May 16, 2008
The best news that has come out of the 2008 legislative session was announced by Governor Culver at a press conference this week. He announced he would veto HF 2645, the collective bargaining bill. This bill was introduced in the Iowa House the Tuesday before Easter, with the Democrat leadership intending to push it through before the weekend. Because of Republican determination that the measure needed more public input, they successfully delayed passage until Monday. On arrival home from a family vacation over Spring break, governor Culver threatened to veto the bill because of the haste with which it was handled, saying the public needed more time to weigh in on the issue. Because of this threat, Senator Mike Gronstal put a “motion to reconsider” on it, and it remained in that state until the end of the legislative year, when it was messaged unchanged down to the governor’s office. At the time when the Governor threatened to veto the bill, I was speaking to the Iowa Association of School Board’s lobbyist, Margaret Buckton about the question of whether the Governor would ACTUALLY veto this union-backed bill, and she commented that this may be his “executive” mind realizing the huge implications to the state of having all public employees attain the kind of ability to increase the cost of doing the state’s business, and she was optimistic that he could do it.
I must admit I doubted her at the time, because I couldn’t imagine him delivering such a blow to his own constituency: the unions, and to the Democrat-led legislature.
I will be the first to apologize to the Governor for that speculation. He is to be commended for having the courage to do what is right for Iowans, rather than “grease the skids” of his own constituency group.
Governor Culver said he felt the need to veto the bill because it was “vaguely written, with the potential for far-reaching, unintended consequences that could obligate the citizens of Iowa to substantial new public expenditures”. I couldn’t agree more! The Des Moines Register in an article in the May 15 edition describes this legislation as one “that would have given Iowa’s public employees the widest-reaching union rights in the nation”. That is why the governor saw the need to veto this bill. He deserves commendation for doing it!
He also was very wise to veto the huge pay increases that the Democrat-controlled legislature had inserted in the Standings appropriation bill (SF2700). After initially saying he probably would sign that into law, he changed his mind after receiving numerous contacts from Iowans against it. “I believe it is wrong to say to the people of Iowa that you have to tighten your belts, but elected officials don’t” he is quoted as saying.
Both of these bills should encourage Iowans to believe they have a voice in the outcome of state actions. There were thousands of contacts made to the Governor’s office on both of these issues, and in the end, he listened to what Iowans were telling him, by vetoing these measures. Iowa taxpayers came out the winners in both cases.
There were a couple of other issues that arose in the final bill of the year that I wish he would have vetoed also, which he didn’t, however. One allows local governments to take revenue from a local option tax which was passed locally for the purpose of public works projects to be redirected for economic development. In Iowa County for example, the taxpayers passed a measure that would put that one cent into county road expenditures. This enables local officials to use that penny for something else than what it was originally intended, and explained to the voting public it would be used for. I believe this is unconstitutional, and hope it is challenged in court.
The other issue that arose in the final hours was language that would allow local hospitals to by-pass the “certificate of need” process currently in place to ensure that needless expenditures are not made on new hospitals, without proper oversight. This piece of legislation was also attached to SF2700, and the sponsoring legislator admitted he was hoping to sneak it in without a lot of public knowledge. That is never the right way to change the law, and in a day when there is much cry for more “sunshine” on the process, it is disgusting to see these kinds of things maneuvered through. I wish the Governor had seen it wise to veto these two measures, also.
I always value your input! Also if there is any issue I can assist you on, please feel free to contact me at home at 641-634-2227, or my e-mail address of hgdb@iowatelecom.net .