Recent State budget cuts, local control among items discussed at capacity legislative forum

by Joe Moses

Iowa House District 56 Representative Kristi Hager and Iowa District 28 Senator Michael Breitbach held a public legislative forum in Waukon Saturday, March 18. Iowa House District 55 Representative Michael Bergan joined Hager and Breitbach shortly after the meeting began in answering questions from the capacity crowd in the Allamakee County Farm Bureau building.

Several hot-button issues were raised by those in attendance at the public forum. Steve Peterson, a Decorah Middle School teacher, addressed the legislators with his concerns relating to the $118 million cut from Iowa's budget. Peterson advised, "We are in a period of expansion and we are having to make all these cuts to things that are really important to people in the area: higher education, access to affordable women's healthcare, youth social services, the arts, environment, under-funding K-12 education at 1.1%, which is an increase but it is not sufficient."

Peterson further questioned, "The problem is not too much spending, the problem is that revenues are too low. Are you willing to tell your GOP donor class the hard truth; that is, the tax breaks you have given them aren't really working and they have to go, or will you tell us, your constituents, that the State spends too much money on the things we really value?" Peterson further discussed tax credits going to companies that are seeing record profits.

Breitbach responded, "I do not have a problem reviewing credits that are out there. I think we should look at everything when we are facing a financial and fiscal year crisis. I think we have to look at revenues, we have to look at spending, those tax credits are certainly involved in that." Hager also discussed the de-appropriation measure and budget growth seen over the last six years and tax credits benefiting individuals and companies.

Jack Knight of Postville, who serves on several regional and county boards, provided some general directives to the legislators when considering a bill that included: 1. How much good does this do for our area? 2. The general issue of local control when considering issues like immigration, the siting of Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO) and other issues. Knight commented, "I want you to vote and promote things even if local control and decisions made on the local level do not line up with partisan politics."

Later in the discussion, an informal vote by raising hands illustrated that a majority of those in attendance were in favor of local control in the siting of CAFOs. The Master Matrix, a scoring system used by the DNR in siting CAFOs, was discussed. In response to concerns relating to local control, Breitbach advised, "I want to make sure the DNR is involved. I think they bring expertise to the table." Hager explained that she grew up in a farming community and her small business was impacted by the smell from a CAFO, and property owners do have rights and that needs to be factored in.

Tim Wagner of Decorah discussed a related issue involving the impact of CAFOs and liability protections for CAFO operators, where plaintiffs would also be responsible for legal costs of the defendant. Wagner explained that this is an affront to the protection of clean air and water. Bergan indicated that this legal issue has been addressed and responded, “On the Senate file, there was an amendment that took 'the loser pays' out.”

Hager discussed the pre-emption bill which looked at minimum wage, which was an issue Hager explained she had struggled with in weighing the positives and negatives. Hager commented that the determining factor on the minimum wage issue was feedback she had received from several Wapello County businesses that have been negatively impacted by a countywide minimum wage increase. Hager also discussed considering those hurt by legislation, and in this case the elderly and those on fixed incomes have been negatively impacted due to rising costs.

The legislators and the public in attendance discussed a variety of other topics at shorter length, including collective bargaining, campaign finance reform, gun and “stand your ground” legislation, and immigration. At the conclusion of the 75-minute public meeting, the legislators remained and addressed concerns on a one-to-one basis with those who did not have an opportunity to speak during the public forum.