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Obituaries

David W. Mehaffy, Jr., 80, Burlington, died Wednesday, January 23, 2013

James William Nickell, 73, Middletown, died Friday, January 25, 2013

Frances Doreen Houtz, 77, Burlington, died Friday, January 25, 2013

Jennifer Murray DeWitt, 45, Mediapolis, died Friday, January 25, 2013

Margaret “Maggie” McElhinney, 60, Danville, died Thursday, January 24, 2013

Juanita Carpenter, 53, Burlington, died Saturday, January 19, 2013

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State Issues from Tom Sands

News from the Hill…

Bills are slowly getting filed and assigned to all the different committees.  I was asked by someone from back home “What is the process involved for a bill to become law.”  It is a lengthy process and space does not allow an explanation.  However, here is a link that explains the bill process fairly well for those who may be interested.

https://www.legis.iowa.gov/DOCS/Resources/HowABillBecomesALaw.pdf

 Your opinion matters…

Your opinion is very important to me and allows me to serve you better.  We may not always agree, but if I do not know what your stance is I cannot accurately represent you.  Many of you contact me by email, written letters and phone calls or show up in person to a legislative forum.  The method you use is not important, just stay involved and let me know your points or opinions.  This is my eleventh year in the Iowa House and many of you contact me regularly on issues.  However, each week it seems we hear from some new people, which is always great.   Different bills that have become law are directly related to ideas from people back home have had and have shared them with me.  I was able to get them drafted into bill form and passed through the process for them to become law.  Other times there have been what sounded like a good idea, but for one reason or the other it was not workable into law.  The point is sharing your ideas does matter and I will do what I can to research the matter to see if it has merit in becoming law.  But, I do want to warn you, I am not one who thinks our code of law should just grow for the sake of growing.  We have too many useless laws on the books now, but there is always room for some good thoughtful ideas that run in union with our constitution.   Sometimes that best idea is getting rid of a bad law that is presently in the Iowa Code.

 Visitors on the Hill…

This week was Muscatine Day on Wednesday, January 23.  There were about twenty individuals here at the state capitol visiting from the Muscatine area.  This is a great way for people from back home to come to the capitol and see firsthand how government works.  Also it is a way for a city to highlight everything it has to offer.  Different communities, counties and/or regions do this with much success.  Next week is Southeast Iowa Great River Days. There will be over a hundred people here from Louisa, Des Moines, Lee and Henry Counties highlighting Southeast Iowa.  There also will be a group in conjunction with Great River Days from the program Empower U.   This group is made up of juniors from several different high schools in Southeast Iowa.  They will be making some presentations in front of some legislators on ideas they have for laws.  This is a great program for our youth to witness the importance of being involved.

Ways and Means action…

One of the bills that were assigned to a subcommittee this week in the House Ways and Means committee is HSB 38.  This bill deals with the Federal Tax Code changes that our Federal Government made on New Year’s Eve.  Each year there are changes made at the Federal level on Income Taxes and the state has to decide if we are going to couple, go along with, or decouple, not allow, these changes on our State of Iowa Income Tax forms.  The most important thing with this bill is it needs to move quickly, so all of our Income Tax preparers and Income Tax payers know what the rules are.  The Federal Government made some of the changes retroactive to Tax Year 2012, so time is of the essence.  The sub-committee meeting is set for Thursday afternoon and we will run this bill out of the ways and Means Committee on Monday, January 28.

Beginning each Day…

At the beginning of each day the first thing we do, once the Speaker brings his gavel down to bring us to order, is pray and then give our Pledge to the United States Flag.  These might be little items, but they have large implications that help us to remember that it is God who leads us and the sacrifices that all of our veterans have made to preserve the liberties and freedoms we all share.  I can’t think of a better way to start our day.

“America will never be destroyed from the outside.  If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.” – Abraham Lincoln

 

For more information on these and other bills:  www.legis.iowa.gov

-Tom Sands

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World champion shooter Jessie Duff demonstrates the firing power of several semi-auto rifles and pistols on the Hannity Show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=V2wBiG3LCx0

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State Issued from Tom Sands

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

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Iowa House Democrat: ‘Iowa should Ban, Confiscate Guns’

Iowa Democrat State Rep. Dan Muhlbauer says, “We cannot have big guns out here as far as the big guns that are out here, the semi-automatics and all of them, those are not hunting weapons. We should ban those in Iowa. Even if you have them, I think we need to start taking them, because if they’re out there, they’re just going to get circulated around to the wrong people. Those guns should not be in the public’s hands. There are just too many guns. If we find them on the street, there’s going to have to be some sort of penalty for them”

Click Here: State Rep. Dan Muhlbauer, D-Manilla, says Iowa lawmakers should ban semi-automatic guns and “start taking them” from owners who refuse to surrender any illegal firearms through a buy-back program.

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Obituaries

Clella C. Eastin, 88, Burlington, died Thursday, December 27, 2012

Rosella Judith Noteboom, 89, Burlington, died Thursday, December 27, 2012

Roy Dove, 78, Mediapolis, died Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Jack L. Wheeler, 83, Burlington, died Thursday, December 27, 2012

Marjorie Lucille Davis, 89, West Lafayette, OH, died Thursday, December 27, 2012

 

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To One and All ..

merry-christmas-4

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Gallup: To Stop Shootings, Americans Focus on Police, Mental Health

Click Here: 64% favor arming at least one school official

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Republicans Lead the Best-Run States in America, Democrats Dominate the Worst

Click Link: The annual Best and Worst Run States in America survey by 24/7 Wall St. came out today, revealing that the top 5 states  are led by Republicans (Iowa is ranked 5th) while the bottom five are dominated by Democrats (Illinois is ranked 48th).

 

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Happy Thanksgiving

First Thanksgiving