June 19, 2013

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Ag Secretary Vilsack calls for passage of immigration reform

June 17, 2013 By

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack is calling on Congress to pass an immigration reform bill, asserting it would bring a variety of benefits to the ag industry and to rural states like Iowa. Vilsack, a former Iowa governor, spoke with reporters today in a conference call about the start of National Small Business Week.

“As we deal with comprehensive immigration reform, we look for the benefits of trying to fix a broken system,” Vilsack says. “One of the benefits is that immigrants come here with a dream and come here with a hope of a better life and one way that they can do that is by being their own boss and developing their own business, which is why immigrants are more likely than those who currently live here in the United States to start a small business.”

Just last week, a report from the U.S. Census Bureau found Iowa’s largest minority group — Hispanics — is gaining population quickly. New data shows nearly 163,000 Latinos lived in the state as of last July, an increase of better than three-percent in the previous year.

“Certainly in the agricultural area, we’ve had a number of examples of families coming in and starting a small fruit or vegetable production facility and having that expand over time to support multiple families,” Vilsack says. “This is in addition to the benefits that agriculture will receive from the comprehensive immigration reform bill with a stable and secure workforce, a guest worker system that works.”

The secretary says passage of the bill will help create jobs, in addition to more taxpayers who can help the country reduce deficits more quickly. The Census Bureau report found the growth rate for Hispanics in Iowa is ten times faster than the state’s overall population.

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

Branstad favors federal law for online sales taxes

June 17, 2013 By

Governor Terry Branstad says Iowans who buy merchandise on-line and do not pay the state sales tax on those purchases should start to pay the tax.

Branstad has written Iowa’s congressional delegation, urging them to support a federal law which would undo a court case that has prevented states from actively collecting sales taxes on internet sales.

“The sales have just dramatically increased,” Branstad said this morning during his weekly news conference. “It puts our local retailers at a competitive disadvantage.”

The so-called “U.S. Marketplace Fairness Act” has cleared the U.S. Senate and awaits action in the U.S. House. Key conservative groups like the National Taxpayers Union oppose the proposed law, saying it amounts to a tax hike, particularly on younger Americans who do much of their shopping online. Branstad disagrees.

“Those people that are circumventing the payment of sales tax because they’re buying out-of-state, should we help them to the disadvantage of the people that are creating businesses and jobs in the state of Iowa and paying property taxes and collecting the sales tax for the state?” Branstad asked. “I don’t think so.”

Branstad is making a promise about what he would like to do with extra tax revenue that would be raised from online sales, however.

“I want to assure that, in Iowa, we will reduce taxes by however much additional revenue the state would gain if this legislation is approved,” Branstad said.

Branstad has indicated he intends to propose an income tax cut for Iowans in 2014. A 1992 U.S. Supreme Court ruling allows states to collect sales taxes from on-line sales, but only if the purchaser voluntarily submits the tax, making sales tax charges on internet sales difficult, if not possible, for states.

According to an analysis by the National Conference of State Legislatures, states would have collected more than $23 billion from internet sales last year if states had been able to charge state sales taxes on online purchases. Supporters of the proposed law say brick-and-mortar businesses lose out when customers window shop locally for goods, then go online to buy and avoid local sales taxes. Critics say small online businesses will have to buy expensive software to calculate and collect state sales taxes.

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Branstad’s Department of Education to crack down on early school start dates (AUDIO)

June 17, 2013 By
Governor Terry Branstad.

Governor Terry Branstad.

Governor Terry Branstad is directing the Iowa Department of Education to come up with new rules that would prevent school districts from starting school in the middle of August, or even earlier.

Current state law requires schools to start in the week in which September 1 falls, but districts apply for and receive waivers from the Department of Education to start earlier.

“I believe the Department of Ed is intending to move forward with new rules that would change this policy,” Branstad says. “I believe the present policy has been too lax and has not been fair to the tourism industry in Iowa.”

The tourism industry argues they lose millions when schools start early, as families stop traveling and teenagers quit their summer jobs at the swimming pool, resort or ice cream shop.

Branstad has met with tourism industry leaders to discuss their concerns and, after legislators have failed for years to pass a uniform school start date law, Branstad appears ready to have the executive branch of state government take action.

“They will go through the traditional rule-making process in making this change,” Branstad says.

That means the new school starting date standard won’t be in force until the 2014/2015 school year. It also means there will be statehouse hearings on the proposal and school officials are likely to protest as they’ve done with legislators, saying it should be a local decision left up to local officials.

Administrators argue an early August start date allows for longer holiday breaks and lets schools in college towns synchronize their school schedule with the college. Branstad appears unmoved.

“All the studies and statistics I’ve seen show that having an earlier start date has not improved academic achievement,” Branstad says. “In fact, academic achievement has gone down in Iowa compared to other states like Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin and a lot of other states in other parts of the country that have a much later start date.”

Branstad was governor back in 1983 when he signed the law stipulating that schools should start as closely as possible to September 1st. In the past school year, all but eight of Iowa’s 348 school districts asked for and got a waiver to start earlier than August 27th — which would have been in the week September 1st fell in 2012.

In April of 2012 the Iowa House passed a bill that would have forbidden Iowa schools from starting before the 4th Monday in August, but it was never passed in the Senate. In previous years, Senators voted to keep schools from starting early in August, but those proposals died in the House.

Branstad made his comments at the end of his weekly news conference.

AUDIO of news conference, 25:26.

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Scott Brennan returns as Iowa Democratic Party chairman

June 15, 2013 By

The Iowa Democratic Party has an “interim” leader.

Tyler Olson, a state representative from Cedar Rapids, was elected party chair last December but he resigned this week, as he’s considering a run for governor or for congress. The party’s state central committee elected Scott Brennan as interim chairman this morning.

“Since I’ve been in this role before and am currently serving on the DNC, I was happy to pick up the reigns if for nothing more than for a short time period to make sure that the party keeps moving forward,” Brennan said this morning during a telephone interview with Radio Iowa.

Brennan would not speculate about the duration of his “interim” role and whether he intends to serve through the 2014 election, but he did mention the Iowa Democratic Party’s state central committee is scheduled to meet again this August.

Brennan, a 50-year-old lawyer from Des Moines, served as his party’s chairman for the 2008 elections and was asked by party leaders to return.

“I talked to my family about it. We’ve been through it once and they said: ‘How bad could it be?’” Brennan said, laughing, “so I’m back.”

Olson had hired a new executive director for the party and Brennan indicated he has no plans to make staffing changes. One of his focuses will be fundraising.

“The fundraising actually’s been going very well,” Brennan said. “…The party’s in good shape and we want it to be even stronger so that we can accomplish what are some very big goals for 2014.”

There will be a nationally watched U.S. Senate race in 2014, as Iowa Senator Tom Harkin announced he would not seek reelection next year. The other major statewide race will likely feature Republican Terry Branstad seeking an unprecedented sixth term as governor. There will be races for other statewide elected officials like the attorney general, ag secretary, secretary of state, state treasurer and state auditor, plus an open congressional race in the first district as Democratic incumbent Bruce Braley is running for the U.S. Senate.

Brennan said one of his first calls this weekend will be to Iowa Republican Party chairman A.J. Spiker, to ensure the lines of communication are open about efforts to secure the first-in-the-nation status of Iowa’s Caucuses.

“While we can argue about many things and disagree about many things, Iowa’s place in the presidential process is something that the Republicans and the Democrats absolutely agree upon in this state,” Brennan told Radio Iowa.

Brennan is a 1985 graduate of Grinnell College who served as an aide to Senator Tom Harkin in Washington, D.C. before returning to Iowa for law school. He graduated from the University of Iowa Law School in 1993. Brennan is now a senior shareholder in one of the state’s largest law firms.

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Prime Minister of Kosovo visits Iowa

June 13, 2013 By
Kosovo Prime Minster Hashim Thaçi stands between Governor Branstad and Lt. Governor Reynolds.


Kosovo Prime Minster Hashim Thaçi stands between Governor Branstad and Lt. Governor Reynolds.

Iowa’s governor and lieutenant governor met this morning in Des Moines with the prime minister of Kosovo. 

More than 700 Iowa National Guard troops have performed peacekeeping missions in Kosovo since 2003.

“The Iowa National Guard has played an important role in this very young, new nation of Kosovo,” Governor Terry Branstad says.

“They’re only about 11 years old and Iowa National Guard played a key role in helping them in their early days.”

In 2011, the Iowa National Guard has a formal relationship with Kosovo through the “State Partnership Program” to help Kosovo improve its security as well as grow its economy and education system.

“We hope that over time we can see Kosovo grow and prosper and increase trade with other countries,” Branstad says. “And I want to see Iowa play a role by being a good friend and a great ally.”

Governor Branstad will travel to Kosovo in early July. He’ll sign a separate sister-state agreement with the Republic of Kosovo.

“A wonderful opportunity for Iowa to build a long-standing relationship with this new country that is a wonderful friend of the United States,” Branstad says.

Branstad’s July trip to Europe will also include visits with business prospects i Germany and Switzerland as well as a stop in the Veneto region of Italy. Veneto is one of Iowa’s current eight sister-states.

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

Harkin questions testimony of National Security Agency commander

June 13, 2013 By

The head of the National Security Agency told members of a U.S. Senate committee on Wednesday the agency’s in-depth surveillance of American citizens has stopped dozens of terrorist attacks. Iowa Senator Tom Harkin remains unconvinced.

“That’s one thing I just don’t accept on its face value,” Harkin says. “They say that, of course they’re going to say that because they’re covering their you-know-what. They’re going to say ‘We thwarted this, we thwarted that,’ well, how are you ever going to prove something like that? I’d really have to see more proof than just their word.”

The NSA commander, General Keith Alexander, was questioned before the panel about the agency’s gathering of data from our phone calls, emails and internet activity. Harkin says it’s troubling.

“The government is going beyond its bounds, putting a kind of fear out there among people about who they can call and what they can say and is the government listening and will this be recorded?” Harkin says. “That has a real chilling affect and I don’t think it’s healthy.”

General Alexander told members of the Senate Appropriations Homeland Security Committee that his agency has done nothing wrong, but Harkin questions whether the restrictions of the Patriot Act were left in the rear-view mirror. “I’m just not going to accept the word of the head of the NSA or the head of some of our intelligence agencies,” Harkin says.

“I’ve had dealings with them over the past 30 years in which I’ve seen our intelligence agencies manipulate and twist information to their own ends.” Harkin, a Democrat, says President Obama needs to take more of a leadership role in this deepening dilemma.

“If I had one bit of advice for the president I’d say: ‘Get a handle on this. You run these agencies,’” Harkin says. “Maybe some heads ought to roll.”

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“Choose Life” specialty license plates now available in Iowa

June 13, 2013 By

Choose-LifeA new specialty license plate that features a “Choose Life” message is now available for Iowans who oppose abortion.

Iowa Right to Life executive director Jennifer Bowen has sent in the extra $25 required with her specialty plate application, but she doesn’t have the plates on her car yet.

“I’m waiting,” Bowen told Radio Iowa, with a laugh. “I’ve got some board members and others in other parts of the state — in rural parts of the state — that have received their letter and gone and picked up their plates. Living in Jasper County, I have not yet received my notice.”

Iowa now joins 28 other states in offering a specialty license plate that features the words “Choose Life” and a logo featuring the smiling faces of a boy and a girl.

“The image on the specialty plate is actually part of the ‘Choose Life America’ organization,” Bowen said.

Bowen and other activists have been lobbying for a “pro-life” Iowa license plate for more than a decade, but were never able to get a bill through the legislature to authorize its creation. According to Bowen, the Branstad Administration indicated the plate could be created through executive action if her group gathered enough signatures from Iowans who wanted to get one of the plates.

“It took us just about one year to collect a little over 500 signatures,” Bowen said.

According to the Iowa DOT’s website, there are now 65 different specialty license plates available, ranging from plates that tout breast cancer awareness to plates that feature both the names and mascots Iowa colleges and universities.

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