Legislative session wrapping up

Hello SD 44! With one week until the end of the legislative session, things are starting to wrap up. This week was very busy with budget negotiations and getting the final bills of the session passed. These bills dealt with a range of issues including 2 volunteer firefighter bills that I ran, protecting kids in our schools, and more protections to keep your taxes low!

As many of you recall, much of this session was focused on the MASSIVE administrative bloat and spending that has taken place within our AEAs over the years. As I was working this week on the budget for the Department of Transportation, I found my mouth wide-open after it occurred to me that the ENTIRE budget for the Iowa Department of Transportation, that is the budget to build the roads, to maintain the roads, to plow the roads, the entire DOT budget is $125 MILLION LESS than the state AEA's budget! Let that sink in for a bit. However many that have been vocal against any change to the AEAs, say that we need to give the AEAs more money! That is staggering.

I have been a volunteer firefighter for the Packwood Volunteer Fire and Rescue Department for 32 years and because of those experiences, I have been very proud to be the voice of these selfless heroes in the Capitol. For the past 4 years, I have been working on SF 2424 which is a property tax abatement bill for volunteer firefighters and first responders. This bill creates a new property tax abatement program allowing local governments the option to provide their volunteer firefighters and EMS providers a property tax abatement if their home is located in the area that they serve. The volunteer firefighter or EMS provider simply need to meet the eligibility requirements set forth by their department and they can file a petition with their Board of Supervisors of the county where their home is located. The bill limits the exemption to 10%, but no more than $500, of their property tax obligation. The bill now goes to the House for their vote.

Another bill I ran, HF 2579 allows firefighter and EMS license plates to be personalized. For years we’ve allowed people from across the state to personalize their license plates and the fire and EMS plates should not be any different. With a statewide shortage of volunteer first responders, I see these bills as small way to say thank you to these GREAT individuals.

On Wednesday the Senate passed HJR 2006, a proposal for a constitutional amendment requiring a two-thirds majority to raise income tax rates in Iowa. This resolution is the second constitutional amendment Senate Republicans have proposed and passed in the last two weeks to protect taxpayers from the growth of government, reckless spending, and further guard their pocketbooks. Last week, Senate Republicans passed a proposal for a constitutional amendment putting a flat tax into the Iowa Constitution.

Both of these proposals have proved popular with voters, with nearly 68% of Iowans saying they would support a two-thirds majority requirement to raise taxes in our state. Furthermore, the debate on this bill perfectly illustrates why this requirement is important. Democrats voted against the measure, regardless of its popularity among Iowans, displaying again their hunger for more money from hardworking Iowans, and their appetite to easily raise taxes on Iowans.

This week we passed HF 2586 which will allow teachers to have the right to carry a concealed firearm if many conditions are met and a significant amount of initial and ongoing training is completed. Because so many of our schools are in very rural areas, the need to look for additional ways to protect our students in schools is common sense. Take the Pekin Community School District for example. Their entire school campus is located in the country with the nearest law enforcement officer being 15 miles away. 15 minutes is a LONG time to wait, and a GREAT example why this legislation is needed.

96% of mass shootings in the U.S. take place in “gun-free zones.” The attacker knows that the individuals are not able to defend themselves and these locations make for easy targets. While we have implemented many other things to protect our children in schools, including funding for schools to have a school resource officer, we need to allow teachers who desire to and who meet the strict training requirements, the ability to arm themselves so they can ultimately protect their students.

Thank you for the opportunity to serve as your state Senator. I hope you are all able to get outside this weekend and enjoy the beautiful 80 degree weather!