February 9, 2012

You are here: Home / 2009 / April / Archives for 25th

Legislators conclude ’09 session just before six a.m. Sunday

April 25, 2009 By

Legislatores pull all-nighter Final action on a more than $6 billion state budget plan and allocation of millions from the federal government’s economic stimulus package were among the final agenda items for the 2009 Iowa Legislature.  The House adjourned for the year at 5:04 a.m. Sunday.  After paperwork from the House was transferred to the Senate and senators took final action on a handfull of bills, the Senate adjourned at 5:56 a.m.

Governor Chet Culver held a news conference late Saturday afternoon to mark passage of his "I-JOBS" proposal. It will see the state borrow $765 million to finance infrastructure projects.

"You know, I feel really good about the fact that we got this done. It is clearly a victory for the people of Iowa," Culver told reporters. "It was my signature legislative item this session."

In addition, Culver asked Democratic legislative leaders to use more of the federal economic stimulus money to avoid layoffs in state government and in local public schools.

"We’re actually required by the federal law…to reduce or limit layoffs," Culver said Saturday afternoon. "That’s the purpose of the stimulus."

Senate Democratic Leader Mike Gronstal of Council Bluffs says a compromise was reached late Saturday to plug in about $37.5 million more to keep people employed at community colleges, the state universities and local schools as well as in state government.

"That number would have to be thousands of jobs — thousands of jobs in the state of Iowa that were preserved by this," Gronstal says.

Senate President Jack Kibbie, a Democrat from Emmetsburg, says Iowans may not realize the impact that federal stimulus package has had.

"The stimulus is what’s getting us out of here," Kibbie says. "The funding for health care and education — withou that, we’d be gnashing our teeth here."

But Republicans like Senate G.O.P. Leader Paul McKinley of Chariton have repeatedly argued for deeper cuts in state spending and have been overruled by Democrats.

"And we’re looking at deficits down the road," McKinley says. "As a matter of fact, the spending is so high — particularly with the federal bailout money — that could see the train come off the track in a couple of years."

But Democrats like House Speaker Pat Murphy of Dubuque paint a different picture of the budget.

"We actually spent $270 million less than what we did last year, We balanced our budget without raising taxes on middle class families," Murphy says. "Along with that, we kept $480 million in our rainy day accounts."

House Republican Leader Kraig Paulsen of Hiawatha faults the legislature’s top two Democrats for preventing a move to schedule a statewide vote on a constitutional amendment which would ban gay marriage.

"It seems to me Iowans deserve an opportunity to weigh in on that," Paulsen says.

This Monday, April 27,  Iowa Supreme Court ruling which legalized gay marriage takes effect and same-sex couples plan to go to some of the county recorders’ offices around the state to apply for marriage licenses.

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

Governor gets "signature" request: money for "I-JOBS"

April 25, 2009 By

Govenor Culver The Democratically-led Iowa legislature has granted Governor Chet Culver his "signature" request: a more than $765 million "I-JOBS" borrowing plan to finance infrastructure projects.

According to Culver, there are hundreds of infrastructure projects that are "shovel-ready," everything from sewers and roads to water quality initiatives.

"This is going to have an immediate, ripple effect on the state in a very positive way," Culver said.

But Senator Shawn Hammerlinck, a Republican from Davenport, says the sheer size of the borrowing plan boggles the mind.

"Holy cow," Hammerlinck said Saturday, "to be that self-righteous, to be that arrogant, to have your heads that big and actually believe that you can spend that amount of money is appauling."

Every Republican in the legislature voted against the plan, calling that level of debt financial suicide for future generations. Governor Culver, a Democrat, rejects the Republicans’ complaints.

"They’re going to have a lot of explaining to do…If you voted against this bill, you voted against helping the Universty of Iowa rebuild their campus. You voted against flood victims," Culver said Saturday. "…You voted against communities who have been waiting decades to modernize their sewer and water treatment plants."

House Democratic Leader Kevin McCarthy of Des Moines says the "I-JOBS" plan is about being "bold" in the face of adversity.

"Iowans, I think, when the economy’s tough, they want to make sure that you’ve in motion, you’re willing to make tough decisions," McCarthy says, "…so we’re pleased with what we’ve been able to accomplish given the very challenging economic situations that we’ve been in this year."

McCarthy says the legislature also helped create "new economy jobs" by enhancing tax credits for the film industry and kept their promise to provide health insurance to 30,000 more Iowa children who aren’t covered today.

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

New restrictions for manure application on farm fields

April 25, 2009 By

In this final weekend of the 2009 Iowa legislative session lawmakers have voted to establish new regulations for spreading liquid livestock manure on snow-covered fields and frozen ground.

Critics say much of the liquid manure applied to farm fields in the winter months runs off into the state’s lakes, rivers and streams. Representative John Whitaker, a Democrat from Hillsboro, has farmed all his life.

"We looked at this said probably the most contamination occurs when there is a snow melt and probably the best thing that we can do for the nevironment is to lengthen the time when we ban the spreading of liquid manure on snow-covered ground," Whitaker says.

Under the bill, liquid manure may not be spread on farm fields between December 21 and April 1. Representative Ray Zirkelbach, a Democrat from Monticello, says it’s a good compromise.

"It creates a safer, cleaner and better environment for all Iowans and is better for the agricultural industry," Zirkelbach says.

Senate President Jack Kibbie, a Democrat from Emmetsburg who raises livestock, believes farmers would rather have these restrictions written into law rather than have Department of Natural Resources staff write rules.

"The bill’s very restriction and it’s certainly, environmentally, a much better law than current law," Kibbie says, "and it kind of gives the industry a roadmap on what they have to do."

The bill, for example, lays out guidelines for what farmers may do with dry manure, too. Representative Larry Marek, a Democrat from Riverside, says liquid manure from livestock confinements is valuable these days.

"Washington County has about 900 buildings and a lot of our economy in Washington County and in our state is based on livestock production," Marek says. "These wastes are very valuable as festilizer sources, especially in these times of high fertilizer prices."

Manure in both liquid and dry form is applied as fertilizer to farm fields to boost nitrogen levels. Most farmers "incorporate" the manure, which means farmers use a special implement to "inject" the manure into the ground rather than spreading it on the surface.

 

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

Risky Business summit held in Ames

April 25, 2009 By

"Risky Business" was a popular movie in 1983, but it’s also the name of a summit in central Iowa next month that’s drawing youth and adults from all over Iowa. The 24th annual Risky Business Conference in Ames is sponsored by Youth and Shelter Services. Shelly Campbell is helping coordinate the event.

Campbell says, "This conference brings adults and high school youth together to increase knowledge of the critical issues confronting youth and to expand skills and advance youth development." She said there will be two keynote speakers during the morning sessions, for youth and for adults, while the conference will feature a variety of workshops.

She says there’s almost 30 speakers that’ll talk about issues from suicide prevention to sexting and how technology is being used by today’s teens. Last year’s meeting attracted some 570 people to the Scheman Center at Iowa State University — many of whom were professionals in the field.

Campbell says, "These sessions help people keep their certifications for licenses and things like that for people who work with youth." The conference is scheduled for Tuesday, May 5th. Campbell says you can make reservations online for the conference or get more information at the website: " www.yss.ames.ia.us " or call (515) 233-3141. 

Filed Under: Human Interest

State forest nursery marks milestone

April 25, 2009 By

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources’ State Forest Nursery will hit a milestone today as it plants its 150-millionth seedling. Nursery manager, Roger Jacob, says the seedlings have been planted across the state. He says most of them go to private individuals for private cost-share programs, reforestation projects, and they send seedlings to parks and wildlife areas, and for D.O.T. roadside projects.

The nursery began sending out seedlings in the 1930′s as part of Iowa State University, it was transferred to the Iowa Conservation Commission in 1942. Jacob says 150-million seedlings is quite a lot for a state like Iowa.

Jacob says it’s three to three-and-a-half million a year, and it’s not the biggest nursery in the midwest, as Minnesota sends out 10 million seedlings a year, but he says Minnesota has more forests than Iowa, which has much more agriculture. Sales of the seedlings have dropped from five-and-a-half million to one-and-a-half million in the last five years. Jacob says agriculture has played a part in that decline.

Jacob says most of it has to do with high grain prices and people are not participating in cost-share programs to plant trees as they can make more money planting crops. Jacob says conifers were once the most favorite seedling, but now hardwoods are in the most demand, with the black walnut the top seller. He says the production of the seedlings hasn’t changed very much through the years.

Jacob says it’s still a lot of work done by hand as all the plants are grown from seed and graded and sorted by hand. A ceremonial 150-millionth seedling will be planted Saturday by Gene Hertel, who was the first trained nursery manager and later the state forester. There will be an open house at the nursery from 10 A.M. until two P.M. 

Filed Under: Environment & Conservation Tagged With:

Democrats pushing to end ’09 session

April 25, 2009 By

Democrats are driving to adjourn the 2009 legislative session this weekend.

Democrats control the debate agenda in the House and Senate. Governor Chet Culver, a fellow Democrat, has been meeting and talking privately with legislative leaders, crafting a final version of next year’s state budget as well as a package that will see the state borrow over $600 million for infrastructure projects.

"It’ll probably be a couple more long days, but I really feel good about where we are today and I’ll stay very engaged here to see it all the way through," Culver said just before noon on Friday.

Culver suggested at some point, leaders need to make a final decision on which bills can pass and which can’t. Culver tried last week to round up the key 51st vote to get a bill passed in the House that would rewrite the state’s income tax system, but Culver told reporters on Friday that he’s not done nothing on that front this week.

"You know, people feel very strongly about any number of issues that remain and the process allows them to make their best case for why that particular piece of legislation should make the cut," Culver said, "so I’m more focused on the bigger picture in terms of getting the budget issues resolved, making sure the I-JOBS initiative gets to my desk."

Culver initially proposed that the state borrow $750 million to finance a series of infrastructure projects over the next three years, but legislators pared down the proposal by $150 million.

On Friday afternoon, the Iowa House gave final legislative approval to a bill that places additional restrictions on sex offenders and Culver has said he’ll sign the bill into law. In a rare move later Friday afternoon, Culver met with legislators in the House speaker’s office on the second floor of the capitol rather than hosted a meeting in his own office on the capitol’s main floor.

"I am here, on-call, 24/7 — all the way to the end," Culver told reporters.

Senate Democratic Leader Mike Gronstal of Council Bluffs expects to reach resolution on a host of bills this weekend.

"I’m pretty confident we can go to conclusion this week. How far that might take us into the weekend is at this point not a function of lack of agreement. It’s a funciton of who quickly we can move those agreements into (bill) draft form and get them introduced and passed," Gronstal told reporters. "So we’re pretty confident we’re going to get done here pretty soon."

Republicans like House G.O.P. Leader Kraig Paulsen of Hiawatha are expressing frustration with a lack of access to details of the deals being struck by Democratic legislators and the governor.

"So that doesn’t give Republicans much piece, but obviously we’ll keep up the fight on behalf of the taxpayer," Paulsen told reporters this week.

Senate Republican Leader Paul McKinley of Chariton is predictably less than charitable about the Democratically-led legislature.

"We’re ending the session precisely where we started," McKinley told reporters Thursday. "We have really not accomplished anything."

 

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