Energy policy should focus on reliability, affordability

We are off and running with the new legislative session. Most of the attention this week went to the Governor’s Condition of the State speech, but there were also speeches from the Chief Justice of the Iowa Supreme Court and the Adjutant General of the Iowa National Guard.

One of the topics addressed by the governor that I suspect will frequently be in the news this session is energy. I believe our energy policy should focus on two priorities: reliability and affordability.

My kids’ elementary school science book described energy as the stuff that “makes things go.” The book was right. Energy is what makes everything in Iowa go. Every home, school, business and machine needs energy to work for you.

Energy is a highly regulated industry, and there are some good reasons for that, but I want to make sure we encourage competition among energy providers and among the different sources of energy we have available. Responsible competition should make our energy more reliable and more affordable.

(Right now, I suspect that you are glad that energy is making your furnace “go!” Or, if you’re like our family, you’re happy to have a big stack of energy-dense firewood.)

I am surprised by how busy I already am.

For example, this week I started working on (i) medical prior authorizations (I’d like to shorten the time it takes to get authorization from an insurance company so you can get treated more quickly), (ii) city sewage sludge on cropland (I’m concerned about what’s in the sludge), (iii) districted county supervisor elections and (iv) squatters rights.

I am working on bills for some of these issues. For others, I am still in the investigative stage. All of these issues were things brought up by voters back home in District 91.

The variety of issues that arise is pretty amazing. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have a concern about something.

We were honored to have friends from home stop by this week. Some were there to support the fight against human trafficking. I hope to see more of you in the Capitol.