Categories
Category: News
News from the Hill…
This week has been one to score in the record books. I think I have received more emails, phone calls and been called more name’s than any other legislative session. To top it off we are just over one fourth of the way through. I am always eager to know where people stand on different issues. I just hope people would make their decisions based on facts and not what they think is true. The following are some correct statements to help make some clarifications. The Road Use Tax Fund is a constitutionally protected fund that the monies can only be used for road infrastructure. As for the bike and other recreational trails, that money comes from different federal sources as well as through the Rebuild Iowa Infrastructure Fund (RIIF), which is funded through gambling revenues and is specifically used to fund infrastructure-related projects. None of the fuel tax money goes into the Rebuild Iowa Fund. The fuel tax money does not go into the General Fund, but instead goes to the Primary Road Fund, Secondary Road Fund, Farm-to-Market Road Fund and the Street Construction fund, all funds dedicated to different levels of government to go toward road/bridge infrastructure.
Pressure Cooker…
The bill to increase the fuel tax continues to work its way through the process while the pressure continues to build. The question that only time will answer is will the bill pass before the lid gets blown off. This week has been the most stressful and hardest of my thirteen years up here. While there is other action going on, the bill to raise the fuel tax is taking up most of the time and energy in the State Capitol. There have been people pushing me to vote yes to raise the fuel tax for the last several years. Just this session several people have been to the capitol and different forums to encourage me to vote yes. I have been a no vote all along. No matter how hard I was pushed I held my position. Different people have taken polls and the results have been all over the board. Some showed strong support others showed strong opposition. There have been people showing up at the forums for the last several years on both sides of this issue. While my stance was steadfast and I explained why I was a no vote, people seemed to respect my position even if they did not agree with it. It does not appear all people respect my position any longer, but I have been consistent, open and honest through the entire process. Unfortunately, that does not seem to be the case with all people. Thursday HF 351 passed the Ways and Means Committee 13 voting aye and 12 voting nay. I was a nay vote. It will be one of the very few bills that will pass to the house floor in the Ways and Means Committee without my support. But this issue needs to be decided by the entire body of 150 Legislators, not a committee of 25.
Visitors at the Capitol…
While the week has been stressful, there have been some very positive times as well. I always enjoy visiting with people from back home while they are at the Capitol. This week it was especially helpful to see friendly faces that I could visit with on a very positive note. It is the people of Iowa, but mostly from my district that make this position so worthwhile. So I would like to end with a big thank you to all of you for caring enough about this state to help make it a better place for the next generation.
“I hope I shall possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man.” – George Washington
For more information on these and other bills: www.legis.iowa.gov
Until next time,
Tom Sands
Notre Dame’s Johanna Myers (right) is brought to tears after New London Teammates presented her with an autographed t-shirt supporting her father Jim Myers’ battle with cancer.
New London Teammates Victoria Noel (21) and Paetyn Prottsman (right) present Notre Dame’s Johanna Myers (left) with an autographed t-shirt supporting her father Jim Myers’ battle with cancer.
News from the Hill…
The bill to increase the fuel tax seems to be gaining momentum this week. The big question is will the bill pass or will it ignite and explode? This next week is an important week for this debate. There are two bills, one moving through the process in the Iowa House and the other moving through the process in the Iowa Senate. Both bills have been passed out of the subcommittee and will be debated in the full Transportation Committee early next week. If the bill passes out of the Transportation Committee it will be referred to the Ways and Means Committee. Members of the Transportation Committee tend to be more “friendly” to transportation issues, such as funding. Members on the Ways and Means Committee tend to be more divided on tax issues. Republicans tend to be hesitant or against raising taxes and Democrats tend to be more willing or open to raising taxes. There are twenty-five members on the Ways and Means Committee, fourteen Republicans and eleven Democrats. The bill will need thirteen votes to pass out of committee. This could be an interesting committee meeting and the bill has to pass out of the Ways and Means Committee before it can be debated on the House or Senate Floor. I chair this committee and I am considered the gatekeeper for all tax and fee issues. I am a no vote because I don’t think the bill even comes close to solving the problem and just taking more money from the people of Iowa should not be the answer. However, I am willing to open the gate if it is the will of the body, because I am not an obstructionist, either.
State Revenues…
State revenues fell in January, raising concerns that the state may not meet last December’s projection for growth during the current fiscal year. January’s General Fund revenue was $29.5 million (-5.0%) below what the state took in during January 2014. This put revenue growth for the first seven months at a positive $152.4 million, or growth of 4.1 percent. While still positive, state revenue had grown by 5.8 percent through December 2014. Compared to the Revenue Estimating Conference’s FY 2015 projection in December, actual revenue growth is behind the 6.8 percent increase projected. In terms of actual dollars, actual returns are $100.6 million behind the REC projection.
Spending and Reserves…
As Iowans continue to discuss the proposed state budget for fiscal year 2016 and the level of funding for Iowa schools, some in the education community are urging legislators to spend beyond on-going revenue to meet local school needs. This point of view seems to forget the past 30 years of Iowa history and ignore the state’s economic condition.
In the 1980’s, Iowa’s economy was suffering the full effect of the farm crisis. State finances suffered due to the loss of revenue and questionable accounting practices. Schools and local governments were forced to borrow money while they waited for state aid payments, while the Legislature made financial promises it could not keep. The crisis reached a head when the Legislature enacted major budgeting reforms during two special legislative sessions in 1992.
A central tenet of these reforms was the creation of two reserve funds to avoid the mistakes of the 1980’s. The first of the reserve funds is the Cash Reserve Fund, which allows the state to make on-time payments to schools, local governments, health care providers, and others, is required to have an amount deposited in it equal to 7.5 percent of the General Fund budget that year. The Economic Emergency Fund is required to have an amount equal to 2.5 percent of the General Fund budget. It is to be used when the state is experiencing an economic disaster. Each year this amount rises to equal a total of ten percent of the General Fund budget. For Fiscal Year 2015, the amount in the two reserves rose by nearly $50 million to just under $700 million.
When House Republicans took control of the Iowa House in 2011, Iowa’s two reserve funds were not filled to the statutorily-required levels. Governor Culver and Legislative Democrats had spent from the two funds to maintain their spending practices which spent more than the state collected. This fundamentally flawed approach left the two reserve funds $105.8 million short of their statutorily-required levels in fiscal year 2011.
Thanks to fiscal discipline and a strengthening economy, House Republicans were able to restore both the Cash Reserve Fund and the Economic Emergency Fund to their required levels. I will not vote to place the State’s fiscal house in jeopardy, if cuts need to be made so be it. Improving Iowa’s fiscal house has also allowed the state to utilize ending balances in several significant ways.
“You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.”
– Abraham Lincoln
For more information on these and other bills: www.legis.iowa.gov
Until next time,
Tom Sands
February 11, 2015 marks five years in space for NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which provides incredibly detailed images of the whole sun 24 hours a day. Capturing an image more than once per second, SDO has provided an unprecedentedly clear picture of how massive explosions on the sun grow and erupt ever since its launch on Feb. 11, 2010. The imagery is also captivating, allowing one to watch the constant ballet of solar material through the sun’s atmosphere, the corona.