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Individual consumers would be able to sue for fraud

April 20, 2009 By

Individual Iowans who’re victims of consumer fraud will soon be able to sue for damages.

Today, individual consumers in every other state but Iowa can sue if they feel they’ve been defrauded by an individual or company. For the past 19 years, Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller has been pressing for Iowa to join the rest of the country and on Monday the Iowa House and Senate voted to do so.

Representative Kurt Swaim, a Democrat from Bloomfield, says legitimate Iowa businesspeople should not fear the new law.

"If you violate the elements of this bill, you’re a bad actor," Swaim says. "You deserve to get hit."

Senator Keith Kreiman, a Democrat who is also from Bloomfield, says consumers who’re deceived should be able to sue.

"I do believe that this is a landmark day for consumers in this state," Kreiman says. "…House File 712 will only effect those individuals who know that what they’re doing is deceiving or misrepresenting or concealing or in some way trying to take advantage of a consumer who is unsophisticated."

The bill passed the House on a 95-1 vote; it passed the Senate on a 48-0 vote and Governor Culver is expected to sign it into law.

 

Filed Under: Business, Crime & Courts, Politics & Government Tagged With: , , ,

Expanding state tax credits for historic preservation

April 20, 2009 By

The Iowa House has passed a bill that more than doubles the state tax credits available for preservation of historic properties.

This year the state is granting $20 million to developers who promise to rehab historic buildings around the state. If the bill becomes law, the state will grant $50 million in such credits for historic development next year and each year following.

Representative Sharon Steckman, a Democrat from Mason City, says $10 million will available for disaster recovery of historic sites, like the Czech Museum in Cedar Rapids which was flooded last year.

"I came to this capitol to work for jobs," Steckman says. "…House File 819 will create those jobs. There are currently at least $54 million worth of jobs waiting for this bill."

The Iowa Senate endorsed the plan before the House did. The bill now goes to Governor Culver for his approval.

 

Filed Under: Politics & Government Tagged With: , ,

House alternative to state-level health care reform

April 20, 2009 By

The Iowa House has rejected the idea of forbidding Iowa doctors from accepting gifts from pharmaceutical companies. That gift ban was part of a health care reform plan which cleared the Iowa Senate a couple of weeks ago.

Representative Linda Upmeyer, a Republican from Garner, says members of the House trust the Iowa Board of Medical Examiners to police the profession.

"Is there somebody out there doing things that are either unethical or illegal in the whole gift-giving world?" Upmeyer says. "And as you know there’s been a lot of federal initiatives taken on that topic."

The House approved their version of a health care reform packae which creates a new commission to come up with ways to provide health insurance for all Iowans. The bill also extends health care coverage to more Iowa children who live in low-income households. The legislation also would allow young adults to stay on their parents health care policy until they’re 25.

 

Filed Under: Health & Medicine, Politics & Government Tagged With: , ,

Fairfield mayor named to "green" list

April 20, 2009 By

The website MSN.dot.com has named the mayor of a small Iowa town to its top 14 list of "green" mayors nationwide. Fairfield Mayor Ed Malloy is ranked among the leaders of many of the country’s largest cities, including New York, Chicago, Miami, Atlanta and Seattle. Mayor Malloy says he and Fairfield’s other leaders are solidly behind an effort to become eco-friendly.

"We’ve set an aggressive agenda to really deal with all areas of sustainability in our community, from the conservation of energy to production of small generated renewable energy," Malloy says. "We are looking at alternative transportation." Fairfield’s a town of about 9,700 in southeast Iowa. Malloy says the city council has unanimously adopted what they call a Green Strategic Plan.

"We look at everything we do in our infrastructure, in the way we redesign our buildings to be most energy efficient and (to have the) most in the area of conservation and preservation of natural resources," Malloy says. "We think that’s good for our economy and we think it’s good for creating jobs for the future." Fairfield’s leaders have secured a state-funded grant to hire a sustainability coordinator who will inventory the town’s greenhouse gases and create educational materials for residents. He says the Green Strategic Plan envisions everything from conserving energy to supporting local farms.

"We have a master plan for bikeways and walkways," Malloy says. "We do have a very strong local foods organization that has produce in a lot of our traditional grocery stores and many of our restaurants. We want to boost that up. We want to be producing 25-percent of our food locally within the next five to ten years." Malloy has been Fairfield’s mayor since 2001 and says they want to create a model community and a virtual template which other small towns can mirror.

"The investments that we make now will save us money in the future," Malloy says. "If we’re going to make this significant shift as a society, whether we’re talking about at a local level, a statewide level, a national level or globally, it has to start from grassroots." Fairfield is home to Maharishi University, which offers a B-S in Sustainable Living, billed as the first Sustainable Living degree program in America, in addition to what’s called a Green MBA.

To see the full MSN story, go here .

 

Filed Under: Politics & Government

West Burlington bar gets liquor license back during smoking ban appeal

April 20, 2009 By

A West Burlington bar that was the first to lose it’s liquor license for violation of the state smoking ban is being allowed to serve alcohol again under an agreement with the State Alcoholic Beverages Division.

Larry Duncan, the owner of Otis Campbell’s, has agreed to comply with the smoking ban until he gets a court ruling on the constitutionality of the law. In exchange, Alcoholic Beverages Division administrator Lynn Walding has agreed to stay the suspension of Duncan’s license as long as he keeps the bar smoke free.

Walding has said he respects Duncan’s right to challenge the smoking ban but, until the courts address the issue, Duncan will have to respect the law. He says Duncan has mistakenly assumed that he can ignore the law until the statute is declared to be constitutionally valid.

 

Filed Under: Business, Crime & Courts Tagged With: ,

Governor says it’ll be "a week or so" before ’09 session closes

April 20, 2009 By

Governor Chet Culver (file photo) Governor Chet Culver says it will be "a while" before the 2009 Iowa Legislature can adjourn for the year.  Culver continues to press for a $750 million borrowing plan that would finance infrastructure projects.

"I’ve been very clear about the importance of getting this bonding initiative done for a number of reasons so, you know, we’re going to continue to work hard to get it to my desk," Culver says.

This past weekend, some Linn County residents expressed fears that the state will not advance a part of that borrowing plan that would provide money to the Cedar Rapids area and other flood-impacted areas of the state. Culver, a Democrat, says he’s hoping Republicans join with Democrats in support of that.

"I’m optimistic that we can get the votes necessary to pass the bonding bill, but we do have a lot of work that remains and I’ll be meeting with legislators on a number of issues and trying to secure some additional votes," Culver says. "It is important. I mean, we’ve got to help these flood victims. There’s $150 million at least that’s in the bonding package that would assist businesses and home owners that need help."

One proposal which has won House approval would require all out-of-state travel by state cmployees to be reviewed and approved by the state’s Executive Council. The governor and other statewide elected officials like the state treasurer and state auditor are members of the executive council. And Culver’s not lobbying to have the executive council review all out-of-state travel requests.

"I look forward to talking to legislators a little more about that specific proposal. It’s not one that’s on the top of our list right now," Culver says. "I think we have a lot of work to do on the budget, generally, so I think a lot of these type of questions will arise in the next week or so."

If the executive council were to approve all state employee travel requests, it would mean the coaches at Iowa, Iowa State and U.N.I. would have to submit requests to take their teams to out-of-state games.

"I wouldn’t read too much into it at this point,. It’s not something that I’m pushing but I’m open to having discussions about the concept," Culver says. "…I am in favor of trying to tighten our belt, so we’ll just see what happens on it."

The executive council met this morning and approved a series of items, including state agency memberships in a variety of national groups. For example,k the Secretary of State asked and received permission to spend $25 to join a national group of notaries public.

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters, Politics & Government Tagged With: , , ,

State may extend tax breaks to big "data centers"

April 20, 2009 By

The Iowa House has passed a bill designed to attract huge data centers to Iowa. Current law gives "web portal businesses" like Google a refund on the sales taxes the companies pay on computer purchases and electricity.

Representative Doris Kelley, D-Waterloo But as Representative Doris Kelley points out, to qualify for those tax breaks, the company had to buy or lease land in Iowa by December 31, 2008."In addition, the existing exemptions are specific to web search portal businesses," Kelley says, "and they would not necessarily cover all businesses, especially data center or Internet-related industries."

The bill which cleared the House this morning extends the same tax breaks to data centers, based on the amount of the investment. Businesses which invest at least $200 million over six years get a full sales tax exemption for computer purchases and electricity to run those computers and the building in which they’re housed. Data management firms which invest less than that still qualify for a partial sales tax refund.

Kelley, a Democrat from Waterloo, says Iowa is the only state which is considering these kinds of incentives.

"When we started this process, there were just five projects in the pipeline. Currently, we’ve got 11 projects in the pipeline with an estimate on the first five projects of 300 jobs," Kelley says. "Those salaries range from $40,000 to $70,000 — with an investment of approximately $1 billion in capital."

Kelley uses the word "progressive" to describe the proposal.

"This piece of legislation creates jobs which should be this legislative body’s focus," Kelley says. "Creating jobs is so important in this economy."

Listen to today’s detailed discussion of the proposal by clicking on the audio link below.

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AUDIO: House debates bill…MP3 8 min

Filed Under: Business, Politics & Government Tagged With: , , ,
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