Taylor: de-appropriations measure will devastate Iowans

BY BROOKS TAYLOR

Mt. Pleasant News

DES MOINES ? State Sen. Rich Taylor, D-Mt. Pleasant, said the Iowa Senate ?did a disservice to a lot of Iowans? Thursday when it passed a $117 million de-appropriations bill.

The bill passed along party lines, 28-19, with all Senate Republicans favoring the bill and all Democrats opposing it.

The bill?s largest slices were $5.5 million in funding to Iowa community colleges, $3 million to the Department of Corrections and $1 million to the Iowa State Patrol, Taylor said.

?This is going to devastate a lot of Iowans and it will hurt the most vulnerable citizens,? the senator said. ?It is impacting a lot of people. It was not a good day.?

The Iowa House has not yet taken up the bill, Taylor said.

He claimed there were ways to find money ?and keep the programs running. We have $700 million in our rainy day fund and have all kinds of dollars that could be used so no programs would be defunded.?

Tax credits, he said, also should be studied.

In other news, Taylor said he filed two bills, Senate File 154, and Senate File 155, that would provide 4 percent state supplemental aid (allowable growth) to state K-12 school districts next school year.

?I hope the Republicans give this some serious thought,? he remarked. ?I can find the money to fund it if the GOP is willing to listen. I know schools need more, but I couldn?t find a way to pay for 6 percent (state funding).?

Taylor and State Rep. Dave Heaton, R-Mt. Pleasant, will be at the legislative briefing Saturday at 8:30 a.m., at the Chadwick Library on the campus of Iowa Wesleyan University.