February 9, 2012

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Mayors deliver “more, not less” message at capitol (audio)

February 8, 2012 By

Cedar Rapids Mayor Ron Corbett.

Mayors from Iowa’s 10 largest cities say they “need more, not less” tax revenue to remain the key hubs for jobs in the state.

 The newly-formed “Iowa Metropolitan Coalition” touts an Iowa State University study indicating 62 percent of the jobs in Iowa’s 10 largest cities are filled by people who live in adjacent suburban or rural areas.

Waterloo Mayor Buck Clark is among the mayors and other big-city officials who gathered outdoors for a news conference today on the statehouse stops.

“To specifically point out the importance our core cities have on the entire vitality and financial success on whole regions in the state,” Clark said, in explaining the event. “Our cities provide jobs and quality of life to our own residents, but they also fuel the economy of our counties and of our neighboring communities.”

Republican Governor Terry Branstad and legislators have been debating the idea of reducing the amount of commercial property taxes cities may collect. Des Moines Mayor Frank Cownie argued city governments are running bare-bone budgets today and can’t afford more reductions.

“Cities need more dollars for economic development. We need more dollars for infrastructure. We need more dollars for flood (control and mitigation),” Cownie said. “We need more dollars, not less.”

Cities used to get money from bank franchise fees and from property taxes on machinery and equipment, but Cownie said state officials in the past shut down those sources of taxes, too.

“We have an ever shrinking source of revenues,” Cownie said. “I think we have a lot of ideas about what we could do, but certainly the solution for the future of Iowa is not to shrink the revenue sources to the place where this state and job opportunity is growing.”

Cedar Rapids Mayor Ron Corbett said the economies of Iowa’s largest cities are “equally as strong” as the state’s robust ag economy. 

“Cities oftentimes are on the front lines when it comes job creation,” Corbett said. “We work hand-in-hand individually, and our staffs do, with businesses that are looking to locate and expand in our community.”

According to the analysis from Iowa State University economist David Swenson, 29 percent of Iowans live in the state’s 10 largest cities and those cities generate 39 percent of the state’s gross domestic product.

AUDIO of today’s news conference.

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Dog racing days numbered in Iowa?

February 8, 2012 By

Bills that would end greyhound racing in Iowa are moving on two tracks at the statehouse.

Early this morning, a three-member panel in the Iowa House reviewed a plan that would let the Horseshoe Casino in Council Bluffs and the Mystique Casino in Dubuque stop subsidizing the prizes for dog races, effectively ending greyhound racing at those two facilities. Representative Kevin Koester, a Republican from Ankeny, says there are “clear signals” nationally that the days of dog racing are numbered.

“Having spent time listening to both sides, the issue comes down to not if the dog racing by greyhounds will last forever…it’s a matter of when…it clearly is going to end,” Koester says.

Representative Brian Moore, a Democrat from Zwingle, says this proposal violates the “integrity” of the agreement state officials struck in 1983 when they legalized greyhound racing.

“I think we need to honor this business,” Moore says. “There’s too many times that a particular side isn’t making out as well as the other side and then we think we have to yank the rug out from under them.”

Early this month another bill on the subject cleared an initial hurdle in the Iowa Senate. That legislation would have the casinos in Council Bluffs and Dubuque pay the state $70 million over seven years in exchange for ending greyhound racing in their facilities.

Casino representatives suggest there are often more dogs than people at the greyhound parks in Iowa, while a lobbyist for the greyhound industry says the casinos have stopped promoting the races, making it difficult for patrons to follow the action. According to a casino lobbyist, 27 greyhound tracks around the country have closed in the past five years, leaving just 23 operating today.

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Another gun bill emerges in Iowa House, aimed at “weapons-free” zones

February 8, 2012 By

Iowa cities and counties would not be allowed to ban firearms in government-owned buildings if a bill gun rights advocates are pushing for becomes law.

The legislation would establish a fine of as much as $5000 for city and county officials who would let such gun restrictions stand. Representative Matt Windschitl, a Republican from Missouri Valley, says he’s aware of at least 13 localities in Iowa that have some type of ban on firearms in public places.

“A lot of people think that if we put restrictions on firearms that all of a sudden that’s going to make our city streets safer. Really? There’s criminals out there that don’t abide by the law right now,” Windschitl says.

The bill cleared an initial, three-person panel Tuesday and now awaits action in a House committee. Kate Carlucci of the Iowa League of Cities says communities should be able to decide whether public places should be weapons-free zones, as many businesses are making that call.

“A city should have the power to exercise that same right as a private business owner,” Carlucci says.

Windschitl also would like to let gun owners bring their weapons inside the statehouse. “I’m appalled that they’re not allowed to, and that’s actually an administrative rule and I’ve looked at trying to change that for years,” Windschitl says. “But I know in the current climate there’s people that wouldn’t want to see that changed.”

After the 9/11 attacks, metal detectors and security guards were stationed at the public entrances to the statehouse……..

 

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Statehouse showdown over state support of K-12 schools

February 7, 2012 By

Democrats in the Iowa Senate have voted to dramatically increase the level of general state aid for K-12 education in the future.

In the current year, Iowa’s public schools saw “status quo” support from the state, meaning no increase over last year. Senator Herman Quirmbach, a Democrat from Ames, says that’s unprecedented.

“It has never been the case prior that we have done so little to help advance education,” Quirmbach says.

The level of state aid for schools is set to increase by two percent, starting this fall. But this morning Senate Democrats approved a bill that would set aside four percent more in general state aid for schools, starting in the fall of 2013. Quirmbach says that’s $142 million more for K-12 schools.

“That is well within our ability to pay given the likely level of revenue growth over the next two years,” Quirmbach says. “Our economy is recovering.”

Republican senators rejected the idea. Senator Shawn Hamerlinck, a Republican from Dixon, ridiculed the Democrats.

“We hear all the time that, ‘We’re doing this for the kids.’ ‘Our schools are barebones.’ ‘We care about the youth,’” Hammerlinck said.

But Hammerlinck accused Democrats of promising money they may not be able to deliver.

“Right now, it’s nothing more than a sound bite or a soapbox that you stand on, to score political points,” Hammerlinck said.

Republicans in the House do not intend to bring up the Senate Democrats’ proposal for state funding of schools in the 2013/2014 school year. Republican Governor Terry Branstad has asked legislators to repeal the state law that requires lawmakers to set the level of state aid for schools two years in advance, to give administrators time to plan. The current legal deadline for taking that action for the 2013 academic year is this Thursday.

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Report suggests state support of higher education lagging

February 7, 2012 By

A coalition of liberal-leaning groups has issued its own analysis of Republican Governor Terry Branstad’s spending priorities for higher education. Andrew Cannon authored the report for the Iowa Fiscal Partnership, to call lawmakers’ attention to the level of funding for the state universities and community colleges.

“Our hope is we’ll look at what is needed,” Cannon says.

According to Cannon’s calculations, the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa are getting 3.5 percent less state support this year compared to last year. Cannon also suggests state support of the 15 area community colleges is still less than it was in 2008 or in 2009.

“Over that same period, community college enrollment has grown from 88,000 students to over 106,000 students,” Cannon says. “So the questions we need to be asking: Are we meeting the needs or are students going to be faced with larger debt burdens as they move on to their careers?”

Governor Branstad’s spokesman says Iowa’s higher education institutions “are a priority for the governor, which is why they were one of the few institutions to receive increased funding in the governor’s recommended budget.” The governor’s aide noted the “overwhelming majority” of state agencies are seeing no increase or a reduction in funding during this time of “scarce” state resources.

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Secret Service agent fined $1,250 for Iowa OWI

February 7, 2012 By

The Secret Service agent charged with drunk driving in Decorah just before President Obama’s visit to northeast Iowa this past August has been ordered to pay a hefty fine.

Forty-year-old Daniel Valencia last week entered an Alford plea in Winneshiek County District Court, which means he didn’t admit guilt, but concedes evidence exists for a probable conviction. He was sentenced to two days in jail and then given credit for time served.

Valencia can fulfill the sentence by completing an OWI weekend program in Iowa. It includes an offenders drinking-and-driving course offered by the Iowa D.O.T.  He must also pay a fine of $1,250 and a surcharge of $437. 

Valencia was arrested by Decorah police at about 1:30 on a Saturday morning, after he ran a red light. He was off duty at the time. President Obama arrived in Decorah the following Monday.

(Reporting by Darin Swenson, KDEC, Decorah)

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Iowa delegation challenges proposal to close Iowa Air Guard unit

February 7, 2012 By

Members of Iowa’s Congressional delegation are challenging a Pentagon plan to decommission a large Iowa Air National Guard unit. The proposal to shut down the Des Moines-based 132nd Fighter Wing would cost 1,000 central Iowa jobs.

Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley is holding meetings this week in hopes of saving the unit. “If it is a done deal, and I don’t know that it’s a done deal, it might be more difficult than if it’s still in consideration,” Grassley says. “I hope it’s the latter. Obviously, I think we have a chance to weigh in to a greater extent than if somebody says, ‘This is the way it’s going to be and just forget it.’ I don’t know why they’d come to talk to us if it was a done deal.”

Grassley will meet this afternoon in Washington (at 3:30 P.M. Central time) with Iowa National Guard Major General Timothy Orr. Grassley says, “On Thursday afternoon, I’m also going to follow up with a meeting I put together with the Iowa Congressional delegation with the Secretary of the Air Force (Michael) Donley on the same subject.”

The budget-cutting plan calls for the retiring of the Iowa Guard’s 21 F-16 fighter jets and the decommissioning of the unit, which has nearly a thousand members, including pilots, mechanics and support staff. “My concern about the Air Force strategy of targeting the Guard for cuts is that the Guard is more cost-effective for missions, such as a fighter squadrons, than active duty,” Grassley says. “And Guard pilots tend to be more experienced since they stay in the service for a longer period of time.”

One report says the Air Force is considering replacing the piloted F-16 fighter jets with a squadron of unmanned drone aircraft, which could create as many as 500 positions. It’s unclear how many staff from the current unit, if any, would be able to transfer.

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