Greetings from Capitol Hill
We are on our way again. This will be my eighth year as your state representative. I believe that we have done an excellent job taking care of our state during this period of time. Our budget has been balanced every year, we have tackled a number of ongoing problems, some solved, some need more work and of course new ones arise. Mental health problems with our children are not new, but are new at the state level. I believe there is a variety of things we need to look at from funds to help those through their problem, to the basics of why a child might be having mental problems. Included in this research is how divorce and single parenthood may have caused some of these problems.
Condition of the State:
The Governor gave her Condition of the State Address on January 14. She began by honoring the public servants that had passed away last year including Chief Justice Mark Cady and former Lt. Governor Joann Zimmerman. As it was the first Condition of the State Address of this decade she took the opportunity to look back over the last ten years and then turn her attention to the next ten years and beyond. This is a summary of her proposals:
• Increase of $20 million for flood relief
• Increase funding for water quality and conservation by almost 31 percent
• Cut individual income tax by an average of 10 percent in 2021
• Begin taking the funding for mental health from the State general fund instead of from property taxes
• Increase of $2 million to the Renewable Fuels Infrastructure Program
• Amend the Iowa Constitution to clarify that there is no right to abortion
• Begin a fellowship for new family-practice physicians who want training in OB care and start tele-mentoring for physicians from OBs
• Increase funding for broad band by $15 million and adjust state match
• Increase funding for K-12 education by $103 million
• Increase the Employer Innovation Fund and Last Dollar Scholarship by $2.8 million each
• Make Early Childcare tax credits available to families making $90,000 a year or less and put in place a tiered co-pay system to respond to the child-care cliff
• Amend the Iowa Constitution so that it doesn’t prohibit felons, who have fulfilled their sentence, from voting
• Make changes in the state licensing system such as adopting universal licensing recognition and creating a Review Commission on Licensure Standards
Other Updates:
By the end of this week we will also have heard the Condition of the Judiciary and the Condition of the National Guard. Committee meetings are starting back up again. I am on the Environmental Protection, Economic Growth, Budget Subcommittee on Education, and Local Government committees and am Vice Chair of the Education committee.
Thank you for this opportunity you have given me to serve you as your state representative. Please call, e-mail, write, or see me with any questions you may have.
My e-mail is: tedd.gassman@legis.iowa.gov
My cell phone number is: 515-538-0117
