Helland’s Highlights

On Thursday, House Democrats introduced a bill attacking Iowa’s Right to Work law.  The bill would require non-union State Employees to pay into the Union even if they choose not to take part in the Union.  This bill is a direct assault on Iowans status as a Right to Work state and will not help Iowan’s get back to work during these trying economic times.

 

Before the introduction of the HSB 702 discussion swirled around the bipartisan Government Reorganization bill. If done correctly the bill has the potential to create a smaller and more efficient government for Iowa. We as a legislative body need to look closely at this bill. We need to make sure the bill will help relieve the tax burden on Iowa families and businesses by providing real government reorganization.

 

There are currently both good and bad elements to the bill.

 

The Bad:

Unfortunately education again suffers in this bill with both early childhood education and the Area Education Agency (AEA) suffering. The bill currently places the AEA under the control of the Department of Education, limiting their ability to tailor educational needs for specific districts. Also in the bill the state will take over empowerment, which currently provides help with low income families to provide preschool and regular doctor checkups. This bill could subject the Empowerment program to bureaucratic rules and will not save the money. Furthermore this bill undermines private preschool programs. 

 

The Good:

This bill does eliminate unfilled employment opportunities. State departments use these longstanding vacancies are used to “cut” to claim they are cutting expenses. The house Republicans have proposed $290 million dollars in savings by cutting wasteful government spending. Several ideas include eliminating taxpayer-funded lobbyists ($4 million), end all state benefits to illegal immigrant adults ($92.3 million), and combine administrative functions at Regents universities ($62 million).

 

There will be an opportunity for concerned citizens to attend and speak at a public hearing Monday February 8th from 10:00am to noon. To sign up to testify for the public hearing call the Legislative Information Office at 515-281-5129 or visit the Legislative Information Office in the basement of the capitol. I strongly encourage all Iowans to come to the State House and voice your opinion. 

 

As always my email is erik.helland@legis.state.ia.us and phone is (515) 281-3221, please contact me with any questions or concerns.

 

Sincerely,

 

 

 

 

                                                                                           

 

Representative Erik Helland