An AP story by Mike Glover covers the priorities that the legislature will have next year. Number one appears to be health care. Citing that steps were already taken with the tobacco tax, it's only natural to broaden coverage "to most, it not all" Iowans. We can't be too surprised at this. Gov. Culver attacked Mitt Romney last week for not presenting a federal health care plan.
Besides health care, Iowa's prison system will be looked at. There is talk about building a new facility to replace Ft. Madison, and moving the 100 beds for Women at Mount Pleasant to Mitchellville, and use the former space for drug offenders. Nothing too surprising here either, as this has been a big point of discussion for several years, especially after those two inmates escaped from Ft. Madison.
Roads will be a big issue too, and this part of the article features our very own Dave Tjepkes. It appears that this will be the toughest issue to deal with. There are many roads out there that need attention, and completion of a 4-lane Highway 20 is a ways off. The highway fund is facing a $200 million shortfall. With gas prices as high as they are, I think you can pretty much toss out any ideas about raising the gas tax (though considering who is in charge down there, maybe you shouldn't.) So we could see discussion about raising fees or transferring funds from other areas.
In another article, Chris Rants goes after Gov. Culver for not vetoing more spending this year. Culver's office says that the low number of vetoes shows how well the Governor and legislator worked together. But that wasn't what Rants was talking about. Spending increased from 9-10% this year, depending on who you talk to. Rants says 10%, the Legislative Services Agency says "only" 9%. Next year, Rants is expecting spending to go up another 10-12%.
Here is the administration's responce:
Culver spokesman Brad Anderson said the governor believed he struck the appropriate balance in approving a fiscally responsible budget because he heard complaints from both sides over the level of fiscal 2008 spending. He noted that much of the increased spending went into areas like raising teacher salaries to the national average, expanding access to preschool, launching a multi-year Power Fund to encourage energy independence, and funding health initiatives.Yes, there were a lot of expensive items that were passed this year. But look at the items proposed for next year mentioned in the first story. Do you think that expending health coverage to "most if not all" Iowans will be cheap? Or building a new facility at Fort Madison? The road fund is already $200 Million short. I'm sure that will increase by next year. Where is this money going to come from? Is the state going to cut spending from somewhere, or will they raise taxes? Culver says he "plans to focus on finding savings and efficiencies within state government." But I remember candidate Culver criticizing Jim Nussle for saying the same thing.
"There was a lot of pent-up demand for big-ticket items like that," Anderson said. "There were a lot of expensive pieces of legislation this session but they were all critically important to the growth of the state."
Anderson added that the governor - who took office in January when the fiscal 2008 budget process was in mid-stream -- will have the advantage of building a new budget plan from the ground up in the coming months. Culver plans to focus on finding savings and efficiencies within state government to help balance new spending commitments, he added.
Meanwhile, in the past couple of weeks a couple of manufacturing plants around the state have announced they are shutting their doors, and talk about "right to work" is keeping several out-of-state businesses from moving forward with plans, or at least looking at, to move to Iowa. This won't help our tax base, or the people who have been employed at these plants.
Elections have consequences---this is one of them.
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