Taylor: Bickering hindered progress during 2015 session

By BROOKS TAYLOR

Mt. Pleasant News

You can?t call out State Sen. Rich Taylor, D-Mt. Pleasant, for not calling a spade exactly that.

Taylor was more than candid in his appraisal at Saturday?s legislative briefing of the accomplishments of the 2015 Iowa Legislature.

?I was kind of disappointed,? said Taylor, who is finished his third year at the capitol. ?I thought we should have gotten more accomplished policy-wise. I thought there was a lot of bickering by leadership. I was chairman of the local government committee and we passed just two days out of the committee.?

State Rep. Dave Heaton, R-Mt. Pleasant, said the hang-up this year in the Legislature was limited resources. ?We felt whatever we passed in education had to be sustainable,? he began. ?We basically had $180M for education and Medicaid. We were in a real pickle.

?We did pass 1.25 percent in allowable growth (to the state?s K-12 schools) and $55 million in supplemental money. The 1.25 percent is supposed to go to salaries and the $55 million is one-time money for expenditures.?

However, there is still some question whether Gov. Terry Branstad will sign the education bills because he said he doesn?t know if the funding is sustainable.

The centerpiece of legislation as far as the local representatives was concerned was naturally Senate File 505 which is an appropriations bill to keep the Mt. Pleasant Mental Health Institute (MHI) in operation.

But again, there is uncertainty over whether Branstad will sign the bill or use his line-item veto power to strike the appropriation.

?Funding for the Iowa Department of Human Services (DHS) was one of the biggest things we did,? Taylor reported. ?We came up with enough money to fund the Mt. Pleasant MHI and two companies have expressed interest in taking over the Clarinda MHI. Hopefully the governor will sign the bill and we will continue services at the MHI here.?

Heaton agreed with Taylor.

?We felt very good about Senate File 505,? he began. ?We were real excited about our mental-health proposal. We will have to wait to see if the governor signs it for it to be successful.?

Expansion of broadband services to rural Iowa was another piece of legislation ranking high with the legislators. The ?Connect Every Acre? initiative is designed to grant property tax breaks for network expansion.

?It offers a 10-year property tax exemption for expansion of broadband by companies to under-served areas,? Heaton explained.

Taylor was pleased that he passed the first bill he has proposed in the legislature. The bill expunges a charge from a person?s record if that person is found not guilty of the crime.

Heaton said the bill was a long time in coming. ?I could not understand why the charge remained on someone?s record when they were found not guilty,? he said.

Other notable legislation was passage of a law that allows schools to use physical plant and equipment levy (PPEL) for the repair of buses. Now, that money cmes out of the general fund.

The general assembly also appropriated $1 million into summer reading programs. ?Now, school districts have to step up and get their summer reading programs going,? Heaton challenged.

Former Mt. Pleasant Mayor John Freeland asked if there has been any talk in the legislature about year-around school.

?We haven?t really talked about it,? said Heaton, who added that he would be in favor of such a plan because it would provide continuity in the learning process.

?I agree with Dave,? Taylor remarked. ?I think eventually we will get there. I am going to visit some schools in Utah (who have year-around school) this summer. To do it here, it would take a lot of talk.?

Former Mt. Pleasant Superintendent of Schools Dr. John Roederer, who moderated the Mt. Pleasant Area Chamber Alliance-sponsored forum, said having classes year around would be a mixed bag. ?It has its advantages and disadvantages,? Roederer said. ?Athletics and extra-curriculars would be the most affected.?

Heaton and Taylor also touched on the delay in the opening of the new prison in Ft. Madison and the Iowa Fertilizer plant in Wever.

Taylor said he?s been told that the Ft. Madison prison will be fully functional and operational by October.

?I don?t see how you can build the same type of prison in Mitchellville (women?s reformatory) and have no problems and build one in Ft. Madison and have all kinds of problems,? Heaton remarked.

Taylor said he is not a fan of the fertilizer plant. ?It looks like the governor is dealing with $25 million in tax credits,? he commented. ?That does not seem like a very good deal to be. Allegedly, the governor made a deal, and a deal is a deal even if it is a bad deal.?

Finally, Taylor reiterated his reasons for not voting for the state?s 10-cent gasoline tax which was implemented in March.

?It should have been tied to strictly repair work,? Taylor commented. ?I also didn?t agree with the way it was implemented (not a staggered increase over several year). I wanted it used for fixing roads.?

Mt. Pleasant?s Area Chamber Alliance hosts a legislative briefing on the last Saturday of each month while the legislature is in session and also a wrap-up briefing following adjournment.