News and Views from the Dallas County Republicans

Regulating Mixed Martial Arts Contests
The House Labor Committee unanimously approved Senate File 2286 placing the regulation of amateur and professional mixed martial arts (MMA) matches and events under the authority of the labor commissioner.  The labor commissioner already oversees boxing and wrestling matches.  

The bill requires that a person shall not promote a mixed martial arts match without first obtaining a license from the labor commissioner. It requires the promoter of a mixed martial arts match be responsible for the conduct of all officials and participants. It allows the commissioner to suspend the license of a contestant if the contestant fails a pre-fight physical or cannot produce proof of being at least 18. The bill allows the license suspension of a promoter or contestant that violates the rules adopted pursuant to Chapter 90A.7.  The bill requires the promoter to file a report within 20 days after the event.  The report shall include number of tickets sold, amount of gross admission proceeds and other items the commissioner may require by rule.

The bill outlines when the commissioner may issue a cease and desist order against a promoter of a mixed martial arts match or event.  It also provides a civil penalty for violating the rules of this Chapter.  

Another Unfunded School Mandate
Another bill in the long list of ridiculous legislation this session is House File 823. Instead of talking about jobs and the budget, we're debating "green cleaning products." This bill passed with a vote of 52-47. I voted NO. The bill requires state and public education buildings to use green-clean building products except for certain pest control and disinfectant cleaning processes. The bill was amended by floor action to include Regents universities and community colleges.

The bill includes a provision to allow state and local educational facilities to opt out of the green-clean requirement if they do so by July 1, 2012. In my experience, anytime you have an opt out clause; there is something wrong with the legislation. For a school district to opt out, a majority of the school board must make an affirmative vote.  HF 823 additionally provides that the Department of Administrative Services is required to provide green-clean information on its department internet site that can be accessed by the public. The bill now goes to the Senate for consideration.

Agriculture and Natural Resources Budget
House Study Bill 733 appropriates $35.9 million in General Fund monies and 1,621 full-time positions for the Fiscal Year 2011 to the Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship and the Department of Natural Resources.  This is a decrease of $341,000 and an increase of 19.6 positions compared to net FY10 budget following the Governor's across the board reduction.

The bill also appropriates $76.2 million in other funds, mostly Fish & Game for $38.8 million and $33 million in Environmental First Funds (EFF).  The bill omits funding for soil conservation cost share which in previous years was funded at the $7 million amount from the EFF. The majority party co-chairs claim funding for this will come from the infrastructure fund.  The Governor recommended a $6 million cut to REAP (from $18 to $12 million), but the subcommittee decided to fund REAP at $15 million.
The bill eliminates both the DNR Law Enforcement Chief and the Assistant Bureau Chief that were recently hired by DNR.  The bill extends a provision enacted last year that prohibits ISU from reducing other funding to the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory if such a reduction is greater than what is imposed on all other ISU budget units.  The bill includes session law language that declares the intent of the General Assembly is that any funds deposited into the REAP fund shall not be used for Honey Creek State Resort bond obligations.

Nearly $11 Billion in 2009 Tax Collections
Each year, the Iowa Department of Revenue (IDR) compiles data on tax collections and compliance statistics, and produces a report available to the public.  http://www.iowa.gov/tax/educate/statreports.html#AnnRep.

In 2009, IDR processed more than 1.5 million individual income tax returns. Of those returns, 74% were filed electronically.  According to the report, IDR collected a net total of $6.87 billion from taxpayers in 2009.  This statistic is calculated after refunds were issued.

A net total of $3.1 billion was collected from income taxes as follows: 1) Individual Income Tax $2.82 billion, 2) Corporation Income Tax $ 253 million, and 3) Franchise Tax $28 million. In addition, Iowa taxpayers paid more than $2.88 billion in sales, use and motor vehicle use tax as follows: 1) Sales Tax $2.29 billion, 2) Use Tax $355 million, and 3) Motor Vehicle Use Tax (registration fees) $239 million.

A number of other taxes are levied to fund government activities.  They include: 1) Consumption Tax (motor vehicle fuel tax, cigarette tax and tobacco tax): $678 million, 2) Inheritance Tax: $73.6 million, 3) Miscellaneous Tax (environmental protection charge, motor vehicle use 25% EPC deposit, real estate transfer tax, hazardous materials permit fees, insurance premium tax, motor vehicle title surcharge): $126 million.

In 2009, Iowa property owners paid more than $4 billion in property taxes to various local taxing authorities.  The following taxing authorities and the total amount of taxes they levied are as follows: 1) K-12 Schools: $1.68 billion, 2) Counties: $874 million, 3) Cities: $1.2 billion, 4) Merged Area Schools: $86 million, 5) Hospitals: $80 million, 6) Assessors: $46 million, 7) Townships: $23.9 million, 8) Ag Extension: $15.4 million, and 9) Miscellaneous: $15 million.

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.

FUNNEL WEEK
This week marks the close of the 2nd funnel that is designed to cull the number of bills available for debate in the few remaining weeks of this year's session. Any bill that hasn't been passed out of committee in both chambers is automatically thrown overboard and is ineligible for further consideration --- unless the leadership decides they want to resurrect it. So, it appears the job-killing labor bills are dead unless the leadership decides to play games with them somewhere in the last bills out of the session. The prevailing wage, choice of doctor, and the Fair Share (Right to Work) efforts by the unions have hung over this session like a wet blanket and would close the door for many businesses to consider expanding or opening a factory in Iowa. Let's hope the leadership doesn't get cute and decide to piggy back them onto a mess of bills in the last days of the session, similar to what happened last year.

As a result of the funnel we can now see what is really important for Iowans as viewed through the worldview of our current legislative leadership. Painfully absent from the list are any initiatives whatsoever designed to encourage private sector businesses to add employees to stimulate our economy. So far, the only initiative designed to add jobs is the five inspectors that will be hired for inspection of puppy mills. Instead there are many issues that poke the state finger in the eyes of employers. For some reason the majority members of the legislature have decided that it's important to require all employers to provide a separate room to accommodate breast feeding mothers to pump milk. Another measure would make it unlawful to feed wildlife on public or private land, unless of course you're a farmer that has no choice but to give up a chunk of your hay crop to feed the deer. Since we don't trust local school authorities to do the right thing we now have a bill that requires all school districts and state agencies to use green cleaning products.

SMART PLANNING
For several years the activist environmental community has been pushing for using "SMART" planning in a wide variety of their favorite issues, such as land use planning, energy development, city and county planning and a host of others. Unless used with a heavy dose of common sense, "SMART" planning can be anything but smart. It is merely another angle for radical environmentalists to influence public policy. As a general rule, it results in the compromising of land rights by imposition of regulations on the landowners as well as cities and counties.

Now that the intensity of the 2008 flood is over, the Rebuild Iowa Office (RIO) office is turning its attention to statewide planning and they have developed a bill creating a permanent 31 member comprehensive planning task force. The bill also codifies "SMART" comprehensive planning principles for state, regional, county and city planning. The bill creates a 31 member permanent unpaid task force in order to keep the momentum in place to push the agenda. This is a totally unnecessary initiative since most of the cities and counties are considering their own versions of what seems to fit in their jurisdictions themselves. In this case it would be preferable if the state kept out of comprehensive planning for everyone.

NEXT FORUM: Waukee City Hall; March 20 at 9:30a.

This week is the second funnel week of the 2010 session. The funnel is the self-imposed deadline for bills to make it out of their respective committees of both the House and Senate, or they are no longer eligible to be addressed in this year's session. Those that do survive the funnel are then eligible for full floor debate. Many bills are now eligible to be debated and I'll try to keep you up-to-date on the ones that are controversial.

With all the talk at the federal level about health insurance and health care reform, here are some ideas I have been pushing.

Low-cost catastrophic health plans for those under 30. There are about 106,000 Iowans in this age group who do not have health insurance and account for roughly half of all the uninsured in the entire state. Low cost catastrophic insurance products could provide base care for younger Iowans.

The Patients Right to Know Act. Cost and quality transparencies will empower consumers to make better health care decisions in a way that maximizes quality while minimizing cost.

Prevention credits: putting a premium on wellness. Offer prevention credits to individuals and employers that could be used to reduce health insurance rates for those individuals and employers that demonstrate a commitment to wellness and prevention.

Tort and lawsuit abuse reform. Raise the burden of proof on medical malpractice claims and place reasonable limits on payment for damages.

Expand health insurance tax deductibility to individuals and small business. If it is good enough for Wall Street, it's good enough for Main Street.

No pre-existing exclusions when changing plans with the same insurance provider. You should be able to move from one plan to another plan offered by the same insurance company without penalty.

No unfunded federal mandates. You should not be forced to buy what you do not need.

Purchasing Across State Lines. Change federal law that currently prohibits this action.

These simple changes could dramatically save money for Iowans and provide even better care.

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.

The Dallas County Republican Party -- the fastest growing Republican county in the state -- today released more details for its upcoming Gubernatorial Straw Poll and featured speakers on Friday night, March 5, 2010, at the Dallas Center Elementary School -- the same location for the GOP's County Convention on Saturday, March 6th.

What: Dallas County Republican Gubernatorial Straw Poll at Pre-Convention Chili & Soup Supper Political Rally

When: Friday evening, March 5, 2010

Time: 6:00pm-8:30pm

Where: Dallas Center Elementary School, 1205 13th Street, Dallas Center, Iowa 50063

Run of Show:

6:30pm Republican Gubernatorial Candidates/Campaigns Speak (Rod Roberts, Bob Vander Plaats & Marcus Branstad CONFIRMED)

6:55pm Straw Poll Balloting Begins

7:00pm Congressman Tom Latham Speaks

7:15pm Straw Poll Results Announced & Trophy Presentation to Winning Campaign

Background:
At a Pre-County Convention Rally on March 5th, the night before all Republican County Conventions across the state, the Dallas County GOP Central Committee will conduct a Straw Poll for those attending the Rally, which includes a Chili & Soup Supper.  Confirmed gubernatorial speakers include (in alphabetical order) Marcus Branstad, Rod Roberts, and Bob Vander Plaats.  In addition to the governor's race, all Republican statewide elected officials/candidates running for statewide office in 2010 have been invited to the Dallas County event as well as federal officials representing Dallas County, such as Congressman Tom Latham (R-Ames), who is confirmed to speak at 7:00pm.

Other Republican statewide elected officials/candidates confirmed to speak following the Straw Poll on Friday night include:

• Iowa Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey
• Iowa Auditor Dave Vaudt's Chief of Staff Bernardo Granwehr
• Iowa Attorney General Candidate Brenna Findley
• Iowa Secretary of State Candidates George Eichhorn and Matt Schultz

"The Dallas County Republican Pre-Convention Rally & Supper traditionally has proven to be a great hit for candidates, elected officials and GOP voters," according to County Chair Mitch Hambleton. "This year, we wanted to provide additional incentive and excitement for the candidates and the crowd by holding a County Straw Poll on the Republican Governor's race. Not only will this give folks a quick check on where the Republican gubernatorial candidates stand with primary voters, it also provides a great Republican forum for all of the statewide GOP candidates to come speak to our volunteers and activists the night before they're pushed and pulled all across the state at the 99 county conventions."

The low-cost Rally & Supper is $10 per person or $25 for families. Supper tickets include Straw Poll Ballots for those who will be 18 or over on November 2, 2010. The event will be held from 6:00pm-8:30pm at the Dallas Center Elementary School, the same location at the County Convention on Saturday morning, March 6th. Republican County officials expect gubernatorial candidates/campaigns to speak from 6:30pm-6:55pm, when Straw Poll voting begins. Results are expected to be announced at 7:15pm.

RSVPs for the Chili & Soup Supper should be directed to Publicity Chair Christi Taylor christi.taylor@dallascountygop.org. For more information about candidate confirmations, please contact Finance Chair Pete Jeffries or County Chair Mitch Hambleton.

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.