Williamsburg Chamber hosts lunch with lawmakers

WILLIAMSBURG — Iowa State Sen. Dawn Driscoll and State Representative Judd Lawler saved the subject of property taxes until the end of a discussion with members of the Williamsburg Chamber of Commerce during their lunch hour Wednesday.

Even then the pair had little say about them.

Driscoll said she knocks on 35,000 doors every two years. “There is not a town that I haven’t hit, and that’s all we ever hear is property tax.”

Property tax proposals continue to change, said Driscoll. The last bill proposed would have cut property taxes by $42 million and included a $25,000 homestead exception and additional relief for veterans and seniors, she said.

“Revenue limitations were more streamlined,” Driscoll said. Local governments like predictability, she said.

Iowa County Supervisor Abigail Maas has worked with Iowa Sen. Dan Dawson on the tax bill, advocating for rural counties, Driscoll said.

The goal of the House is to reduce and simplify taxes, Lawler said. “We argued with each other a lot.”

Making taxes more transparent is a good thing, Lawler said, but it’s also confusing. The actual tax bill “[is] the most convoluted thing you’ll ever find,” he said.

Lawler wants to lower taxes, but he also wants to protect local services. In business, if revenue drops, the company has to decrease spending. The government works the same way, he said.

“I worry about dictating too much to local governments,” Lawler said. “I feel like the state … sometimes takes too much control,” and that’s usually because of “bad actors,” he said.

Commerce

Lawler, a member of the Commerce Committee, said he’s amazed at the issues the committee addresses that impact people and get no press.

“We did some tax cuts to the unemployment tax,” said Lawler. The state’s unemployment trust fund had about $2 million in it. It should be near zero, he said.

The unemployment tax cut should save businesses in the state almost a billion dollars, according to Lawler.

The bill reduced the taxable cap from about $40,000 to about $20,000 and changed the maximum unemployment tax from 9% to just over 5%. “It’s a billion dollar tax cut,” Lawler said, but the media didn’t talk about it.

There are more tax changes to come, said Driscoll. This is just step one. “I would say a billion dollar tax cut for business is a good first step.”

Lawler sees two big issues for commerce in Iowa — energy costs and insurance costs. He had hoped to accomplish more on those fronts in the House this year.

Lawler said insurance cost for his home owner’s association have tripled in the past five years. Huge deductibles mean more special assessments, he said. He would like to see more done in the House to control insurance costs.

PBMs

The reform of pharmacy benefit managers was a big win, said Driscoll. “A lot of people … have talked to us about this for years.”

Iowa wasn’t the first state to address it, said Driscoll. “We kind of modeled off what other states have done.” Thirty-six states have passed laws regulating PBMs, she said.

“We had 50 pharmacies close in Iowa in the previous two years,” said Lawler. Most were in small rural areas. “And so that’s really what drove the reform.”

It was a big dispute, said Lawler. “A couple of entities have sued,” he said, and an injunction has been filed.

A lot of money is involved, said Lawler.

Rebates were a huge part of the bill, Lawler said. They were largely going back to the PBMs, but they must now go back to the health plans or the employers.

Another health bill that passed this session was House File 516, which gives preference to Iowa residents for admission to Iowa medical schools and primary care residency and fellowship positions.

The bill also requires the University of Iowa hospitals and clinics to provide the opportunity to participate in a rural rotation to people to whom a primary care residency or fellowship position is awarded in order to expose the resident or fellow to rural areas of the state.

Workforce

More than half the state’s budget goes to education, said Lawler. Another quarter is for healthcare. Not much money is left for other things.

Most of the high demand jobs in Iowa are in health care, Lawler said. “The major shortage we … have is in healthcare, so that’s the focus.”

But there is also demand for trucking and for information technology, said Lawler, and he knows a company that can’t keep enough electricians.

Plumbing and heating jobs are also in high demand, Driscoll said,

“We’ve tried to loosen up some of the licensing restrictions, said Lawler. Barbers used to have to spend $25,000 to get training before they could cut hair. “That’s a lot of debt for a young person to take on,” he said.

Other issues

Lawler was glad the legislature passed a law regulating county supervisors. Lawler said the bill was specific to Johnson, Story and Black Hawk Counties which all have Iowa state universities.

“You’ve got five good supervisors,” Lawler told the Iowa County residents.

In Johnson County, however, where Lawler lives, nearly 40,000 people live in rural areas but had no representation on the board because supervisors were elected at-large and were usually all from the Iowa City metropolitan area.

The legislature passed a bill changing at-large positions, which should have a positive impact for people who care about rural issues, such as secondary roads, Lawler said.

Driscoll was glad to finally get a seizure-safe bill for schools passed. She’s introduced it for five years, and it finally passed this year, she said.

The bill requires schools to employ someone trained in dealing with seizures. “I know that seizures are on the rise,” Driscoll said,

Another bill allows fire departments to earmark money for equipment, such as new fire trucks, and carry it over in the department’s budgets rather than having to put it back in the general fund at the end of the year.

Driscoll also pushed through a bill giving state employees parental leave, she said.

Few ag bills are considered each year, said Driscoll. Iowa’s Department of Agriculture has one of the smallest of the state’s budgets, she said. Ag is a $20 billion industry, the largest industry in the state, but the ag budget is only $17 million.

Iowa County is lucky to have Lawler and Driscoll working for them in Des Moines, said Maas. Many people on Capitol Hill do nothing, she said, but Lawler and Driscoll work hard and are respected among their peers.

Erin Eichhorn, director of the Chamber of Commerce, thanked Chamber members for a polite forum. Too often meetings with legislators turn combative, she said.

Driscoll and Lawler are approachable, said Eichhorn. If Chamber members need something from the legislature, they should call Driscoll or Lawler and let them know. she said.