Sheets Snapshot – April 30, 2016
Dear District 80 friends,
Session is over. Appropriations Bills for Economic Development, Health and Human Services, Administration and Regulation, and more have been voted on. There were activity bursts between long lulls of waiting on the Senate. Voting extended to11PM or midnight repeatedly. We were always told we didn’t spend enough, even though we spent it all. We increased funding for our community colleges by roughly $3 million and our three Regent schools was also increased slightly with a total of $6.3 million. Spending for K-12 accounted for 77% of the state’s new revenue.
177,000 Iowans were spared a $95 million tax increase, because of the House insistence that farmers, teachers, and small business owners be protected. Iowa manufacturers were relieved of an unfair double taxation. Bills relating to Internet gambling and Iowa grown and dispensed marijuana crashed and burned. The underlying problem with marijuana is that the federal government has classified it as a schedule 1 drug to be considered more dangerous than heroin or morphine, which are both classified schedule 2. Branstad signed a Bill into law making ‘peeping Tom’ prosecution easier. Criminal trespass is now committed if a person “intentionally views, photographs, or films another person through the window or any other aperture of a dwelling, without legitimate purpose, while present on the real property upon which the dwelling is located.” Previously, to gain a conviction, it had to be proved that a peeper or trespasser was aroused and that the victim was nude or partially nude. Further, it covers situations where the victim had a reasonable expectation of privacy and did not, or could not, consent to being viewed, photographed or filmed.
The Federal EPA in the last few years has put pressure on the states bordering the Mississippi and its tributaries to reduce the nitrates and phosphorous from entering the Gulf of Mexico. The reason is that there is a zone in the Gulf where the fish haven’t enough oxygen (hypoxia) and die. In response to that pressure, Iowa farmers have voluntarily initiated efforts toward reducing the contributing pollutants. So, cleaning up the rivers was the goal. The governor’s proposal of using a portion of the education 1% sales tax SAVE fund to fund these efforts met with stiff opposition in both the House and Senate. Water quality developed into a highly debated political hot potato, and the whole subject became distorted from its original purpose. The House debate became shrill with claims that we have a water crisis in Iowa almost as bad as in Flint Michigan. Nothing could be farther from the truth, as we have excellent drinking water. So rather than addressing the real issue, we were faced with either voting against pure water or for a Bill that only partially address the core problem.
The Health and Human Services Appropriations Bill took 2 days of debate. We passed that Bill out of the House that was to end Iowa Taxpayer funding of abortion. The House Republicans’ insisted on not funding any abortion provider. The Senate rejected our language and the Bill ended up in a conference committee. The next battle occurred with the floor vote on Friday, where the proponents of ending taxpayer funding of abortion lost by one vote. Focusing on life, the House Republicans pushed and passed an amendment that doubled the adoption tax credit to $5,000 to help families to adopt. Session quickly ended with several less contentious Bills being passed that same Friday.
I have spared you the many details that have happened these last several weeks. This Snapshot is somewhat longer because it is the final one this year and because I have not written recently to keep you out of the weeds and speculations. This concludes my 4th year in Session. I have learned much, and most of that is about human nature. This experience has truly been an honor.
My youngest son, Joey, is tugging at my heart again. His baseball games are during the week. We look forward to the family and community life that follows the end of Session. I will participate in Albia’s June 12th Salute to Veterans and the USA. I hope to see you there.