West Burlington, Iowa

News from the Hill…

This week in the Iowa House we passed the rules in which we govern ourselves by.  In the Iowa Legislature we follow Mason’s Law, unless our House Rules and/or Joint Rules state something different.    Most of the time was spent in committee work and sub-committee work.  A bill must pass through a sub-committee then pass the full committee before it is eligible for debate on the House Floor.

Ways and Means  Committee…

This week in the Ways and Means Committee we had two presentations.  One presentation was on our property tax system.   This presentation included an update on SF 295 that was passed two years ago to reform Iowa’s Property Tax System.   On a statewide basis property taxes have been growing faster than the rate of inflation for at least twenty years.  With the passage of SF 295 the growth of property taxes has slowed.  While the property tax system is extremely complicated in the state of Iowa it does seem to work. The other presentation was on the Iowa Inheritance Tax.  One of the bills we will be working on this year is to lower the states inheritance tax.  People who work hard for their money and build up an estate should be able to decide where they want their money to go when they are no longer with us.  This last year the state took in a little over $100 million dollars from the inheritance tax.  This money has all been taxed before, it does not need to be taxed again.

Commerce Committee…

The Governors broadband bill, HSB 104, was assigned to a subcommittee this past week in the Commerce Committee.  The Chair of the Commerce Committee is the sub-committee chair with two other majority party members and two minority party members.  I was named as one of the majority party members.  This bill is substantially different from last year’s bill.  HSB 104 has a five million dollar grant program and 100% property tax exemption for the new property for a three year period.  I believe the grant program is a nonstarter and will not last in the bill.  The property tax exemption in the bill is too short to provide any incentive for build out, so I would expect that part to be increased to ten years.  The big question that needs to be asked and answered is this, what is the roll of the taxpayer in paying for the installation of broadband in the state of Iowa?  Is this a roll of government or private industry?  I know what my answer is, but I would like to know where you stand on this issue.   We finished the week in Commerce Committee with a presentation by John Deere and DuPont Pioneer on the importance of broadband, via cell towers to the Ag community.    They indicated that we are on the front end of a major increase of usage of data in the Ag community.  I would have to agree with this and we need more cell towers in rural Iowa.  But it requires fiber under ground  to connect the cell towers.  This all takes money to build out and it is not the responsibility of the tax payers to pay for it.

“If once you forfeit the confidence of your fellow-citizens, you can never regain their respect and esteem.” – Abraham Lincoln

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

Until next time,

Tom Sands