The Rozenboom Report – February 12, 2021
by Senator Ken Rozenboom
The fifth week of the legislative session included more debate on important education issues, as well as continuing our varied work in subcommittees and committees.
Since 1906, Iowa law has permitted a property tax exemption for land that is enrolled in the Forest Reserve program. This is a good program that recognizes the environmental benefits of healthy forest land. There are some basic standards that must be met to qualify for the tax exemption such as a stand of 200 trees per acre and proper forest management, along with a prohibition on livestock grazing. However, there is impact on local government when a significant part of the tax base is totally exempt, especially in “property poor” counties. The tax burden then falls on all other taxpayers. And, like many good ideas, over time some find ways to abuse a successful program.
Senator Amy Sinclair and I, as former southern Iowa county supervisors, are aware that the Forest Reserve is badly in need of an update so we sponsored Senate File 112. This bill makes three fundamental changes to the Forest Reserve law. First, it raises the minimum acres required to enroll from two acres to ten acres. Second, it establishes that owners of forest reserve land will get a 75% tax exemption rather than the current 100% exemption. Forest reserve landowners still want properly maintained roads to access their property, and they want law enforcement and fire protection services. Under current law, that tax burden is shifted to other taxpayers. We believe everyone that benefits from those services, including forest owners, should pay at least a minimum tax.
Third, the legitimacy of the tax exemption must be certified once every five years by the state foresters. Current law calls for the county conservation commission or the county assessors to monitor the tax exemption application process. County officials typically don’t have the resources to certify that those exemptions are legitimate, and we believe this is a good fit for our district foresters who are tasked with maintaining healthy forests around Iowa. SF112 passed out of the Senate Natural Resources and Environmental committee, and now goes to the Ways and Means committee for their consideration.
One major task the legislature must consider early in every session is funding for our K-12 public schools. This week, the Senate passed Senate File 269, approving additional education funding for the next school year. This bill allocates an additional $45.2 million of new spending for K-12 education in Iowa. Education spending is the largest appropriation of taxpayer dollars we make during the legislative session. Iowa spends $3.5 billion on K-12 education, or about 44% of the state’s total budget. The average amount spent on Iowa students for education annually is $14,000.
Like other education bills we have talked about this year, there have been a number of inaccurate claims about this bill and education funding in general. Just to remind my constituents, there has been no cut to K-12 education funding since Governor Chet Culver slashed state budgets 10% in fiscal year 2010. Since then, we have increased K-12 funding every year, and we have delivered every dollar we promised. Despite a decline of hundreds of millions of dollars in state revenue, every promise made to education funding was kept.
This week the Iowa Senate passed SJR 2 out of committee. This is an amendment to the Iowa Constitution stating that the highest state law is neutral on the issue of abortion. One of the reasons the issue of abortion is so volatile is because so much policy around it has been decided by unelected judges instead of the people through their elected leaders. As a result, many people who strongly believe the unborn child is a baby entitled to the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, feel they have limited recourse on issues like public funding of abortion and late term procedures.
This scenario played out in Iowa. Four unelected members of the Iowa Supreme Court heard a challenge to the state’s law requiring a 72-hour waiting period before an abortion could be performed and that court created a constitutional right to an abortion with no foundation other than the opinion of those four judges. Many Iowans rejected not only this policy, but also the process by which it was implemented.
Iowa has a clear process in place to amend its constitution. The exact same language must pass both chambers of the Iowa Legislature in consecutive General Assemblies, notice must be made of the proposed amendment between General Assemblies, and the people of Iowa must ratify that proposed language in a statewide election. This process is the appropriate way to amend the constitution, precisely because this method is how the constitution itself prescribes an amendment be made. It is a process full of public involvement and accountability. Ultimately, every Iowa voter has a say over changes to the Constitution rather than by fiat of only four unelected people in a courtroom in Des Moines.
