The View From Here

This past week has been very busy with less high profile things as we all work to get bills through committee.  This week is funnel week which means that any policy bill not through committee by Friday will be ineligible for passage this year.
We did pass two bills last week, the first of which is Senate File 1.  This bill requires a job impact statement be written for administrative rule before it takes effect.  Job impact statements identify the purpose of the rule and the anticipated costs for state agencies, local government, public and regulated industries.  This would include whether a rule would have a positive or negative impact on private sector jobs in Iowa.  SF 1 requires an agency writing a rule to take steps to minimize the adverse impact on jobs prior to implementation of the rule.  This sounds long overdue to me.
The second bill was Senate File 180 also focused on jobs.  It made it clearer that in order to qualify for an apprenticeship training grant the applicant must be an Iowa resident.  While nonresidents can still be enrolled in the apprenticeship programs, only Iowa residents will qualify for the grant.
We are working on a bill that would help geographically large school districts with their transportation costs.  Some schools spend $1000/student on transportation, while others spend only $100/student.  That means there is less money left for education in the former case.  SSB 1124 will help equalize the educational opportunities of rural and urban schools.
There is also a bill that would deal with distracted driving.  The number of deaths in the last few years has gone up due to texting and other electronic devices that take our attention off the road.  I have been reluctant to expand government involvement into this area but safety is a prime purpose of government.  Please feel free to contact me with your thoughts about this issue.
It is my belief a person should have more than just the right to go to their place of worship once a week; he should be able to live according to his convictions.  That is called religious freedom. If we cannot live according to our convictions, we assuredly do not have freedom of religion. What we end up with is the same tyranny from which our founding fathers fled. The First Amendment gave us that freedom but now we need to restore it because of encroachment by the judiciary. It appears to me the courts have made equal protection more important than all our other freedoms.  I have been working on this for some time and will continue to promote religious freedom both in the Iowa Senate and in the public arena.
I’d like to close with a quote from General Douglas MacArthur in 1951: In this day of gathering storms, as moral deterioration of political power spreads its growing infection, it is essential that every spiritual force be mobilized to defend and preserve the religious base upon which this nation is founded; for it has been that base which has been the motivating impulse to our moral and national growth. History fails to record a single precedent in which nations subject to moral decay have not passed into political and economic decline.  There has been either a spiritual reawakening to overcome the moral collapse or a progressive deterioration leading to ultimate disaster.
My next forum will be in Estherville March 4 at the Regional Wellness Center at 10:00 A.M. (in conjunction with the home show).  I will have three forums March 10 in Wright County:  Eagle Grove Library at 8:00 A.M., Clarion Train Depot at 11:00 A.M. and Belmond City Hall at 1:00 P.M.