Category: Political

News from the Hill…

Most all the major bills are now in conference committee and working their way to a compromise.  A Conference Committee is made up of ten members, five from the House and five from the Senate.  Three of the five members would represent the majority parties of each Chamber.  By Rule 13 in H.C.R 5, the authority of the first Conference Committee shall cover only issues related to provisions of the bill and amendments to the bill which were adopted by either the Senate or the House of Representatives and on which the Senate and House of Representatives differed.  One of the reasons of success in Conference Committees is the reality of ten people coming to an agreement is much easier than 150 Legislators.   The entire Senate and the entire House still has to approve the Conference Committee report.  But in a divided Government, it is a good way to find some compromise.  I am one of the Co-Chairs of the Property Tax Conference Committee.

Property Taxes…

The Legislature made a major step in the right direction this week, but we still have a long way to go.  This year I have assigned all the bills in the Ways and Means Committee to the other members on the committee, with the exception of one, the bill that deals with property taxes.  Throughout the process, three subcommittees, two different bills and weeks of maneuvering, I kept using the phrase “moving the ball down the field one yard at a time.”   I viewed my job as the floor manager to of the property tax bill, to keep moving the ball.  The possibility of scoring a “Touch Down” with a “Hail Mary” was not likely.  The best way to get a bill that would pass both chambers and be signed into law by the Governor, was to keep moving the ball down the field.  The same bill has passed the Senate and the House but with different language.  So this week the bill was moved into Conference Committee.  We have never been able to get the bill this far down the field before.  Trouble is, there is still a long way to go, but the momentum is behind us.
Drainage District/Levee Bill…

The bill I sponsored for Two Rivers Levee & Drainage Association was signed by the Governor into law on the first day of May.  I sat down the first time with them in July to talk about the possibility in making this law change for them.  Ten months later it is law.  This may seem like a long time; however it is not uncommon for an idea to take a couple of years to become a law.  The House passed this bill on February 13 and was sent over to the Senate.  It took the Senate until April 22 to change the bill and pass it back to the House.  The very next day we agreed with their change and sent it to the Governor.

Fiscal Responsibility…

As budget bills are finding a way to some type of compromise, I will not support any budget that goes spends more than what we take in.  Many people think tough fiscal decisions are only made in tough budget years, which is simply not true.  It is in times of high revenue years when most over spending occurs.  When there is extra money, the normal tendency for too many people is to spend baby spend.  However, this is when to make sure any increase in spending is sustainable for future years.

As the end is somewhat in sight, keep me informed of your positions on the issues.  The best way to represent you can only be done by knowing where you stand on the issues.

“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.  We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream.  It must be fought for, protected and handed on for them to do the same.”

 – Ronald Reagan

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

-Tom Sands

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News from the Hill…

We have progressed to the time in session where patience runs short, time runs long and the pressure begins to build.  I truly enjoy serving as the Chair of the Iowa House Ways and Means Committee, but this time of year I get pulled in every direction.  This week was no exception.  I have spent numerous hours this week on HF 510, which deals with E911.  Iowa Code allows a 65 cent monthly charge per cell phone and permits counties to impose up to a monthly dollar charge on landlines.  There are two Federal mandates coming down that will increase the cost of updating the equipment to receive emergency calls.  Technology is changing very fast and now there are ways to transmit data, like texts/photos via 911, but no way to receive the data.  The Federal government has mandated that we must be able to receive the data in two years.  The State has upgraded its equipment and is ready to comply.  However, the local public safety answering points (PSAPs) are struggling to find enough money so they can comply.  There are two ways to pay for these upgrades under current law.  First the counties could impose an additional $2.50 surcharge on land lines second they could borrow the money and use property tax revenue to cover the bond payments.  Neither of these options makes much sense.  The number of landlines is going down and property taxes are already too high.  Therefore, the question still remains on how the local PSAPs are able to upgrade their equipment in time to comply with the Federal mandate.

Last year there was a task force established to bring a recommendation back to the legislature on the best way to solve this problem.  Their recommendations were to get rid of the option for an additional $2.50 surcharge on land lines and equalize the wireless fee up to the dollar.  This makes all phone users equitable have the same charge.  This is very important, because the use of the landlines is going down and it has the highest fee.  Presently, wireless users pay a lessor fee, but they contribute approximately 70% of all emergency calls.  Therefore equalizing the fee on the people who are making most of the calls and are responsible for the equipment update just makes sense.  Presently there is an audit conducted on the wireless fees collected at the state, but there isn’t an audit conducted on the local PSAPs, this is wrong and we have stated that this needs to be done.  I believe that we need to make sure the local PSAPs have the money it needs to comply with the Federal mandate and have the equipment necessary to answer our 911 calls when they come in.  However, I am not convinced that this is being done in the most cost effective manner across the state.  So our bill also asks for a review of all 107 local PSAPs to make sure they are operating in the most cost effective manner.  It is the Legislature’s responsibility to make sure we have the equipment updates in place to be able to comply with the Federal mandate.  Just as important is to make sure they are operating in the most efficient manner and are most cost effective.  Property taxes are too high now and paying for too much of the PSAPs budget.  The cost should be covered by the users not property owners.

 Ed Reform Hanging by a Thread…

There still hasn’t been any agreement reached by the conference committee on the Education Reform bill.  This is extremely discouraging and disappointing.  My personal opinion is this all boils down to one senator who has a big ego and won’t agree to a compromise.  This senator is also a tenured professor, does this tell you anything?  This individual needs to understand that this compromise is not about him, it is about doing what is right for the state of Iowa.  Our students and their achievements are not keeping up with the rest of the country.  It will take additional dollars, which the compromise does, but it also takes accountability.  Just allocating more money is not working.  So doing the same thing over and over will not produce different results.  Maybe the tenured professor should come out into the real world and see how it actually operates.  Our schools, teachers and students deserve better.

“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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Click Here: Harry Reid and Wal-Mart hope nobody will notice their online revenue raid.

“The drivers of this rush to tax the internet are Wal-Mart and other big retailers that can more easily absorb the costs of collection than can smaller competitors. Also
supporting the bill is Internet giant Amazon, which coincidentally now sells its
own tax compliance service to other merchants.”