Funnel week saw the consideration in committee of two controversial labor bills.  Still active is a mandate for artificial wages rates on public projects and a bill to mandate that non-union public employees pay union dues.

HSB 699, commonly referred to as “prevailing wage,” would be a huge burden on Iowa taxpayers.  When cities, counties, and the state are forced to pay more for public projects, the cost is either passed on to you and I, the taxpayers, or else the projects are scrapped altogether.  The bill interferes with the free market, and does not allow projects to be bid competitively.

HSB 702 is an effort to substantially weaken Iowa’s Right-to-Work Law (inappropriately called “Fair Share”).  For the better part of a century, Iowa’s Right to Work Law has protected employees from being forced to join a union or forced to pay union dues against their will.  If this passes, non-union employees would be required to pay dues to an organization to which they do not belong, and to a union with whom they may disagree on political and social issues.

Iowa’s Right-to-Work laws are an important factor for employers when considering Iowa as a place to establish or expand their business.  We ought to be focused on giving employers positive reasons to choose our state for their business.

These bills are anti-economic growth, anti-free choice, and bad for job creation.  I will continue to strongly oppose these bills, and work instead for opportunities to get our economy growing again.

Also troubling, is the Auditor’s finding that the Governor’s budget shortchanges local school districts, and ultimately local property taxpayers.  Auditor Vaudt’s report states that the “…Governor’s budget could have the effect of raising property taxes
on Iowans by as much as $170 million.”

House Republicans have already offered $290 million dollars in budget savings, and we will continue to offer our ideas to fix the budget, while protecting taxpayers.

Read Auditor Vaudt’s report here.

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.

I suspect that the Culver Administration thinks that this will help them buy votes next year, but based on the conversations I have with my fellow citizens, it will likely backfire.  The people of Iowa simply do not want more debt.  They are frustrated with exploding deficits at the federal level and concerned about runaway spending here in Iowa.

Amanda pointed out that there used to be a sign near this job site that said “Your Tax Dollars at Work” (or something similar).  This new one ought to instead read “Your Children’s Tax Dollars at Work.”  I hope Owen gets his money’s worth.

This 10% spending cut applies equally to all areas of state government. No effort will be made to prioritize state spending, no effort to determine which state programs are more valuable than others. During the last legislative session, House Republicans offered over amendments amounting to over $330 million in budget savings, yet those were almost all ignored. With targeted cuts, the state would now be in a position to preserve funding for the most critical functions of government.

(Question: Is the Power Fund equally as important as Education or Public Safety?)

It is important to understand that this budget cut also shifts much of the financial burden on to local communities. Included in the 10% ATB spending cut is local school. Here in the West Des Moines Community School District, initial estimates reveal at least $4 million in direct cuts for FY 2010. By Governor Culver’s own admission, this will likely end up as a property tax increase.

I continue to stand opposed to any property tax increase. Family budgets are stretched too thin and commercial property taxes are already a disincentive to economic development.

While I am glad that Governor Culver has finally seen the light on the need to cut spending, he’s going about it the wrong way. The correct course of action would have been to call the legislature back into special session to make targeted budget cuts. We must learn to set priorities for state spending. It is also regrettable that the Governor has backtracked on his promise to not raise taxes.

My colleagues and I in the House Republican Caucus stand ready to again offer our ideas on how to save the state money. Perhaps next year, the Governor will be listening.