Legislative Session Nothing to Boast About

Iowa
Senate Democratic leader and potential gubernatorial candidate Mike
Gronstal was in Mason City the other day. He apparently is on a tour of
the state looking for press and support of his possible run for the
governor’s office.



He is
calling the recent legislative session “historic”, pointing out that
the divided senate forced both parties to listen to the other side. He
boasted about some of the accomplishments of the session such as more
money for schools and the legislation to reduce the number of meth labs
in the state.



First
off, it’s a sad day in Iowa when simply listening to the other party is
considered historic. And if you talk to school boards and
superintendents, they will tell you that giving them 4% allowable
growth after years of under-funding doesn’t come close to enough money
to properly fund public education. And if your school’s enrollment is
on the decline as a lot of them are, there is no new money. The meth
lab legislation is something I would have voted for but since 85% of
the meth problem comes from out of state, I would realize that we
probably haven’t even scratched the surface of the problem.



What he
can’t boast about is how the state legislature has failed to address
the “brain drain” problem. Sure, the senate Republicans got a lot of
press when they announced their no tax under 30 plan; but after being
mocked in the Op-Ed page of the New York Times they more or less
admitted it was nothing more than a gimmick and dropped the idea.



What he can’t boast about is how the state has failed to help thousands of working Iowans by raising the minimum wage. We
even heard the senate Republican leader say that he didn’t see that it
was an issue because he doesn’t know anyone working for minimum wage,
almost at the same time one legislator called the state’s workers
“bottom feeders.” Not
only did we not raise it, we sat idly by while Minnesota did the
responsible thing and raised it by a dollar to $6.15. Quite frankly,
it’s almost embarrassing to sit here and argue for a $6.15 minimum
wage. Even that falls piteously shy of a living wage.



What he
can’t boast about is that according to a recent Des Moines Register
article, the state has dropped to 49th in the nation when it comes to
public land for recreation. And even though recreation is essential to
keeping residents in the state and attracting tourists, just 2
percent of Iowa is public recreation land. According to the article,
years ago state lawmakers set a goal to have ten percent of Iowa in
publicly controlled lands. I think we have a ways to go. Only the state
of Kansas has less land for public recreation than we do. On a lighter
note, we may now have a new state slogan … “Thank God for Kansas!”



What he
can’t boast about is how the legislature failed to listen to the
concerns of organic growers in the state before they passed the
infamous seed de-regulation bill. The legislature enacted pre-emptive
legislation that prevents local governments from regulating the types
of seeds grown in their communities or counties. Essentially, they are
now regulating de-regulation. So in retrospect, I guess that is kind of
“historic.”



What he
can’t boast about is that even though we are in a difficult budget
crisis, we somehow found money for a pay increase for state legislators.



What he
can’t boast about is how the state has failed to make it easier for
Iowans to get affordable prescription drugs from Canada. Currently,
there are only four U.S. states that openly encourage their citizens to
buy prescription drugs from Canada: Kansas, Illinois, Missouri, and
Wisconsin. Maybe the senate Republican leader doesn’t know anyone that
can’t afford to buy their prescription drugs.



If this session was truly historic, then let’s hope history doesn’t repeat itself.