February 2010 Archives

Economic Recovery
As we try to put together a budget we occasionally get some input from economists regarding the economic outlook. Last week we had a visit by an economist from an internationally recognized firm. He offered a couple of perspectives I thought should be shared with you. First, he pointed out that wages are not growing for a wide swath of our economy, except in government! Secondly, it was his opinion that Iowa, and many other states, would not see a return to full employment (as it was defined in 2008) before the 2nd quarter of 2012. Since 80%+ of our state revenues are from either personal income taxes or sales taxes, which of course are employment sensitive, we should not expect a resounding recovery for many months. The Fiscal Year 2013 budget will already have been completed by the 2012 legislature prior to the 2nd quarter of 2012--so we probably won't see a budget that approximates anything close to normal until FY2014.

Given the circumstances as they are, House Republicans intend to do whatever we can to hold the line on spending. As a result, we have made it known that we will not vote for any budget that spends more than we take in. The Republicans have offered $600 million in spending reductions over the past two years to help fill the spending gap. So far, they have been largely ignored.

Climategate
If you have been following any of the recent news items regarding climate change, you may be aware of the issue being referred to as Climategate. Climategate is the term being applied to the release of emails from within one of the prime entities that has been involved in so-called scientific research associated with global climate change.

The group at the Univ. of East Anglia in the UK has been among the primary purveyors of global climate change issues. The emails have revealed the soft under-belly of the whole climate change debate. For many years the group at E. Anglia had refused to release their purported data for peer review. Instead, they have made claims regarding climate issues that were unfounded. They plotted to destroy whatever data they had and conspired against other inquiring scientists.

When these shenanigans were revealed, the floodgates were opened that exposed a wide variety of claims associated with global climate change that cannot be supported by scientific research. The implosion of the whole climate change debate continues daily with more baseless claims of climate catastrophes being de-bunked.

The complete collapse of the alarmists' arguments after the curtain was pulled back at E. Anglia is not surprising. The real problem now is that the terms "climate change" and "greenhouse gas emissions" and other related nonsense have become enshrined in federal code as well as our state code, so bureaucrats will be pursuing legislation to save us from a nonexistent problem for many years. The problem with that is that they will waste untold amounts of dollars in this effort.

Michael Barone said it best in a recent article; "Some decades hence, I suspect, people will look back and wonder why so many government, corporate and media elites were taken by propaganda that was based on such shoddy and dishonest evidence. And taken in to the point that they advocated devoting trillions of dollars to a cause that was based on flagrant dishonesty --".

Next Forum: Saturday, Feb. 27 at the Raccoon Valley Bank in Dallas Center, 9:30a.

When is a cut a cut?

When you think of a reduction in workforce, for example, what exactly does that mean? Let's come back to that in a minute.

I sit on the budget subcommittee that deals with the Administration & Regulation portion of state government. We call it Admin & Reg for short. It isn't a particularly glamorous part of state government, but, for example, we oversee the Dept. of Administrative Services, the Auditor of the State, the Ethics & Campaign Disclosure Office, the Dept. of Commerce, the Governor's Office, the Governor's Office of Drug Control Policy, the Dept. of Human Rights, the Dept. of Inspections & Appeals, the IPERS Administration, the Dept. of Management, the Dept. of Revenue, the Secretary of State, the Treasurer of the State, and last, but not least, the Rebuild Iowa Office.

In examining just this portion of state government, you may have heard or read about the 10% across the board budget cuts the governor implemented last summer and about all the hardships that have been created in state government.

That's what leads me to the original question. When is a cut, a cut? If we look at the total full-time equivalent positions, or FTEs for short, we see that in the 2010 budget the Admin & Reg portion of state government had 1607.31 FTEs. For the current 2011 budget, we see that those FTEs were "cut" to 1544.33. That would sound like a workforce reduction of 62.98 FTEs, right? Not exactly . . . . If we look back to the 2009 budget, we see that in Admin & Reg the total FTEs were 1480.66. That means in 2010 we actually increased FTEs by 126.75. So, while it is true we reduced the 2010 FTEs by 62.98, overall, we still have 63.67 more than in 2009. There is no way to reduce spending when we literally grew government by 63.67 FTEs from 2009 until now.

That is when a "cut" is not really a cut, and that is what Paul Harvey used to say is "the rest of the story."

As always, I want to hear from you. My Senate number is (515) 281-3371 and my home number is (515) 432-7327 or write me at: State Capitol, Des Moines, IA 50319 or at my home address: 1313 Quill Avenue, Boone, IA 50036 or email me at jerry.behn@legis.state.ia.us.

Partial Ban on Text Messaging
House File 2456 passed with a 65-31-4 vote. This bill makes it illegal to write or send a text message while driving. The bill is very weak as it still allows reading text message while driving, and all the other activities that people do while driving are still allowed. It will still be legal to use a GPS device and talk on your cell phone. A violation of this law is a simple misdemeanor with a fine of $30. If a violation causes serious injury, a court could impose a fine of $500, suspend the driver's license up to 90 days, or both. If a violation causes a death, a court could impose a fine of $1,000, suspend the driver's license up to 180 days, or both. I voted NO on this bill.

The Senate voted to add reading a text message to banned activity. While it sounds better, this bill is still not enforceable.

Insurance Mandates Proposed
There are currently five bills in the Legislature that would implement new requirements on health insurance plans. Typically, state mandates result in higher insurance premiums for consumers.

HF 234 Mental Health Parity would require Iowa-regulated health insurance plans to offer the same level of coverage for mental health and substance abuse as the plan does for physical health issues.  This could require insurance plans to cover apathy disorder, internet addiction, and gambling addiction.

HF 2329 Mandated Coverage of Medication Therapy Management would require state-regulated insurance plans to pay pharmacists for counseling customers on the proper use of prescriptions and for overseeing the different prescriptions of a customer.

HF 2404 Mandated Coverage of Audiology Services would require Iowa-regulated plans to cover audiology exams, hearing aids, and ear molds for children under the age of 18.

HF 2410 Substitution of Anti-Epileptic Drugs would require a pharmacist to provide notice to a patient and their health care provider of the intent to substitute a different drug for what the provider prescribed when that drug is used for the treatment of epileptic seizures. Under Iowa law, a pharmacist has the authority to substitute an equivalent drug when it is cheaper for the patient.

SF 2349 Mandated Coverage of Autism Services would require public employee health plans to provide coverage for services to persons with autism.

Education Bills Moving Forward
HF 2295 AEA Task Force would require the Iowa Department of Education to convene a task force to review the mission, structure, governance and funding of the Area Education Agencies to determine if the current model is applicable to the challenges and needs of school districts.

HF 2461 Licensing of Business Managers would require training for new business managers and licensing for all business managers in public school districts. According to the Department of Education, only six states require licensure of business managers.

HF 2462 New Uses for Board-Approved PPEL expands the uses for the board approved PPEL (property tax levy) to include computers, computer related equipment, computer software, technical support services and the cost to repair any equipment including school buses. The fiscal note indicates a potential property tax impact of $2.6 million as 26 districts do not have the board approved PPEL and another eight districts are not levying the maximum 33 cents per $1,000 assessed valuation.

HF 2240 Market Factor Teacher Incentives If funds are appropriated, a school district with a school located in an area with high crime rate may create market factor incentives for classroom teachers.  These incentives are designed to attract and retain talented professionals in those hard-to-staff school buildings.

Legislative Forum
Please join us at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, February 27 at the Farmers and Merchants State Bank in Winterset.

How to Contact Me
I can be reached at jodi.tymeson@legis.state.ia.us, or by telephone at the Capitol 515-281-3221, directly to my desk in the House Chamber 515-281-7615, or at home 515-462-5081. Please send mail to my home at 1524 Highway 169, Winterset, IA 50273, or the State Capitol Building, Des Moines, IA 50319.  I appreciate hearing from you.

Dallas County Supervisor Mark Hanson was recently interviewed by the Dallas County News upon his election as chair of the board of supervisors for this year. In the interview, he talks about the challenges in the county's budget, comprehensive planning for the future, and improvements to downtown Adel around the county courthouse.

• Read the story in the Dallas County News
• Read portions of the interview on the Dallas County website

SPONSOR:  House Appropriations Committee

SUBJECT:  House Study Bill 728, federal block grants and other federal funds

DATE:  Monday, March 1, 2010

TIME:  8:30 a.m.

LOCATION:  Iowa State House, Room 102

TIME LIMIT FOR TESTIMONY:  Individual testimony will be limited to three minutes

SUBMISSION OF WRITTEN TESTIMONY is encouraged but not required

TO SIGN UP TO TESTIFY:  Call the Legislative Information Office (LIO) at 515-281-5129 or visit the LIO office in the basement of the Capitol.

TO SUBMIT TESTIMONY BY EMAIL:  Testimony may be emailed to the Legislative Information Office at lioinfo@legis.state.ia.us.  Please type "Testimony" in the subject line.

Delegates to our 2010 county convention are encouraged to review the draft of our county platform, which will be discussed and voted upon at the convention on March 6th.

"It shall be unlawful for any person, firm, association, labor organization or corporation, or political subdivision, either directly or indirectly, or in any manner or by any means as a prerequisite to or a condition of employment to require any person to pay dues, charges, fees, contributions, fines or assessments to any labor union, labor association or labor association."

This week provided the last chance for bills to make it out of their respective committees. Funnel week is the self-imposed deadline by the House and Senate to provide a way to cut off debate on bills and move them through the process. Without such a deadline, contentious bills are simply postponed without resolution or compromise.

The bills that do make it this far, in the Senate, now must go to the House for further consideration. All bills must pass in both the Senate and the House and receive the Governor's signature, before they become law.

Two bills that I have been highly critical of last session, are still around, and need to be watched, are the attempt to remove our Right to Work law, and a so-called "prevailing wage" bill.

If we are to get our economy to recover quickly, the best thing that can happen is for entrepreneurs to start new businesses, and for existing businesses to expand and hire more employees. Yet both, the "prevailing wage" bill and even the talk of repealing our right to work law, has a chilling effect on entrepreneurs and existing businesses. Both bills are just the opposite of what we should be doing.

I will do my best to stop both of these "job killers" and to promote the principle of the free market to stimulate economic growth in Iowa.

As always, I want to hear from you. My Senate number is (515) 281-3371 and my home number is (515) 432-7327 or write me at: State Capitol, Des Moines, IA 50319 or at my home address: 1313 Quill Avenue, Boone, IA 50036 or email me at jerry.behn@legis.state.ia.us.