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Governor says there’s no one single answer to school safety issues

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Governor Kim Reynolds (file photo)

Students in some Iowa schools walked out of classes this morning to join a national protest on the 19th anniversary of a school shooting in Colorado. Thirteen students were killed and 24 were injured by the two gunmen at Columbine High School on April 20th, 1999 — before today’s high school seniors were born.

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds said there is “no one single answer” to school safety.

“We’ll continue to bring all of the agencies together, school boards, administrators — people we need to have at the table to talk about how we can make sure that when we drop off our children at school that they’re safe and they’re able to learn in a safe environment,” Reynolds told reporters Thursday.

Reynolds, a Republican, said the Republican-led legislature has already passed a bill that requires all Iowa school districts to have a safety plan and conduct yearly active shooter drills. As for new gun regulations, Reynolds is opposed. She said the priority should be enforcing the laws already on the books and updating the existing federal background check system.

Senate President Charles Schneider, a Republican from West Des Moines, said the Iowa legislature is setting aside $35 million in grant money to help schools pay for safety upgrades to buildings, like lock down systems or stronger classroom doors. But Schneider, like the governor, suggested new gun regulations are not on this year’s agenda.

“We always have to take into consideration the balance of school safety and the balance of constitutional rights as well,” Schneider told reporters this morning.

Senator Janet Petersen of Des Moines, the Democratic leader in the senate, attended a local school walk-out as well as a student-led rally at the statehouse late this morning.

“I think it’s an important time in our country as we see kids getting more civically engaged, so it’s exciting to see,” Petersen said this morning. “…All Iowans want to make sure that our kids are safe in our schools and so it’s time to listen to what our kids have to say.”

Students involved in today’s protests are calling for gun law changes.

House votes to let townships raise property taxes for ambulance service

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This week the Iowa House unanimously passed a bill designed that may give rural Iowans who don’t have ready access to ambulance services another avenue to get it.

Representative Zach Nunn of Bondurant said Myrna Hunt’s story about her husband’s heart attack in late 2013 helped spur the action. Hunt told legislators her husband died on their front steps in Runnells, just a couple of blocks away from the volunteer fire department.

“She called 911 for the volunteers to come and after 20 minutes she called 911 again and more than an hour later, when the volunteers finally arrived and escorted her husband to a hospital here in Des Moines, he’d already passed away from cardiac arrest,” Nunn said. “This is just one of many tales that come from our volunteers across the state who are doing the best they can with limited resources.”

The bill would let residents in unincorporated areas — outside city limits — petition for a vote that would raise property taxes in the township to pay for emergency medical services. Representative Amy Nielsen, the former mayor of North Liberty, said the lack of access to ambulance services in rural areas is troubling.

“I believe that this bill is a good first step in making EMS an essential service, just like fire protection,” Nielsen said.

Representative Bobby Kaufmann of Wilton said legislators have been working on this bill for six years.

“I think all of us enjoy going to our EMS ambulance service pancake breakfasts, but that’s ridiculous that they have to do that just to be able to fill the gaps in their budget,” Kaufmann said. “…This bill is just a start, but I think it’s a great start.”

The bill now goes to the Senate for review.

From poignant to pointed, retiring Iowa legislators give farewell speeches

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Rick Bertrand

It’s an even-numbered year, so that means legislators who have decided to retire rather than seek re-election are given an “open mic” moment.

In the House, retiring representatives give floor speeches. Clel Baudler of Greenfield kicked the speech-a-thon off this week with a nearly 20-minute speech.

“One thing I will miss is the policies,” Baudler said, “but I will not miss the politics.”

In the Iowa Senate, these public farewells last far longer, sometimes for hours. Colleagues start with compliments, bits of shared humor and sometimes an outright roasting, then the retiree gets to speak. Mark Chelgren of Ottumwa spoke for nearly half an hour after his peers finished.

“For all of the wonderful things that you’ve said, I am so blessed,” Chelgren said, “but I’d also like to spend a little bit of time explaining why I’ve done the things in the order I’ve done them.”

Retiring Senator Rick Bertrand used part of his farewell speech to settle old scores with former Senate Republican Leader Bill Dix. Bertrand revealed he met his wife 23 years ago at the Waveland Tap in Des Moines. That’s the same bar where Dix was pictured kissing a lobbyist — images posted online that prompted Dix to resign last month.

“I mean, you talk about karma,” Bertrand said and his colleagues laughed. “I mean, I laughed my ass off when I heard that. We want to go back there and remake the video, just her and I. It was crazy.”

Senator Bob Dvorsky of Coralville is retiring after 32 years in the legislature and he offered a few “principles” about the legislative process.

“You can probably get most things passed here as long as you don’t care who gets credit for it,” Dvorsky said. “…The second one is we deal in raging incrementalism.”

Dvorsky gave a relatively short, five-minute-long goodbye speech and, like many exiting lawmakers, he choked up at the end.

“We’re here as public servants and we can be proud of that and I will miss all that dearly,” Dvorsky said. “And one other thing I will miss — I will miss all of you.”

Once the reminiscing, advice, compliments and emotional goodbyes are over, some of the retiring senators get a piece of furniture. Lawmakers who’ve served at least 20 years in the state senate get to take the chair from their senate desk.

Neither the House nor the Senate will be in session today. Next week, more farewell speeches are on tap. One more retiring senator has yet to be recognized and 15 other retiring members of the House will have the option of giving a farewell remarks.

Governor says framework in place, negotiators ‘very close’ to tax deal

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Republican lawmakers are negotiating the final budget details in the governor’s office.

Republican Governor Kim Reynolds and top Republicans in the House and Senate are continuing their private negotiations today, aiming for an agreement on how deeply to cut state taxes.

“We’re still talking. We’re still working. We’re going to get together again this afternoon,” Reynolds told reporters this morning. “And that’s how you get to consensus.”

Reynolds indicated they’ve been “very close” on the overall framework of the bill for weeks.

“It’s just how we get there, when we get there and what the details look like,” Reynolds said. “…It’s my goal to get a tax bill done this year.”

Reynolds cancelled an economic development trip to New York this week to stay at the capitol to be directly involved in negotiations. Representative Guy Vander Linden, a Republican from Oskaloosa who leads the tax-writing committee in the Iowa House, said the governor’s been a “driving force” in the negotiations, with a simple message to lawmakers.

“Get a tax bill out that I can sign and let’s get this thing going,” Vander Linden told reporters was the basic summary of Reynolds’ direction.

The main sticking point has been how big the tax cut package should be.

“I think the governor’s done a good job of laying out the path that she would like to have us to follow,” House Speaker Linda Upmeyer, a Republican from Clear Lake, told reporters Wednesday afternoon. “…The biggest thing is that we would like to make sure it’s sustainable and responsible…Hopefully we’ll get there very soon.”

Senate Republicans hope to provide a significantly larger series of tax cuts and provide them sooner. The governor has publicly said she’s not going to draw any “lines in the sand” about what must be in or out of the final package. Senate President Charles Schneider, a Republican from West Des Moines, is equally reluctant to talk details in public. Schneider indicated this week that Reynolds is offering “insight” to the process.

“I think it’s good that people are keeping open minds and wanting to work together to find something that’s good for the taxpayers of Iowa,” Schneider told reporters.

There have been some hints as to how large next year’s tax cuts may be. The budget plans released by Republicans in the House and Republicans in the Senate reflect a roughly 100-million dollar reduction in tax revenue.

Strings of pearls in Iowa statehouse, in tribute to Barbara Bush

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Governor Reynolds and other Republicans wear pearls to honor Barbara Bush.

Republican Governor Kim Reynolds and the nine Republican women who are members of the Iowa House are wearing pearls today in honor of former First Lady Barbara Bush.

Mrs. Bush, who died last night, made a string of imitation pearls a staple of her wardrobe. House Speaker Linda Upmeyer of Clear Lake is wearing a long strand of pearls and confirmed to reporters that hers aren’t real either.

“Absolutely faux,” Upmeyer told reporters this afternoon. “No doubt about it. Faux!”

Upmeyer called Bush was an amazing woman.

“She was one of those ladies who could just speak her mind really well and you always knew she was being pretty candid,” Upmeyer said. “I liked that.”

In November of 1995 Upmeyer got to visit with Bush when the former first lady visited Mason City and delivered a speech at the community college.

“I had an opportunity to actually sit at the table and visit with her a little during dinner,” Upmeyer said, “so it was nice.”

Mrs. Bush told the audience in Mason City to remember that “what happens in your house is more important than what happens in White House.”

(Photo courtesy of Iowa House GOP Caucus Staff)

House Oversight panel hearing focused on prescription drug costs

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Kate Gainer of Iowa Pharmacy Association & Ottumwa pharmacist Mark Frahm.

Pharmacists and a Wapello County official are urging Iowa legislators to investigate what they call the “little known middle man” that’s reaping profits from prescription drug sales.

Meanwhile, a representative of one of the nation’s largest “pharmacy benefit managers” is telling lawmakers the businesses and governments that use his company agree to the “spread pricing.”

Mark Frahm, a pharmacist at Southside Drug in Ottumwa, told members of the House Government Oversight Committee his pharmacy was paid about a thousand dollars for the prescription drugs for inmates in the Wapello County Jail in January — but the county paid nearly $5000 to its prescription benefit manager.

“That’s why I’m here, to let you guys know there’s a big discrepancy between the two,” Frahm said.

Wapello County Supervisor Jerry Parker.

Wapello County Supervisor Jerry Parker said the county is saving money now by buying medications for county jail inmates directly from the local pharmacy, but Parker said they haven’t been able to end the contract with the prescription benefit manager for all county employees.

“There’s something wrong when there’s such a large discrepancy in pricing, but part of that is our fault because we signed the agreement,” Parker said. “Now, we don’t really have the expertise to check all the prescriptions to see where might be getting taken, where we could save money.”

Parker said there’s no reason to think many other Iowa counties, cities and school districts face a similar financial fate.

“The figures don’t lie. We’re losing taxpayer dollars,” Parker said. “If we’re losing, the city’s probably losing and the state’s probably losing, so this committee has a very important job to do. Help us, who can’t necessarily in these positions, help ourselves.”

Rich Ponesse, a senior director at CVS Caremark, told lawmakers there is no “magic formula” and it is the customers who sign the benefit contracts who decide what payments will be made to his company.

“As far as the ‘spread pricing’ is concerned, that is not a secret to our clients,” he said. “We are very transparent with our clients.”

CVS/Caremark’s Rich Ponesse.

A lobbyist for the Iowa Pharmacy Association told lawmakers pharmacy benefit managers are like a “black box” and other states are moving to establish regulations. A central Iowa legislator who is also a pharmacist got into a heated discussion with Ponesse about the pricing of drugs and how CVS Caremark handles appeals. Ponesse shot back.

“I don’t like being called a liar and not being able to defend myself,” Ponesse said. “…I know exactly what was dispensed and I know what the reimbursement was. I do.”

The legislator, standing and occasionally pacing beside the committee table, uttered a couple of curse words during the exchange. It’s unclear what the House committee may choose to do next. Ponesse offered this parting comment to legislators.

“I am a for-profit company and I’m not ashamed to say that,” Ponesse said. “I’m here to make money.”

Earlier this month, insurance regulators in the state of Ohio forbid insurance companies and pharmacy benefit managers from enforcing contracts that prevented pharmacists from telling patients if a lower-cost option was available for a prescription.

House GOP plans ‘status quo’ budget for justice, public safety agencies

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Lawmakers of both parties are expressing concerns about staffing levels in state public safety agencies, but Republicans on a House committee have approved what they’re calling “status quo” funding for Iowa’s justice system which covers the highway patrol, prisons and the state crime lab.

Representative Gary Worthan, a Republican from Storm Lake, said there’s no extra money to hire more troopers or crime scene investigators.

“Not to try and gloss it over or anything, this is kind of holding our own in the Department of Public Safety,” Worthan said. “We’re not going to be able to increase numbers.”

In most cases, the agencies would receive about as much money as was planned for the current year, before a round of budget cuts last month. Representative Chris Hall, a Democrat from Sioux City, said the state prisons, in particular, are understaffed.

“It’s endangering some of our state workers,” Hall said. “It’s endangering our taxpayers and families across the state.”

The House GOP’s overall state budget plan is drafted around a tax cut of $100 million. Republicans in the Senate have proposed significantly deeper tax cuts.

(Reporting by Iowa Public Radio’s Joyce Russell)

Future of traffic cameras a negotiating tool at session’s end?

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The battle over traffic enforcement cameras remains unresolved in the state legislature.

Earlier this year, the Iowa Senate voted to ban the cameras which catch vehicles speeding and running red lights. Then, the House voted to establish new regulations for the cameras.

Senator Brad Zaun of Urbandale is still pushing for an outright ban. He suggests this issue could wind up being a bargaining chip to decide other issues that have to be resolved before the legislature may adjourn.

“It may be one of the negotiating tools to get out of here,” Zaun told reporters Tuesday.

Senator Tony Bisignano of Des Moines wants the cameras to stay. He said cities need the revenue from the tickets.

“Twelve million dollars, it’s going to cost local government, if this bill will go to the governor,” Bisignano said.

Zaun responded.

“All we’ve had conversations about with these traffic enforcement cameras is about money,” Zaun said.

Zaun is among those who say the cameras are more about revenue than safety. Those who argue the cameras should stay say it’s too dangerous for police to pull drivers amid speeding traffic on highways that pass through cities.

Iowa Senate has new personnel guidelines on harassment, retaliation

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Charles Schneider

The Iowa Senate has a new “harassment prevention” policy and an updated code of conduct. Republican Senator Charles Schneider indicated a month ago when he was elected president of the state senate that updating senate “personnel guidelines” were a priority.

“First, to make sure that all those who work in and around the Iowa Senate have a clear understanding of what constitutes harassment, sexual harassment and retaliation,” Schneider said today during the Senate Rules Committee meeting, “and second to make sure that everybody understand the process for addressing complaints when they arise.”

Last fall, the state paid $1.75 million to settle a lawsuit filed by a former Iowa Senate GOP staffer who was fired in 2013 after she complained of harassment. Last month, the senator who fired Kirsten Anderson resigned after online photos and video showed him kissing a lobbyist. Schneider was elected to his new leadership position after that senator’s exit.

Schneider told said the new policy requires annual training for every senator and for all employees of the senate as well as interns. There will be a yearly review of the anti-harassment policy to ensure it’s keeping up with “best practices” in the public and private sectors.

“We wanted to make sure that we created an environment that people feel safe in to come to work and that people feel safe to send their kids to and we just knew we had to get it done,” Schneider said after the meeting.

Senate Democratic Leader Janet Petersen said it took nearly five years after the firing of an employee who was harassed to get to this moment.

“I’m hopeful that this will be a first step in the right direction to changing the culture and making the Iowa Senate a more welcome and opening place for people to work,” Petersen told reporters.

Senators unanimously voted this afternoon to update the Senate Code of Ethics as well. The update makes it clear the Senate Ethics Committee has the authority to receive and investigate complaints of harassment or retaliation. A senator’s clerk was just fired April 3 after a “credible complaint of harassment” was made. That clerk, who functioned as a secretary to Republican Senator Waylon Brown of St. Ansgar, was a paid employee of the senate and had recently completed anti-harassment training.

Senator Petersen said it appears the same male clerk had previously been fired from a similar job in the Iowa House.

“Even with the training that everyone who serves on the senate floor went through, to see misbehavior like that shows that we’ve got work to do,” Petersen said.

Senate Republican leaders say the new human resources director for the legislative branch will help keep personnel policies updated and avoid similar situations in the future.

Governor approves new Iowa law on ‘food shaming’ and unpaid school lunch debt

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Herman Quirmbach

The governor has signed a bill into law that seeks to address lunch money problems in Iowa schools. The policy is a response to reports of high levels of lunch debt and the so-called “food shaming” of some students.

Senator Herman Quirmbach of Ames said it’s been a problem in his community and “many others.”

“Children whose parents are either unable or perhaps unwilling to pay for their lunches have been subjected to embarrassment and even…humiliation because they’re denied a meal or given an inferior meal or otherwise exposed to public ridicule,” Quirmbach said during debate of the bill in the Senate.

Some schools have hung lists in public areas with the names of students with outstanding lunch debt or even forced the students to sit in a separate area or wear wristbands.

Some Iowa school districts have tens of thousands of dollars worth of unpaid lunch bills. Ottumwa, for example, had nearly $68,000 in school meal debt in February. The new law will let schools claim lottery winnings or state tax refunds from parents who have school lunch debt. Schools may also accept private donations to cover those meals.

Senator Ken Rozenboom of Oskaloosa said schools will be able to use those donations to write-off debt at the end of every year.

“School districts know and understand the situations in their districts better than we do,” Rozenboom said during Senate debate. “A $500 debt is different to a family of five, for instance, than it is to a family with one child.”

The bill cleared the House and Senate unanimously. The handful of legislators who publicly remarked on the bill made the common point that it’s not the fault of the child if their parent fails to pay for their school lunch.