This week has been the second funnel week for bills, so it has been another very busy week.  There has been an increase in committee work and less floor action.  Every decision seems to be a tough one to make.  Some are happy and others are not.

I try to make my decisions based on the information that I have on hand, get from others that may have an expertise in that given field, and some of the staff people that have donated a great deal of time in research.  It takes a combination of all of this information to make some type of educated decision.  One of the things that I have noticed at all levels of government is that the misinformation seems to travel at a speed greater than the truth.  Come to think of it this applies in life as well.  Rumor seems to always out travel truth.

I campaigned on several ideas one of which was to improve the economic climate in this state.  This is going to take a three prong step; one we need regulatory reform, second we need to review chapter 20, third we need to invest in our future for a return on our investment for new business growth.  One of these prongs will not work without the other two.

SF 344, the Regulatory Reform/Business Climate Enhancement bill, passed out of the Commerce, Regulation and Labor Committee on Monday, April 7, on a party-line vote.  The bill makes general changes to the business regulatory climate in Iowa, and is designed to attract and retain businesses throughout the state. The bill is broken down into eight divisions:  Liability Reform, Unemployment Compensation, Worker’s Compensation, Occupational Safety, Financial Services, Environmental Provisions, Public Works Contracts, and Targeted Economic Development.  Under each division is a broad set of changes to current law.

SF 313, the Public Employee Collective Bargaining bill, passed out of the Commerce, Regulation and Labor Committee on Thursday, April 10, on another party line vote.  The bill was amended and both sides of the isle supported the amendments.  I believe with a little more discussion that we can come up with a solution that most people can support.

The third prong is known as the Iowa Values Fund.  The idea has a great deal of support, the question is how are we going to pay for the bonding that it will take to establish the fund.  The dollar amount keeps changing from $500 million to $2 billion.  The present amount seems to be just under a billion dollars. 

This pot of money would include funding for Business Development, Business Research and development at the State Colleges, Business Training at the Community Colleges, Regional Economic Development, Quality of Life funding, and School Infrastructure funding to enact the local option sales tax for school infrastructure to bring up those communities to the state wide average.

There seems to be a little in the Iowa Values fund for everybody.  The question still remains how are we going to pay off the debt of the bonds.  This is something that most of us are struggling with I know that I am.  The part that I like the most is the money to be invested in a pool to bring the schools, that are not in a retail area, to bring them up to the statewide average with the special sales option tax.

We continue to look at tax reform and how best to reform the tax system.  However, there is only one way to reduce taxes and that is to reduce spending. 

There are lots of reasons why people would want to live in Iowa.  We have a great environment to raise a family, we have one of the best schools systems in the country, and the state is filled with great people willing to do what it takes to get a job done.  We may disagree on ideas or plans of action, but we all basically want the same growth for this state. 

Our futures actually depend on it.  The funding for present and future programs depends on growth in our population and growth in business.  Business, workers, and all taxpayers need to benefit for any growth plans or we all may lose.

I would like to hear your comments on any or all of these ideas and proposals that we are looking at in this last quarter of the session.  I will keep you informed as to what is happening, but you can always bring up the States Legislative web page and keep track of the bills your self.  Of course you can always call or e-mail me. 

Until next week,

Tom Sands