On Monday, March 8^th the Environmental Committee held a Public Hearing in the House Chamber on air quality standards.  There was an even number of speakers for and against the proposed standards.

Air quality is important to all of us.  As we work to set standards they must be set on scientific study and not emotion.  As I sat there on Monday morning, I was listening to all of the speakers on both sides of the issue.  Many spoke with emotion and some were driven with emotion.  There is a big difference between the two.

The air quality standards affect many different businesses other than just agriculture.  I have stated before the importance of regulation and economic development.  Its interesting how some speak on economic development, but vote for many regulations that make development much more difficult.  We must continue to strive for that balance between quality of life and quantity of life.

The committees did not meet this week with the exception of Appropriations and Ways & Means.  The bills in these two committees are funnel-proof, so they continue to meet.  In fact they are on call the rest of the session. 

We are making progress on the budget.  Sometime this week we will be able to make some figures available to the public for debate.

On Wednesday, March 10, the House Appropriations Committee approved HSB 717, which transfers $17.5 million from the Cash Reserve Fund (CRF) to the Environment First Fund (EFF) for FY 04.

In FY 04, $35 million was appropriated from the Rebuild Iowa Infrastructure Fund (RIIF) to the EFF for environmental projects.  However, since the Iowa Supreme Court ruled against the state in the casino tax rate case, only $17.5 million was available for expenditure.  Since some of the projects, like soil conservation cost share, are time-sensitive, this bill is a stop-gap measure to get the funding for the projects now and repay the CRF after the gambling bill is approved by the Senate.  The house passed this bill on Thursday morning.  This will insure that the time sensitive work will be able to be done.

The House debated and passed HF 2243 on Tuesday.  The bill amends Iowa Code chapter 101, which deals with Flammable Liquids and Liquefied Petroleum Gases.  This bill puts into place notice requirements on LP gas customers relative to any modification to their existing LP system.  If a customer makes modification, repair, installation or service to the system, they are to provide immediate notification to their LP gas supplier.    Immunity granted in the section does not limit the liability of any person for damages that arise out of gross negligence or a willful or wanton act by the person.  The bill defines a LP gas system as any container that is designed to hold more than 20 pounds of LP gas and the attached valves, regulators, pipes, appliances, appliance controls, and appliance venting.  This bill came out of the Commerce, Regulation and Labor Committee of which I am Vice Chair. 

Companies that are negligent need to be held accountable.  Individuals that are negligent need to be held accountable also.  It is time that we all are held to be responsible for our own actions.

Until next time,

Tom Sands