February 9, 2012

You are here: Home / Archives for Democratic Party

Are legislators scofflaws today?

February 9, 2012 By

The latest round of partisan sniping at the statehouse is over a state law which establishes today as the deadline for legislators to set the general level of state school funding for the academic year that begins in the fall of 2013.

Republicans want to get rid of the law and set up a different timeline for making those kind of decisions. House Speaker Kraig Paulsen, a Republican from Hiawatha, says their idea is “sounder” financially because the decision gets pushed to later in the spring when legislators have a better idea of what state tax revenues may be.

“We think we can make a better decision and with greater confidence at that point,” Paulsen says.

But Democrats like Representative Sharon Steckman of Mason City say regardless of whatever alternative has been proposed, legislators need to follow the law that currently exists.

“I think at this time when schools are worried about the reform package is going to be like — there’s lots of variables out there — we need to give them the stability in at least knowing where their funding is going to be at,” Steckman says.

There is no penalty in the law for legislators who fail to meet this school funding decision deadline, and in the past this deadline has been missed. Senate Democratic Leader Mike Gronstal says when it’s happened before, legislators passed another bill spelling out an exception for the situation, but there’s no such bill pending today.

“I think it’s really kind of fascinating,” Gronstal says. “I guess this is their new attempt at regulatory reform: If you don’t like a state law, don’t obey it.”

Paulsen, the top Republican in the House, shoots back, accusing Democrats of over-promising to schools in the past.

“They ended up not being able to afford it. The governor ended up having to do a 10 percent across-the-board cut, which was more devastating to the schools,” Paulsen says. “I mean, that was crushing to them.”

The state law legislators are violating suggests the House, Senate and governor must agree on the general level of state aid for public K-12 public schools by a certain date. Under the calculations in that law, the date is 30 days after the governor submits his budget plan to lawmakers, and this year that 30 day period expires today.

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

First Lady encourages kids to be healthy

February 9, 2012 By

First Lady Michelle Obama in Des Moines.

Around 10,000 school kids packed Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines this morning for an event featuring First Lady Michelle Obama.

Her stop in Iowa started a four-state swing to celebrate the second anniversary of the launch of her “Let’s Move” initiative.

Mrs. Obama asked for the kids’ help to make Iowa and all of the states the “healthiest they can be.”
Audio First Lady :20

The nearly two-hour long event closed with the First Lady and everyone in the arena performing the Interlude Dance. The Interlude has become a dance craze at the University of Northern Iowa – with fans and students performing the dance during basketball games.

Filed Under: Health & Medicine, News, Politics & Government, Recreation & Entertainment Tagged With:

Harkin says cut regular military, not guard

February 9, 2012 By

Iowa Senator Tom Harkin says Pentagon generals need to consider deeper cuts in America’s “regular” military ranks instead of eliminating entire National Guard units. Harkin and the rest of Iowa’s Congressional delegation will meet today with the Secretary of the Air Force in hopes of reversing a proposal to decommission the Iowa Air National Guard’s 132nd Fighter Wing.

“We have enough data to show that it is one of the best squadrons in the entire United States,” Harkin says. “If they’re cutting F-16s, why are they cutting Des Moines? Why wouldn’t they cut some whose performance levels are much lower?” Harkin, a Democrat, says the military’s top brass are looking in the wrong place to make reductions.

Harkin says, “As we are cutting defense spending, the best way to save money and to be ready is to cut some of our standing forces, cut some of our bases overseas, cut some of the regular military and rely more upon our Reserve and National Guard.” The Des Moines-based 132nd Fighter Wing includes 21 “Fighting Falcon” F-16 fighter jets and a thousand personnel.

Harkin says the unit has proven itself time and again over the past six decades as being reliable, professional and vital. “You get more bang for the buck with Reserve and National Guard units and rather than putting money into bases overseas, we put the money into local communities,” Harkin says. “These National Guard units perform a lot more than just a call-up during wartime. They help us with floods and natural disasters and emergency situations.”

Harkin and the other Iowans will meet in Washington this afternoon with Air Force Secretary Michael Donley at 12:30 P.M. CST.

Filed Under: Military, News Tagged With: , ,

Gas tax hike, property tax cut & tax credit for low-income advance

February 8, 2012 By

Three different tax proposals advanced at the statehouse today, although future prospects for all three are uncertain.

Two of the proposals would cut income and property taxes for some Iowans, while the other would raise the state’s gas tax. A three-member subcommittee in the Iowa Senate signed off on a 10-cent hike in the gas tax. Senator Tom Rielly, a Democrat from Oskaloosa, is the key architect of the plan.

“I think it should be pointed out that anytime we talk about any fee increase, it’s a last resort and I am convinced that we are at that last resort,” Rielly said this afternoon.

Officials estimate current state gas tax collections are falling $215 million dollars short of what’s needed to fix and build roads and bridges in the state. Senator Rielly suggested there’s nowhere left to cut in the DOT’s budget to find that kind of extra cash.

“Since 2002, we have 750 fewer employees (in the DOT). We have turned over almost 800 miles of roads to cities ad counties. We have closed 40 maintenance garages and engineering offices,” Rielly said. “That freed up about $45 million.”

Senator Tim Kapucian, a Republican from Keystone, signed-off on the proposal which would raise the gas tax five-cents on January 1st, 2013 and by another nickel on January 1st of 2014. Kapucian said many roads and bridges in rural Iowa are “dilapidated.”

“I live between a couple of small towns in eastern Iowa,” Kapucian said, “and the bridges that go in and out of that town where there are millions of grain stored, we cannot legally get those trucks back out to Highway 30, down to Cedar Rapids or Eddyville — wherever it’s going.”

With increasing grain yields and heavier farm equipment, Kapucian said the quality of rural roads is crucial to get that grain to market.

“We have more and more corn being produced off every acre every year, the soybeans — we just have to have an infrastructure to be able to compete worldwide and help feed the world and that’s one of the reasons why, as much as I do not like a tax increase, I feel it’s imperative,” Kapucian sai. “We have to take a look at this at this time.”

Senator Matt McCoy, a Democrat from Des Moines, is the third co-signer who helped the proposal clear a subcommittee this afternoon.

“We’re the third worst state in the nation in terms of bridge deficiencies and in the state of Iowa we’ve got a multi-billion dollar problem and kicking the can down the road is no longer an option,” McCoy said. 

Increasing the state gas tax by a dime over the next two years would raise an additional $220 million for the state’s road fund.

As for those other tax proposals, the Senate Ways and Means Committee this afternoon approved a bill that would increase a tax break for low income Iowans who qualify for the federal “Earned Income Tax Credit.” Republican Governor Terry Branstad vetoed a similar proposal twice last year, but Senator Joe Bolkcom, a Democrat from Iowa City, is hoping the third time’s a charm.

“And get a much-needed tax cut to people that can really use the help,” Bolkcom said. Most Iowa families with an annual income of $45,000 or less qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit, and the proposal now pending in the senate would almost double the state credit for those households.

The third tax-related proposal considered at the statehouse Wednesday deals with cutting commercial property taxes. House Republicans have made some adjustments in their plan. Representative Tom Sands of Wapello says they’ve abandoned one of Republican Governor Branstad’s ideas on the subject that was intended to address some of the objections from cities and counties.

“I think they have some valid concerns and we tried to address them and listen to them,” Sands says. “But every time we tried to meet that, they come up with a different concern or the same concern that that one won’t work.”

The mayors from Iowa’s 10 largest cities held a news conference at the statehouse earlier today to say cities need “more, not less” tax revenue.  Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee voted this evening to approve the GOP’s latest version of commercial property tax reform.

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

Tax break plan for the Field of Dreams site clears first Senate vote

February 8, 2012 By

A bill that would provide a tax break to a project to expand the Field of Dreams site near Dyersville in eastern Iowa cleared an initial hurdle in the Iowa Senate today. One critic said the state should not be singling out one economic development opportunity over another, but Senator Tod Bowman, a Democrat from Maquoketa, couldn’t resist quoting the 1989 movie’s signature line.

“I probably can’t begin without saying if we build it they will come,” Bowman said. He went on to explain that the tax break would boost the rural economy by helping investors preserve the movie site and add a youth sport complex for traveling teams.

He says it’s estimated the expanded site would generate $272-million in revenues over 10 years with 95% of that money coming from out of state. Bowman said the project would get a sales tax rebate on sales that would never have happened without the expansion, so the state has no skin in the game.

But Senator Jack Whitver, a Republican from Ankeny, did not sign on. “It’s just I don’t want to be in the middle of deciding who wins and who loses in government,” Whitver said. In other words giving a tax break to the Field of Dreams project, but not for some other youth sports complex.

“At this time I’m just not comfortable saying we like you we’re going to let you succeed and not you in Ankeny or Sioux City or Council Bluffs,” Whitver said.

“Go the Distance Baseball” is seeking investors to underwrite the $38-million facility. Spokesman David Adelman says the tax break is important to the project.

“It significantly affects our ability to go towards investors, saying that the state is not interested in participating,” Adelman said. Under the bill, the project dubbed “Allstar Ballpark Heaven” would get a sales tax rebate for 10 years or up to 16-million-dollars once they’re up and running.

A similar tax break helped create the Iowa Speedway in Newton. The bill advances to the Senate Economic Growth Committee.

Filed Under: Business, News, Recreation & Entertainment Tagged With: , , ,

Institutional view of Air Force may be behind proposal to close Iowa Air Guard unit

February 8, 2012 By

The Iowa Congressional delegation plans to meet with the Secretary of Air Force to discuss the proposal to shut down the 132nd Iowa Air Guard fighter wing in Des Moines. Congressman Bruce Braley, a Democrat from Waterloo, says they have not been given an explanation of why the Iowa unit is targeted, but says it’s likely a cultural issue with the Air Force.

“There is a very different institutional approach to this in the Army, Navy and Marine Corps than there is in the Air Force,” Braley explains. “The Air Force has a large number of aircraft that are very expensive and very costly to maintain. And they seem to be taking an emphasis that preserves more of their existing active-duty fighter planes and aircraft.”

Braley says the Air Force is also looking to expand the use of unmanned drones. He says the Air Force has tried to justify closing the fighter wing in Des Moines by suggesting it be replaced by a drone program.

“But that’s not what we’re talking about, we’re talking about comparing apples to apples and that’s how that fighter wing compares with other Air National Guard units around the country. And the numbers are compelling. That it ranks consistently at the top of all the objective measures of readiness and success, and that’s why this decision does not make sense,” Braley says.

He says the Iowa delegation will use the record of the Iowa unit as it pushes to keep it going. “And I think that if we have the opportunity tomorrow to sit down and calmly and rationally make the case to the Secretary of the Air Force about why this is a bad decision, and listen to his justification for it, I think we will have the best opportunity to have an influence on that decision,” Braley says.

The unit has 21 F-16 jets and some 1,000 personnel that keep the unit running.

Filed Under: Military, News Tagged With: , ,

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.

Filed Under: Business, News, Politics & Government Tagged With: , , ,
« Older Posts