News from the Hill…
The 85th General Assembly is under way with the first week about to be completed. This begins the 110 day session for 2013. Like all General Assemblies before, there are high hopes of much accomplishment again this year.
Governor Branstad begins the third year in this term; the Senate is still under the control of the democrats with a 26-24 vote edge and the House remains under the control of the republicans with a 53-46 vote edge. There is a special election in the northeast Iowa for a house seat that will change the house numbers by one.
I will serve on the Ways and Means Committee for the ninth year and will serve as the Chair for the third year. I was the ranking member the previous four years. I will also serve on the Public Safety Committee starting my 11th year and the Commerce Committee starting my ninth year. My committee assignments are rounded out by serving on the Legislative Council for the seventh year.
First Bills filed in the Iowa House…
House File 1 places the Iowa Taxpayer at the head of the table when it comes to our Iowa taxpayer’s trust fund. This bill takes the unused tax dollars and gives it back to the taxpayers. Letting Iowans keep more of their hard earned income helps stimulate Iowa’s economy in a faster and better way.
House File 2 begins the process on the House version of Property Tax relief. This bill increases the state’s share of the school funding formula. This provides dollar for dollar property tax relief. This method is the purest form of property tax relief there is. The bill provides property tax relief across all classes of property. It is predictable, sustainable and does not create a shift to other classes of property.
House File 3 provides an alternate code section under which to file your Iowa individual income tax returns. This gives Iowans a choice; they can choose to file under the present system that has nine different brackets with different credits and deductions. The other choice would be to file under the new code section established under HF 3 that eliminates all the credits and deductions and has one flat rate of 4.5%. This bill will start the discussion on ways to simplify and reduce the Iowa income tax burden. This could not come at a better time, the Governor of Nebraska is asking for the elimination of the Corporate and Individual Income taxes for their state. We presently have to compete with South Dakota, if Nebraska passes this legislation Iowa will lose more business’s and people to our western neighbors if we do nothing.
Live Action in Iowa House…
Last year the Iowa House started a Live House Video via the internet, so people could watch first hand on what was going on in the Iowa house without driving to Des Moines. This has been used in classrooms, living rooms and offices across this state. I have included the link below for your convenience if you would like to look and listen in some time.
https://www.legis.iowa.gov/index.aspx
Newsletter Distribution…
Once again I will be sending out a weekly newsletter while we are in session. Many of the local papers print my newsletter; however there are a few who do not. If you know of someone who you think would like to receive this newsletter by email or hard copy. Contact me by the way they would like to receive the newsletter. This letter tries to inform the readers of what is going on in the Iowa House, but also lets people know of the upcoming forums, times and locations.
“…that this nation, under God, shall have new birth of freedom-and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” Gettysburg Address – Abraham Lincoln
For more information on these and other bills: www.legis.iowa.gov
-Tom Sands
This week’s legislative forum:
Saturday, January 19th
Burlington Public Library
Burlington, IA
9:15 AM – 11:15 AM
Falcon:
Here’s a good quote from Ben Franklin regarding liberty that pretty much fits what our government and Obama have been trying to do with the 2nd amendment
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
TY
Falcon:
Obama forgot to mention in his news conference yesterday that thirty-six unborn children were killed by the medical profession on the same day that 20 were gunned down at a school in Connecticut.
There were thirty-six unborn babies murdered by abortion on the same day in Connecticut but for some reason Obama didn’t mention these killings that weren’t committed by guns nor were the killers mentally ill as the school shooter was but fully trained to kill unborn babies the same as an assassin is trained to kill only more inhumane.
No matter what gun control there may be the criminal crowd will always have guns because they don’t register their guns as do law abiding citizens. This will leave the average American defenseless against the criminals who will never register or make known how many or what kind of guns are in their possession.
There are approximately 1,000,000 unborn babies murdered in the U.S. every year, considerable more than children killed by guns by a long shot. Why does Obama not talk about the 1,000,000 that he himself condones as being killed at Planned Parenthood as well as hospitals and clinics all across the country on a yearly basis?
Since Obama has been in office between 4 and 5 million babies have been murdered in the United States under the guise of freedom of choice of course without the consent of the unborn babies that end up as so much trash in the dumps across America.
Just think before Obama leaves office America will have killed many more babies than Hitler killed Jews during WWII, at least 2 million more dead babies, at least.
DS
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Obituaries
Click Here: Gunsmiths 3D-Print High Capacity Ammo Clips To Thwart Proposed Gun Laws.
During the weekend of January 11, a group calling itself Defense Distributed “printed” a 30-round magazine out of plastic and successfully fired at least 86 rounds through it.
Texas Democrat Kesha Rogers was the Democratic nominee for U.S. Congress for Texas’s 22nd District
Click Here: Protecting Our Kids
“I think our parents are appreciative of our efforts, especially the parents of our youngest school that teaches pre-kindergarten through second grade,” Mullins said. “We have received nothing but positive responses not only from parents but also from our teachers.”
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