids additional protection from sexual predators.
While there was some progress this week, I’m deeply concerned that there was no action this week on the two biggest issues facing us this year – stopping the governor’s plan to privatize Medicaid and setting basic funding for public schools. With the privatization deadline just two weeks away and school funding already two years behind, there’s no time to waste.
Last month, Gov. Branstad outlined a plan to divert $4.7 billion from public schools to water quality. Since that time, the plan has been met with skepticism from school leaders, environmental groups, and lawmakers from both sides of the aisle. While we all agree action must be taken to improve water quality, Iowa would not be in this position if the mechanisms in place to address water quality issues had been funded properly in the first place. That includes $16.2 million vetoed by the governor for water quality just two years ago and repeated attempts by House Democrats over the last five years to make additional investments in water quality that were turned back by Republicans.
The Republicans plan to address water quality by scooping funds that were already promised to other school projects is a violation of voter trust. That’s because Iowa voters originally approved this sales tax fund at the local level for school infrastructure purposes. It was later enacted statewide by lawmakers with the same intent.
The Republican plan does not provide any significant monies to water quality improvement for at least seven years and it’s likely this plan will need to be put back to the people in 2049 in order to continue. Republicans are presenting Iowans with a false choice by saying water quality has to come at the expense of our public schools. After years of stagnant state funding and constant delays, this is just the latest attempt to divert hundreds of millions of dollars from public schools to other programs.
As the session progresses, as always, if you have ideas on how we can make Jasper County a great place to live, work and raise a family, or if you need assistance with state agencies, call me at home 641-521-9260 or email dan.kelley@legis.iowa.gov. Jasper County’s comeback belongs to all of us.