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Senate
Democrats Legislative Report
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Senate committee takes
steps to raise student achievement
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Incentives aimed at attracting good-paying jobs,
investment in Iowa
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Protecting parental rights of our service members
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Guard leader thanks Legislature for its support
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Improving Iowa’s water quality through local efforts
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Study finds urgent need to fix Iowa’s troubled bridges
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Farmers teach conservation to other farmers
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Iowa’s wine & beer industry continues to grow
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Did raising the tobacco tax really encourage people to
quit smoking?
We are making progress in our efforts to increase student
achievement across Iowa.
We’re increasing basic state aid to local schools, bringing teacher pay up to
25th in the nation, and making quality preschool available to all Iowa families.
The next step is approving statewide curriculum
standards.
This week, the Senate Education Committee approved a Model
Core Curriculum. The curriculum would
be required for kindergarten through 12th grade in math and science. It would also stress 21st century skills:
employability skills and literacy in health, finances, civics and technology.
The Model Core Curriculum will ensure that all Iowa students have
access to a rigorous curriculum that prepares them for success in
post-secondary education and the emerging global economy.
The curriculum does not address all coursework taught in
our school districts but helps create dynamic, relevant classrooms that
produce the kind of teaching we want from our educators and the work we want
from our students.
As we develop Iowa’s
Model Core Curriculum, we are listening to school board members,
administrators and teachers. We are
also listening to Iowa’s
business community, recognizing that our economy can prosper only if students
learn the skills to take on high-wage, high-skill jobs.
Iowa
was the last state in the nation to implement state standards. Now is the time to build on those standards
by adopting a statewide curriculum. By
raising standards and increasing accountability, we help our students succeed
in school and beyond.
To review the curriculum that is already available to high
schools or to learn more about Model Core Curriculum, visit the Iowa
Department of Education web site at www.iowa.gov/educate/content/view/674.
This week the Senate approved an
initiative designed to attract more high-wage, high-skills jobs to Iowa. House
File 2233 seeks to attract Microsoft by exempting certain computers and
equipment from sales and property taxes.
Microsoft, one of the world’s biggest computer technology firms, is
considering plans to build a $750 million facility in Iowa that would employ roughly 50 people,
according to media reports.
The bill that passed the Senate on Feb. 20 provides a sales and
property tax exemption for computers and equipment to operate a web search portal. It also exempts the electricity and other fuel needed to run the
web search portal.
Similar to the
incentives we adopted last year to attract Google—which is now building a
$600 million data center in Council Bluffs—the Microsoft legislation is
designed to ensure an immediate impact on Iowa’s economy by requiring the
company to invest at least $200 million in Iowa within six years of beginning operations. If the business fails to meet 80 percent of
this commitment, it
loses the
exemptions and must
repay all sales taxes, plus interest.
The bill was approved by the House earlier this month and
is now goes to the Governor for his signature.
The Senate Judiciary Committee is considering legislation
that would protect the rights of Iowa
fathers and mothers who are serving in the Armed Forces overseas.
It may be hard to believe, but the overseas service of
some soldiers has been used against them in custody disputes. For parents on active duty, further
limiting their access to their own children only adds additional strain
during an already stressful time in their lives.
I support legislation that will prevent any permanent
change in custody while a soldier is deployed. When an Iowa father or mother returns home from
serving overseas, his or her military service should never used against them
in a custody dispute.
Sen. Steve Warnstadt (D-Sioux City),
a Lt. Col. in the Iowa Army National Guard, has told me that some soldiers
have left the military because of this issue.
They feel they have to choose between serving their country and taking
care of their children. That is the
sort of choice that no Iowan should have to face.
When Iowa
troops are being put in harm’s way in distant lands, Democrats and
Republicans in the Legislature have worked together to help keep experienced
officers and enlisted personnel in the Iowa National Guard and
U.S. Reserve forces.
During his annual address to the General Assembly on
February 19, Adjutant General Ron Dardis of the Iowa National Guard said
Guard members across Iowa appreciate the
Legislature’s efforts to help meet the needs of Iowa’s National Guard Soldiers and Airmen,
their families and their communities.
In recent years, we created the Iowa National Guard
Education Assistance program, which is helping nearly 1,100 Guard members
attend college this year, and assistance programs that help our veterans
purchase homes and receive the care they need when injured in battle.
Earlier this month we passed a military leave bill that
allows an employee to get their old job back at the same pay level when they
return from active military duty. And
the state has provided dollars to help the Guard maintain and refurbish old
armories and build future Readiness Centers in key areas around the
state.
The Adjutant General said that, after six years of war and
more than 10,000 mobilized Soldiers and Airmen from Iowa, our National Guard is stretched and
stressed. I will continue to support
our National Guard and all who are so courageously serving our country.
Improving Iowa’s water quality through local efforts
The Senate Natural Resources & Environment Committee
recently passed legislation that would improve watershed clean-up efforts
through better coordination.
This Surface Water Protection Act would establish a water
resource coordinating council to prioritize funding for maximum improvements
in water quality. This legislation is
the result of work by the Watershed Quality Improvement Task Force created by
the Legislature in 2006 to develop a strategy for cleaning up Iowa’s waters.
The Legislature has taken several steps in recent years to
improve Iowa’s
water quality through increased funding and expanded access to soil conservation
programs. However, these efforts only
work with support in local communities.
Hewitt Creek Watershed in north east Iowa is a great example of how watershed
efforts can be improved through hard work, cooperation, and coordination of soil
conservation and water quality programs.
Local landowners, who’ve taken the lead on this project, recently told
legislators about the success they’ve had in reducing silt, phosphorus and
nitrogen runoff in the watershed.
Only three other states rank worse than Iowa when it comes to crumbling bridges,
according to a study released February 20 by a national transportation
research group.
The Democratic and Republican leaders of the Senate Transportation
Committee said the study is further evidence that Iowa needs to make a long-term bipartisan
investment in its transportation infrastructure.
“The Iowa Department of Transportation replaces or repairs
an average of 15 bridges annually, but 30 new problem bridges are identified
each year,” said Senator Tom Rielly of Oskaloosa, chair of the Transportation
Committee.
According to the report on “Iowa’s Deficient Bridges,” our state ranks
fourth in the nation in structurally deficient bridges. Twenty-one percent of Iowa bridges fall into the structurally
deficient category, while another 6 percent are considered functionally
obsolete (meaning they were built to standards no longer used today).
The report was compiled by The Road Information Program
(TRIP), a non-profit organization that researches and evaluates
transportation issues. To learn more,
go to www.tripnet.org.
Iowa’s
soil is one of the state’s most valuable resources. This week legislators learned about ongoing
efforts by Iowa
farmers to preserve it.
The Iowa Learning Farm, a five-year program that started
in 2005, is helping conservationist farmers teach economical ways to preserve
our soil and our water. The ILF is a
partnership among educators, state and federal agencies, conservation groups,
researchers and 29 farmers.
The program hosts trial field demonstrations, provides science-based
information to producers to evaluate water quality, soil and economic
information, and builds conservation-based networks of local farmers and
conservationists.
The Iowa Learning Farm’s efforts are helping to keep our
agricultural heritage alive while conserving our land for the future. As we expand the state’s bioeconomy, we
must take great care of our soil and water in order to preserve our economic
vitality.
For more information, go to www.extension.iastate.edu/ilf.
Iowa’s wine & beer industry continues to
grow
Iowa
is well known for its ability to grow corn and soybeans, but our farm fields
are also growing the state’s emerging wine and beer industry.
Wineries, vineyards and breweries across the state are
helping diversify our agricultural economy and adding more value to our
products.
The state provides a variety of resources for
entrepreneurs in this area. State
funding has been used to hire viticulturists who assist producers in
selecting varieties of grapes that will thrive in Iowa’s soil and climate. The state also assists in developing
marketing opportunities for wineries and vineyards and supporting special
events that feature Iowa
wines and beers. These special events
often provide great entertainment opportunities for Iowans.
Iowa
now produces five times more wine than it did just five years ago, and
production is poised to double again over the next five years. Growth in this sector of our economy is
good for farmers, good for business, and good for the local communities that
are home to Iowa’s
wineries, vineyards and breweries. To
learn more, go to www.iowawineandbeer.com.
Yes, calls to the Quitline Iowa have tripled.
In January 2008, the help line received more than 6,000 calls. Quitline
Iowa (1-800-QUIT-NOW) provides free,
telephone-based tobacco cessation counseling for any tobacco user in Iowa, as well as a
free two-week supply of nicotine patches or gum.
Funding for the Quitline comes from revenues generated by
the increased tobacco tax. A poll by
Iowans for Wellness and Prevention shows that the tax is particularly
motivating to occasional smokers; nearly seven-in-ten have said they intend
to quit or cut back as a result of the increase.
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