State Sen. Rich Taylor 'ready and eager' to begin first term in Des Moines

By BROOKS TAYLOR

Mt. Pleasant News

Rich Taylor was eager for the gavel to sound this morning, opening the 2013 session of the Iowa Legislature.

?I am ready and eager,? Taylor, who begins his first senate term today, said Friday as he speculated about the significant issues facing the solons this year.

Taylor of Mt. Pleasant, a retired maintenance worker at the Iowa Correctional Facility in Ft. Madison, survived a three-candidate Democratic primary in June and then defeated former Lee County Supervisor Larry Kruse for the senate seat. It was Taylor?s first run for elective office.

?I first started thinking about running for the legislature about 15 years ago,? he reflected. ?However, I was working full-time at the prison and I knew I couldn?t do both jobs. I also didn?t want to run against Gene (Fraise, longtime state senator who retired Dec. 31, 2012). When he (Fraise) retired, I thought it was time for a Henry County legislator in the senate.?

His 25-year tenure (1985-2010) at the Ft. Madison prison served as the impetus that catapulted him toward candidacy. ?I really became interested in government when I worked at the prison and saw all the waste,? he recounted.

The freshman legislator is delighted he received most of the committee appointments he sought. ?You could pick eight committees you had desire to serve on and they tried to assign you according to your wishes,? he explained.

Service on the agriculture (where he is vice-chair) and judiciary committees were two appointments he desired most. He is also on the justice appropriations, economic development, local government and transportation committees. ?I want to stay busy,? he smiled.

The senator said he is going into the session with an open mind. ?I have my eyes wide open and am willing to look at everything. I won?t tell anybody that something is off the table. I am going to approach everything with enthusiasm,? he said.

Since he worked at a correctional facility, staffing at prisons is a top concern. ?They (prisons) are terribly under-staffed. When I first started we had 450 correctional workers, and now they are down to less than 300. We used to have two correctional officers per floor and now we are down to one. They have added cameras which help, but it (staffing) is really sad.?

Expanding his thoughts on prisons, Taylor said perhaps Iowa should look at sentencing reform. ?We are sending people to prison who could be involved in community-based corrections or house arrest.?

Taylor also said the death penalty may surface again in the session. Although he did not offer a definitive view on the topic, he said it was a ?mixed subject for me. Having worked in prisons, I believe a life sentence is worse than death. It is not fun living in prison with the fear of being beat up every day.?

Some of the other major legislation in this year?s session, as seen by the senator, who has lived in Henry County his entire life, include the gas tax, commercial property tax reform and the state surplus.

Taylor did not say whether or not he supported a gas tax increase but noted that there seems to be a considerable support for an additional gas tax. He said he would like to see other options to raising the gas tax.

He predicted a compromise between the two chambers on commercial property tax reform. ?I think there will be a compromise between the House and Senate. We have to be careful not to hurt cities and counties. The state has said it will reimburse governments losing tax revenue, but I am worked about backfilling. The state might do it for a while and the quit. We can?t make promises we can?t keep.?

In addition to the commercial property tax structure, Taylor believes the entire Iowa tax code needs re-structuring.

The senator would rather complete some one-time funding with the projected $800 million state surplus than refund it back to taxpayers.

?There are a lot of projects that need to be done that could be done with one-time money. Rather than giving everyone $36 (in a state income tax refund), I think it is better to spend money on one-time expenses?We collect money to provide services. When we have the money, we should be providing the services.?

Having grown up on a farm near Mt. Union, Taylor also supports encouraging more agriculture conservation practices. ?Having the state provide incentives (for conservation practices) is much better than mandates.?

Although he is not on the education committee, he said he plans on sitting in on as many education committees as he can ?to find out what?s going on.?

Taylor may have been elected as a Democrat, but he said he won?t let a party label stand in the way of his decisions in Des Moines. ?I am a Democrat, but I am going up there as a legislator,? he emphasized. ?I am up there to represent my friends and neighbors, not the Democrat party. I know it is going to be a learning curve for me, but I am ready to jump in with both feet.?