Capitol Comments

My first forum for the 2015 legislative session, sponsored by the League of Women Voters, is this Saturday, January 17, at Mercy Medical Center, 701 10th Street SE, Cedar Rapids, from 10:30-11:45 A.M. in the Hallagan Education room. I hope to see you there!

Working To Help and Grow the Middle Class

The 2015 Legislative Session opened this week and House Democrats pledged to work to strengthen Iowa’s middle class and revitalize rural Iowa.

Many issues are likely to come up this year, but priorities include: expanding job opportunities and job training, raising the minimum wage, expanding early childhood education, improving the mental health system for Iowa children and encouraging more production and use of renewable energy.

Both good-paying jobs and quality schools are critical to rural Iowa – to all of Iowa. It is important to move the state forward by helping our local small businesses expand and create jobs, by ensuring that all kids graduate with the skills needed to get a good job, by working to keep the agriculture economy strong, and by expanding renewable energy like wind, solar, and biofuels.

To offer feedback and share your priorities for the 2015 session, please participate in a brief survey athttp://interspire.iowahdc.info/surveys.php?id=25 .

Chief Justice Focuses on Families, Efficiency, Racial Disparity

In the Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark Cady’s annual State of Judiciary speech to the Legislature this week he detailed the efforts by the courts to address racial disparities in the Iowa criminal courts. In November, more than 100 judges attended training with the NAACP on racial disparities in the justice system and the impact of these disparities. The courts will continue training for the judicial branch staff, including judges and magistrates, on recognizing implicit biases in the system and how to address them. The Chief Justice stated, “Iowa may be a leader in the nation in the statistics showing racial disparities in its criminal justice system, but Iowa can also lead the nation in finding solutions to end racial disparities.”

Chief Justice Cady reported that the court system has added additional juvenile court officers and has implemented new risk-assessment and evidence-based practices resulting in 20% drops in both juvenile complaints and the number of juveniles being charged with felonies. Justice Cady said the changes give children more opportunities because the court system is better able to serve the needs of these children with diversion programs and preventing juveniles from receiving criminal records.

The court has also improved services by expanding family treatment courts. These courts are a collaboration between the judicial branch, the Department of Human Services, and private providers. Professionals assist families with substance abuse treatment and family issues – focusing on improving family life and keeping families together. The Iowa courts operate 14 of these family treatment courts across the state and will continue to add more, as needed.

The Iowa Courts have improved the civil justice system by streamlining the time and expense of discovery in civil cases, statewide. The Courts are also continuing with the business court pilot project.

Iowa will be the first court system in the nation to have a totally electronic, paperless process for all cases at every level later this year when the Electronic Document Management System (EDMS) is operational in all 99 counties.

Governor’s Condition of the State and Budget

The Governor said he supported creating new partnerships with educators and the business community, keeping higher education affordable, stopping bullying, and connecting more Iowans to high-speed internet. He also proposed an initiative that would provide financial support to communities interested in expanding recreational and entertainment venues.

The Governor also released his budget recommendations for fiscal year 2016 and 2017 this week. The Governor is recommending increasing the state general fund budget to $7.34 billion, an increase of $347 million over the current fiscal year.

Most of the increases in funding fall into three areas of the budget: education, human services and the “backfilling” by the state in order to fund our local government services (to “fill” the shortage of revenue at the local level resulting from the reduction in local commercial property tax collections that had previously paid for these services). The Governor also recommends a tuition freeze for a third year for students at Iowa’s three state universities.

The Governor’s school funding plan will short change Iowa’s kids and will lead to larger class sizes and fewer opportunities for students. Iowa per pupil funding is already $1,612 below the national average at 35th in the nation. The Governor’s recommendation that Iowa schools get less than a 1% increase in supplemental aid would be the 2nd lowest on record in Iowa’s history. It means that half of our school districts will have to raise local property taxes just to keep the same level of funding as the previous year. Teacher layoffs and reduction of course opportunities for students is inevitable in some districts.

Iowa will end the year with over $1 billion in surplus and reserves. This means that we can make a more reasonable investment in our schools and still keep the state budget well-balanced. When the Governor recommends a 9% increase for his own office, but less than 1% for our kids, his priorities are clear.

Report Shows Little Progress on Radon in Schools

By December, Iowa schools were required to report to the Department of Education on their attempts to test or address radon in their schools, and any future plans to fix the issue. That report has now been sent to the Legislature for review. If we had hopes that the problem was being thoroughly addressed independently by schools, those hopes have been dashed.

•    Radon is an odorless, colorless gas – its origin is uranium, which breaks down and releases radon gas.
•    Iowa has the highest uranium concentration in the country.
•    Testing is the only way to detect radon.
•    The Surgeon General has reported that “Indoor radon is the second-leading cause of lung cancer in the United States and breathing it over prolonged periods can present a significant health risk to families all over the country.”

The radon report released by the Department of Education states that only 17% of Iowa public school buildings and 21% of non-public school buildings have been tested for radon, and only 18% of our school districts have a radon testing and mitigation plan.

The report also showed that 3,775 classrooms, or 4%, showed levels higher than 4 picocuries per liter, the level at which the federal Environmental Protection Agency recommends schools take action. Non-public schools reported 23 classrooms, or 14%, tested at 4 picocuries per liter or greater. Public schools also reported that 30 schools, 13% of those tested, mitigated to reduce the levels of the gas, while 28, or 4%, of the non-public schools tested mitigated.

Efforts have been made to assist schools in funding for testing and mitigation of radon, and two bills passed the Senate in 2014. However, those bills have met resistance in the Republican-controlled House, and only the required report was passed last session. I will sponsor and support another radon bill in the House, hopeful that we can address the issue more effectively this session.

Congratulations to the city of Cedar Rapids

I am pleased to announce that Cedar Rapids was awarded funding for a clean water project through the USDA’s Regional Conservation Partnership Program. The Middle Cedar Partnership Project (MCPP), led by the City of Cedar Rapids, will lay the foundation for needed improvements in the Cedar River Watershed. This project will bring together a large and diverse group of conservation partners working together to improve water quality. Congratulations to Cedar Rapids and all the conservation partners involved!
The federal government awarded the state and Cedar Rapids $5.6 million in grants through the new, major conservation program for projects designed to help improve water quality and to reduce the amount of nutrients entering our Iowa waterways. 115 projects across the country will receive $370 million through the new farm bill conservation program, leveraging nearly $400 million in partner contributions.

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/money/agriculture/2015/01/14/iowa-cedar-rapids-conservation-grants/21748743/

At the Board of Educational Examiners legislative reception, it was great to visit with fellow educator, Sara Arnold! Sara is a newly appointed board member of the BOEE and currently teaches talented and gifted classes in Cedar Rapids. We spoke about BOEE issues that are before the legislature. There are two code change requests in reference to ethics complaints with pending criminal charges, and another bill concerning coaching licenses.

Thank you, Sara, for your service and leadership!

At the Iowa Association of Business and Industries legislative reception, and it’s always wonderful to visit with folks from home. Cipco’s Business Development Manager, Cheri Popp, and Kirkwood Community College’s Vice President of Continuing Education and Training Services, Kim Becicka, spoke with me about school funding, mental health and skilled job training programs at Kirkwood. Later, I enjoyed another discussion about a local jobs focus with Rockwell Collins’ Director of External Relations, Cindy Dietz. Education and jobs – two of Iowa’s critical priorities.

Family Development and Self-Sufficiency (FaDSS) had a large presence in the capitol rotunda. Their mission: improving the lives of families at risk of long-term welfare dependency or family instability by creating opportunities for self-sufficiency. This evidenced-based, holistic home visiting program focuses on preventive services, and facilitates long-term family change to families receiving Family Investment Program benefits. Last year, FaDSS served 5,600 kids! Learn more about this wonderful program:http://www.iowafadss.org/index.html

Our Linn County team pictured here: Regional Director Danielle Peterson, Amber Mercil (Martin), Laurie Smith, Shawn Knighton, Rochelle Charnowski, Nick Shanahan and Nancy Cleary.

Following the State of the Judiciary speech by Chief Justice Mark Cady, I enjoyed visiting with Dedric Doolin, President of the CR Branch of NAACP, and former state representative, Wayne Ford. Justice Cady’s spoke about the inordinate disparity of minority incarcerations throughout Iowa, and he requested assistance from the legislature in addressing this problem along with the justice system. This is an issue that Iowa and other states have been struggling with for years – I’m hopeful that now, significant progress can be made.

Wednesday was a day for inspiring speeches at the capitol! First it was Iowa Chief Justice Cady’s State of the Judiciary. Then at noon, Tammy Nyden, Committee Chairperson for NAMI Iowa, shared her personal story as a mother of a child with a range of mental disorders. Hers was a passionate plea to the legislature to address the need for a comprehensive mental health system for children. 1 in 4 of Iowa’s children has special mental health needs and for Iowa to have the best schools in the nation, the state must be delivering appropriate services for all learners. Iowa is desperately lacking pediatric psychiatric hospital beds, appropriate therapeutic schools, day school programs for children with serious mental illness, respite workers and other needed community services. I was dismayed two years ago when the governor vetoed 8 million dollars that the legislature had ear-marked for the reduction of the long waiting lists for the Medicaid waiver. I was further dismayed yesterday when the governor neglected to address this issue adequately in his speech and in his budget. Currently, there are more than 10,000 Iowans on the waiting list for waivers, with some having waited more than 2 years. This is all the more unacceptable when matching federal funds are available.

You can make a difference by calling the governor’s office during business hours and voicing your concerns: 515- 281-5211.

The IA Association of Electric Cooperatives in conjunction with PMCI, the IA Institute for Cooperatives, the IA Biotech Assoc and the IA Communications Alliance hosted a legislative “welcome back” reception, I enjoyed visiting with Linn County Rural Electric Coop General Manager, Kim Colberg, about rural education, school funding, broadband, and quality of life in rural Iowa. All are important issues for the legislature again this session.

Chuck Hallier, Business Unit Environmental Manager at Cargill in Cedar Rapids, explaining permits, air quality testing, and EPA compliance in Linn County. Companies like Cargill, along with the state of Iowa and the federal EPA, work together to implement health safety and environmental safeguards. Cargill would like the state to continue supporting inspections and audits ensuring compliance by all businesses and manufacturers.

Gail Orcutt, volunteer with the American Lung Association, and Gary Streit, attorney at Shuttleworth and Ingersoll, and member of the American Cancer Society, spoke with me about the strong connection between tanning beds and skin cancer, and radon mitigation in homes and schools. I learned that employees’ flex spending accounts can be used to pay for radon mitigation in the home.

Learn more about the American Cancer Society and it’s resources here: http://acscan.org/action/ia

Discussing the regent’s proposed funding model for Iowa’s universities with Regent Hannah Walsh. We must adequately fund our universities and keep tuition down. The legislature will be discussing the formula for funding this session.

Jim “Louie” Schutts, Vice President of the Iowa Firefighters Association, discussed the increasingly difficult issue of Iowa’s rural areas receiving timely responses to emergency calls; ambulance service, EMS and fire. I appreciated hearing from this veteran volunteer firefighter about distances to hospitals, cost of training and fewer volunteers available during working hours who can respond quickly to calls.

Good discussion this evening with Michael Sadler, Assistant Vice President of Public Policy at Century Link, about the proposed expansion of broadband across Iowa. Michael and I spoke particularly about the return on investment and the future use of fiber optic cable. Key factors in any bill will be the cost and benefit analysis. I’m looking forward to more discussions in the House on this important topic!

The 2015 ISEA legislative conference listening to an overview by Corey Williams of the National Education Association on bills being discussed in the U.S. Congress which will affect public education in Iowa. An example would be the Reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). ESEA’s original purpose was to help raise achievement and close gaps in student learning. It became known as No Child Left Behind, didn’t work as intended and was over-reliant on test scores to label students and schools. Today, members of both parties seem to agree that all students deserve good schools with great teachers and that multiple measures are needed to identify academic performance instead of repeated standardized testing. The historic federal role in education has been primarily to ensure enforcement of the equity of opportunities for all students across America. Today, this role is still critical when poor and disadvantaged students need equal educational opportunities more than ever.

Iowa’s Director of Education giving his legislative priorities at the ISEA conference. His following remark drew chuckles, “Shall we talk about school start date? ”

At the Economic Alliance legislative reception held at Theatre Cedar Rapids. Despite the bone-chilling cold, there was a good turn-out and I enjoyed the conversations with constituents and local policy-makers. Sam McCord , Councilor for the Eastern Iowa Chapter of SCORE, and Jennifer Schulte, Mgr of Donor Relations at United Way of East Central Iowa , enjoyed discussing volunteerism in the metro area and how to encourage it. Brad Hart of Bradley and Riley, P.C. visited with me about state infrastructure, including roads and bridges. These were just a few of many informative discussions initiated by the attendees. Thanks again to the Alliance for this opportunity to listen to voters!

Prior to becoming President of the World Food Prize Foundation, Kenneth Quinn spent 32 years working for the U.S. State Dept. – some of that time was spent as the United States Ambassador to Cambodia. Born in New York, Amb. Quinn received his undergrad from Loras College in Dubuque. What a privilege to learn more about his history, and to discuss Iowa’s possible future diplomatic ties with many nations, including Cuba. (Pictured with House Minority Leader Mark Smith and State Representative Chuck Isenhart.)