Rozenboom Report – January 27, 2017
Ken Rozenboom (R) at his desk in the Iowa Senate Chambers.
We are three weeks into the 2017 Legislative session, and some decisions are taking shape. The first order of business this year was to address the $118 million budget shortfall for the current fiscal year. In the past few years, even though revenue continued to grow, Senate Democrats still spent taxpayer money in a way that was not sustainable. Senate Republicans always opposed those budgets because we knew the farm economy was not as strong as in previous years, and that would impact state tax revenues. Our warnings were unheeded, and now we have to cut spending with only five months left in the fiscal year.
We need to be clear. We do not have a revenue problem here; we have had a spending problem. I have told you consistently we should run the state budget just like the family budget. This means that we must not spend more than we take in, and we must not use irresponsible budgeting practices.
Coupling with the federal tax code continues to be a big priority for many Iowans. Last year Senate Republicans drafted an amendment which would have permanently coupled Iowa tax law with federal tax changes, such as Section 179 expensing and teacher classroom deductions. Senate Democrats rejected that amendment, and rejected our plans to reduce state spending. So now we are left with a budget problem that will not allow us to couple with the federal tax code, and that force us to make budget cuts.
In future years Senate Republicans will budget in a responsible way that will limit any need for major mid-year budget changes like this year. Tax reform and permanent coupling continue to be priorities for Republican legislators. Our job creators, farmers, teachers, and all constituents deserve having predictability and certainty when they make decisions to invest and live in Iowa.
Holding a new majority in the Iowa Senate, Republicans demonstrated life and women’s health are among our top priorities. Senate File 2 was one of the first bills filed in the opening week of the Legislative session. SF2 would create a new state family planning program, thus eliminating the current family planning waiver that currently goes only to Planned Parenthood and its 12 clinics across Iowa. The bill would transition the funding to a new program.
This new program opens up a host of new opportunities for women to receive all their primary health care needs from more than 200 Medicaid waiver eligible clinics. The only clinics excluded in this bill are clinics that perform abortions. The fact that this proposed bill makes many more health care facilities available to women all across Iowa is one of the prime reasons this bill is needed. The bill has generated many e-mails and phone calls on both sides of the issue. I appreciate hearing from you, and will take your comments into consideration on this very important issue.
As chairman of the Senate Natural Resources and Environment committee, I continue to work on legislation that addresses concerns about water quality. There are many differing opinions on how to define water quality issues in the state, and, in my view, many of the problems are overstated. Just yesterday the Iowa Supreme Court ruled Des Moines Waterworks does not have legal standing to sue the three counties in northwest Iowa for non-point pollution. That should ratchet down some of the rhetoric that has clouded the issue for the last two years.
However, we will continue efforts to carefully define our goals with respect to water quality, and to carefully target taxpayer dollars to projects that correct the problems we do have in Iowa.
Please join me at the legislative forums in my district. I will be at Happy Joes in Pella at 9:00 AM Friday, February 3. And also I will be at Bridgeview in Ottumwa from 9:30 to 11:30 AM on Saturday. February 4.
