Sheets Snapshot – February 8, 2016

Rep. Larry Sheets (R) (photo by Don Hubbard)

Rep. Larry Sheets (R) (photo by Don Hubbard)

Dear friends in District 80.

Representatives passed the education funding Bill out of the House increasing K-12 school funding $81 million. When combined with the money for Teacher Leadership, this represents 84% of the state’s newly available revenue going to education. Since 2011, the funding has increased by over $500 million. I love my children, but there is a point when enough is enough and we need to go back to having teachers/administrators become more creative and “making do” with the resources available. Too much funding can lead to more bureaucracy and wasteful spending.

There was a proposal to discontinue taxpayers from deducting expenses affecting teachers, farmers, small businesses, seniors, home owners and higher educational students. House File 2092 was passed to allow teachers to deduct out-of-pocket expenses for supplies, it helps farmers and other small business make investments in their businesses to help them grow and create new jobs and allows parents and students to deduct qualifying higher educational expenses.

Major General Orr, Adjutant General of the Iowa National Guard said: “Last month, Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter announced that for the first time in our nation’s history, women in the U.S. armed forces may serve in any position for which they’re qualified, including in combat roles.” My daughter, Debbie, is in the Iowa National Guard and is presently stationed at Fort Sam Houston in Texas. This news is very disturbing for obvious reasons. War with its maiming, disfigurations, and PTSD has been rough enough on our male soldiers. Just imagine what they would do to a woman in a prison camp… This was one of the major arguments against the equal rights amendment in the 70s.

Other important issues are:

* The Senate is proposing to spend $70 million more than the state collects. My wife was an accountant and spending more than what you take in can result in bankruptcy. We’ve got to change the government’s irresponsible overspending habits, and that means changing those who are liberally spending other people’s money but are not accountable for those actions.

* The Agriculture Committee voted to extend expiration dates on four bio-fuel tax credits from January 2018 to Jan 1, 2025.

* Several bills were introduced that fight to protect our 2nd Amendment Rights including the prevention of the State from declaring an emergency and taking away our right to possess firearms.

Upcoming forums:

* Feb 13 : “Osky Eggs & Issues” @ 8:30am at Smokey Row in Oskaloosa.
* Feb 27 : “Osky Eggs & Issues” @ 8:30am at Smokey Row in Oskaloosa.

Please contact me if you would like to discuss these and other issues in more detail: larry.sheets@legis.iowa.gov or 641-895-6153.

Posted by on Feb 9 2016. Filed under Local News, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

Comments are closed

         

Search Archive

Search by Date
Search by Category
Search with Google
Log in | Copyright by Oskaloosa News