RANDY FEENSTRA

The Session continues with no end in sight. We have most of the budget figured out but nothing will be moving until an agreement on commercial property tax is reached.

I have been here 4-years and the lion’s share of debate time goes toward how to create more jobs and developing a better economy for the state. One would think that both parties would jump at the chance to help business and back up this rhetoric.

Well, this is not the case, and this lack of action has just cost Orange City, IA 305 jobs. (Advanced Pierre Foods announced they will be closing in November because of the cost of doing business in the state) When the lack of action hits home like this, you become very very angry at political rhetoric that does nothing!!

The Democrats want to help only small business; they use Wal-Mart as their poster child of who they don’t want to help. Think of all the large employers in your community. The Democrats are stating that they DO NOT want help these companies with tax relief as they are the same size as Walmart.

Using their mantra, they would rather help McDonalds, Subway and Taco Bell.

I don’t think we need to pick and choose who gets a tax break; rather, an across the board tax reduction will help all business and hopefully stimulate jobs and Iowa’s economy. More important, it might stop other businesses from leaving the state.

You really have to start questioning whether the Democrats want to help the economy in this State?

The start of session was full of promises by all the leaders in the Senate, House and Governor’s Office. I was truly optimistic in my first article this year. I really felt Iowa and its legislative leaders were ready to make some positive changes for the state.

Well, performance fell well short of promise. A great opportunity was again lost! Bickering and fighting on party lines ruled the session. My final grade for the session is a “D” We spent 4 months in Des Moines and accomplished nothing. Below is where the divides occurred:

Education: The Governor and the House wanted a requirement that all children must read by third grade. The cost of this would come from school dropout funds. The Senate refused this idea and didn’t want this money touched. The D’s were advocating for more policy and development of the core curriculum.

Property Tax Reduction: This was all about how much money we should save the tax payer and our local businesses. The Senate D’s wanted a $300 million reduction and the Republicans were advocating for a $500 million property tax reduction plan. It also was a fight about who would get the money. The Democrats plan helped small business and Republicans plan dealt with all business.

There is a bright spot, the governor stated he will demand an agreement before he the books close on this session.

Health and Human Service budget: The Democrats demanded that we fund organizations that do abortions. The Republicans wanted this funding taken out of the budget. This needed to happen long ago and it’s great to see Republicans are finally standing up to this expenditure. I give this move an “A” in the final grade.

Energy Plan: Iowa needs a future energy plan. The Democrats are completely against any new green coal plants, or nuclear energy. The Republicans support both. However, we don’t want the rate payer to pay all the cost for these plants. Again, we are hurting the future of the state by not acting on some future energy plan.

These are really big topics, yet very little was done to accomplish good policy outcomes in these areas. I didn’t become a Senator to play political games. Rather, I am here to create positive policy. 3-years in the legislature and very little has been accomplished.

Next year may be different, elections always creates change in government. Always feel to contact me in the interim if you have any questions or concerns about state government. Thanks for allowing me to be your voice in Des Moines.

We have come back to session with little being accomplished. No final exit plan exists. The fight is over how the $6.24 billion should be spent. There is some agreement on most of the budget but education continues to be the big challenge.

There is $30 million that all sides are fighting over. K-12, regent colleges and community colleges all want a large portion of this amount. Legislators are on all sides of this argument. Frankly, it depends on what you feel is most critical to Iowa.

This fight needs to end before we can finalize the end game. I think we will be here all week. Monday brings refreshed legislators. By Thursday, everyone is ready to cut deals because they want to go home.

Taxpayers, we need to shut this place down!