According to the LSA report, the Legislature increased the number of authorized FTE positions from an actual 52,273 in Fiscal Year 2009 to an estimated 52,907 in FY 2010. That is an increase of 634 new positions. This occurred despite Governor Culver’s 10 percent across-the-board budget reduction.

During the 2010 session, the majority party boasted the “largest reorganization and downsizing of state government in over 25 years”. However, according to the LSA report, they still managed to authorize an additional 195 FTE positions in 2010. To most Iowans that I know, that is not downsizing of state government, but rather the opposite.

The non-partisan report outlines that despite the revenue economic downturn and dramatic overspending of the past two fiscal years, the majority party’s budgets still managed to grow state government.

What the people of Iowa need are new private sector jobs, not more and more government. The key to economic recovery is to empower our local businesses to be successful. It is Iowa businesses that will be the key to future prosperity. Unfortunately, the Legislature’s plan over the past several years has been to grow government on the backs of Iowa taxpayers.

The LSA report is further proof that the majority party did not really cut the budget or reduce the size of state government, but rather increased government jobs and spending through the use one-time funds and property tax increases. For the past two years, I voted ‘no’ on every piece of these budgets, and I will continue to stand up for and Iowa taxpayers Iowa families.

Many of the ideas in the bill were already proposed by House Republicans last year, and I’m glad to see them now being considered.  Our ideas in the bill include selling and privatization of the state vehicle fleet ($18 million), partial elimination of unfilled positions in state government (up to $14.5 million) and consolidation of information technology services ($1 million).

Unfortunately, there are also several items in the bill which I do not support.

HSB565 makes sweeping changes to Iowa’s Empowerment program, moving administration to the Department of Education and away from our local school districts.  Empowerment has been very effective in helping to meet the needs of low income/at-risk students.  We have seen great benefits locally from this program here locally.

The Governor’s proposed budget anticipates the reorganization bill will result in $341 million in savings; however the non-partisan Legislative Services Agency estimates the FY2011 savings at only $52.7 million.  To bridge this gap, House Republicans recently offered another $290 million in cost saving proposals, yet none of these ideas have been considered.

Included in our new budget saving ideas include elimination of taxpayer funded lobbyists ($4 million), selling the Iowa Communications Network ($15 million), delayed implementation of the model core curriculum ($10.5 million), and cuts to office supplies and equipment ($5 million).

Our budget problems stem from overspending during the past several years.  The solutions therefore, must come from responsible budget cuts, not tax increases.

This week, I introduced legislation to create a Constitutional Spending Limitation to our state’s budgeting practices.  Currently, there is a provision in Iowa law which only allows lawmakers to spend 99% of its tax receipts.  Unfortunately, the expenditure limit is not in the Constitution and the legislature has repeatedly found ways around this statutory limit.  Over the past several years, the spending limit has been temporarily suspended altogether, resulting in our current budget disaster.

In 2006, for example, the limit was suspended, resulting in an additional $84.2 Million in spending.  In 2007, the limit was again suspended resulting in $45.7 Million more in spending.  According to projections, if we had abided by this 99% limitation since 2007, our state would have saved $179 Million.

Years of ignoring the existing spending limit has contributed to the budget disaster we now faces.  Our state could have avoided these bloated, unsustainable state budgets.  That is why I have introduced this Constitutional Spending Limitation.  Not only will this Constitutional Spending Limitation provide needed budgeting reform, it will also effectively provide much greater protection for the Iowa taxpayer.

If you have any additional thoughts on how we can save money, return the power to the people, or protect the Iowa taxpayers, please let me know.

In Governor Culver’s address this week on the Condition of the State, I was pleased to hear his promise to not burden Iowa’s families with tax increases.  Unfortunately, his record on taxes says otherwise.

Last fall, Governor Culver’s ten percent across the board cut would have crippled Iowa’s schools had it affected their spending authority, but since it only slashed the funding they receive from the state, it saddles the property taxpayer with a loss that must be backfilled.  The Non-Partisan Legislative Services Agency estimates this property tax increase for the next fiscal year at $268.9 million.

We must also be vigilant against other tax increases which creep into our code through new fees and charges that prevent Iowans from keeping more of their hard earned money.

In the past three years, Iowans have had to deal with, and defeat, initiatives such as combined corporate reporting (proposal would cost Iowans an additional $25 million), the “bottle deposit bill” (proposal would cost Iowans an additional $21.5 million), and a repeal of federal deductibility (proposal would cost Iowans an additional $600 million).  Fortunately, those proposals have failed so far.  Unfortunately, others passed and Iowans are financially responsible for more government spending.

I promise to fight against any measure that perpetuates this pseudo-balancing act.  As House Republican Leader Kraig Paulsen stated in his opening comments on the session, “House Republicans will not support any budget that spends more money than it takes in. Balancing the budget is not good enough if it’s on the backs of the property taxpayer.”

As always, please let me know if you have any ideas on how we can save money and protect the taxpayers of Iowa.

– President Obama, Inaugural Address, January 20th 2009.

Friends and neighbors,

Over the past several months, I have enjoyed talking with many of you and listening to your concerns about the direction of our state and our country. One thing that I continue to hear from people is a growing concern that government is no longer accountable to the people. There is frustration at runaway spending, without an ability to understand where our tax dollars are being spent. This must change.

Again this year, my colleagues and I in the House Republican caucus will be working to pass the Iowa Transparency Act. This bill directs the Iowa Department of Administrative Services to develop and operate a single searchable web site for Iowa taxpayers to see how and where their tax dollars are being collected and spent.

The Iowa Transparency web site will allow the public, at no cost, to search a database that would provide the names and principal location or residence of recipients of state funds, amount of funds expended, the agency that provided those funds, the program or activity of the expenditure, description of the purpose of the expenditure, expected and past outcomes of funding actions or expenditures, state audits relating to expenditures, and other relevant information.

The Iowa House passed this legislation in 2009 with bi-partisan support, but the bill was not taken up by the Senate.

The people of Iowa hold power over their government, not the other way around. The public should always be kept informed.

I am always eager to hear your ideas on how to not only improve our budgeting practices, but also how we can reform the way our government does business. Please stay in touch, and together we can work toward getting Iowa back on track.

Greetings! With the 2010 legislative session quickly approaching, it is time to begin my regular newsletters once again. Over the next several weeks, I want to provide a preview of the upcoming session, so we can work together to address the concerns which are ahead for Iowa.

These are difficult financial times across the country, with unemployment continuing to rise and uncertainty about the direction of our economy. I have talked with many families facing job losses and others who have seen cutbacks in pay. Just like many family budgets, the state budget is also in rough shape. After three years of rapid growth in state spending, we are now faced with sharp declines in revenue. This has created a deep budget hole from which we have only begun to recover.

Do not be misled by claims that these budget problems are solely because of the downturn in the national economy. In April, Governor Culver signed into law the largest budget in the history of the State of Iowa at $6.3 billion. I voted NO on this budget and I would do so again today. While every family was working to prioritize spending and make sure all bills would be paid, our government over-spent.

By law, Iowa must have a balanced budget. After finally being forced remedy the huge gap in the state state spending, Governor Culver made a decision to balance the budget with a simple 10% across-the-board (ATB) cut. In our family budgets, we work to find places where we can afford to cut back spending: cable television, eating out, travel, etc. We don’t cut back on our mortgage and insurance payments. We make choices about what is most important.

Although I appreciate that the Governor has finally seen the need to reduce government spending, his across-the-board cut was not the right way to tackle the problem. The Governor should have called the Legislature back into special session, so that our elected representatives could do the work of prioritizing programs which are the most critical functions of government and which programs are optional.

It is also important to note even with the 10% ATB cut the past three annual Iowa government budgets are still the largest in state history. This chart shows how state spending has grown in recent years:

Beyond our current budget year, the upcoming FY 2010 budget looks to be even more challenging. The non-partisan Legislative Services Agency (LSA) just released their preview of the 2010 budget. LSA took a look at built-in spending increases and ongoing obligations and determined that the 2010 budget gap is $1.07 billion dollars.

(The full LSA report can be found here)

http://www.legis.state.ia.us/lsadocs/IssReview/2010/IRDLR000.PDF

This year at the Capitol, I will once again be working to protect the taxpayer and find ways to limit government spending. With your help, we must work to determine which spending programs are most critical to the people of Iowa and which programs can be reduced or eliminated.

As always, I would very much appreciate your ideas and input. Let’s get our ideas ready to take to the Capitol, and get our state back on track.

The last bill passed in the House was SF 478, the standing appropriations bill which appropriated over $450 million dollars from various state budget funds.  The standings bill also served as a catch-all bill for a wide range of policies that did not survive the regular committee process.  Last-minute items included a 5% city franchise fee on utility bills, an interim study committee on puppy mills, and increased fees for out-of-state deer hunting licenses.

A lot of high-profile legislation failed in the final days.  No labor bills were brought forward and there was no change to federal deductibility.  I will continue to oppose forced unionization, mandated wage rates and any attempt to take away most Iowans’ largest tax deduction.  Majority leadership also blocked all attempts to allow the people of Iowa a vote on a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman.

Despite falling tax revenues, economic trouble and massive overspending in previous years, this budget will be the largest in our state’s history.  To facilitate this extra spending, the receipt of federal stimulus money was used to “backfill” many of our ongoing spending obligations.  While this avoids making some painful cuts this year, we are facing a much larger budget gap once the stimulus money runs out.  We will soon be looking out over the cliff of a budget disaster.

We must do a better job of prioritizing our spending.  I will continue to offer suggestions of how we can fully fund the most essential functions of government while protecting Iowa taxpayers.

It continues to be a great honor to serve.  Over the interim, I look forward to spending time in the community, listening to your thoughts and ideas on how government can better reflect the will of the people.