Week three at the Statehouse

     Last session, when the budget for FY17 was passed, the Revenue Estimating Conference (REC) projected revenue of $7.327 billion. In December, the REC reevaluated Iowa’s revenue and determined it was $115.5 million less than projected in March.

     By the Iowa law, we have to have a balanced budget; therefore we have to look at transferring dollars from other taxpayer funds or make cuts to departments, which have already spent much of their appropriated dollars. We adjusted accordingly to account for this new target.

     The Republicans now hold the majority in the House and Senate, and also hold the Governor’s office. The Governor gave his budget cut proposal at the beginning of the session, but the Senate Republicans never shared their ideas until late Monday night, Jan. 23 when they passed a de-appropriations bill out of subcommittee. The following day they passed it out of the Appropriations Committee, and Thursday, Jan. 26, SF 130 was brought up for debate on the Senate floor, without much input from the public.

     As an example, no details of their de-appropriations were discussed or released at my recent public forum in Maquoketa. It is hard to represent the wishes of the people when the people don’t know what is being proposed in Des Moines.

     This bill will affect education and public safety the most. It cuts nearly $26 million from higher education, placing an additional burden on the backs of our students and the families that support them in their pursuit of higher education. The Regents just increased tuition on students, and now we are cutting funds from them when they need it the most.

     Senate File 130 cuts more than $10 million from our justice system, undermining the state’s ability to keep Iowans safe. Citizens will not have access to all the services they rely on from our court system. We will have fewer investigators to solve crimes and fewer troopers to help us in emergencies.

     At the same time, large corporate tax incentives—the fastest growing part of the state budget—were not affected at all in this bill. These large corporations need to share the responsibility of balancing the budget.

     I wish my colleagues would have asked for more input instead of rushing it through without considering other ideas. Now the work begins on Fiscal Year 2018.

     Please contact me with any concerns or ideas you may have. As always, I appreciate your feedback.