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Brown, Prichard expect Iowa lawmakers to focus on pocketbook issues in 2020

Brown, Prichard expect Iowa lawmakers to focus on pocketbook issues in 2020
Sen. Waylon Brown and Rep. Todd Prichard address the public at a town hall discussion last year at the Floyd County museum. (Press file photo James Grob.)
By James Grob, jgrob@charlescitypress.com

The first day of the 2020 Iowa legislative session is Jan. 13, and Iowa’s elected lawmakers are looking for issues where they can find common ground.

That’s what many of them are saying, anyway. In an election year, it remains to be seen whether they remain true to their words.

“We’ve been sent there by the people who elected us to manage the state’s finances and to make policy changes as needed,” said Sen. Waylon Brown, a Republican from St. Ansgar who represents the 26th Iowa Senate District. “I’m not going to vote a certain way on a bill because of a political ramification. That’s not good representation.”

Brown, who won his seat in 2016, serves Floyd, Worth, Chickasaw, Howard, Mitchell and parts of Cerro Gordo and Winneshiek counties. He said that although he understands there will be a lot of political posturing in an election year, he hopes there are some issues where Iowa legislators can work together.

“Yes, there will be some bipartisanship,” he said. “We’re not always going to agree, but at the end of the day we need do what’s best for our constituents.”

Iowa Rep. Todd Prichard, D-Charles City, the house minority leader, finds himself at a disadvantage, as the Republicans have majorities in both the Iowa House and the Iowa Senate, while Republican Kim Reynolds sits in the Iowa governor’s chair. Reynolds and Republicans hold majorities of 32-18 in the Senate and 53-47 in the House.

“We don’t control the agenda, but our big things are going to be health care, education and job growth,” Prichard said. “We’re going to focus on increasing the median wage in Iowa and making more opportunities for people to better their job situation in the state.”

Prichard said he intends to focus on those three issues — health care, education and growing the economy — regardless of whether it’s an election year or not.

“We just need to make sure the state meets its needs,” Prichard said. “My political election strategy is to focus on what’s important to the state.”

Prichard, who represents Iowa House District 52 consisting of Floyd, Chickasaw and part of Cerro Gordo counties, said he thinks there may be some common ground between the parties when it comes to job training and workforce development and making child care more affordable and acceptable.

“If those issues are where house Republicans want to go, we can work together on those,” Prichard said. “There is a lot of opportunity for bipartisan support there, absolutely.”

Brown said workforce development is one of the top issues he intends to bring before the Senate this year.

“One of the biggest things I’ve heard in the district during the interim is to build the skilled workforce,” said Brown, who added that he’d like to find ways to take down some of the barriers skilled workers from out of state have to overcome when they want to work in Iowa.

“I think there’s a pretty good chance we’re going to be taking a look at the occupation licenses, potentially doing a universal occupational license,” Brown said. “Simply put, if someone has an occupational license in another state and they’re in good standing and want to practice in Iowa, we should accept that license, rather than put them through a real lengthy process to obtain an Iowa license.”

Brown said he has seen a lot of situations in rural Iowa where individuals would like to practice their trade here, but the process is too prohibitive. He believes it’s an issue both parties can get behind.

“It should be bipartisan. It’s about what’s right for the individuals,” he said. “Any time we can attract new people to our state, it’s a positive for our communities. The school districts feel it, local businesses feel it.”

Brown said that filling the workforce in Iowa naturally leads into the issue of better housing in the state, which is another issue he intends to address during the 2020 session.

“Our economy in our state, and our communities are like a machine — when one gear isn’t in place, it’s not going to work the way that it should,” Brown said. “It’s all tied together. Everything has to work as a whole.”

Brown also talked about the opportunity to help relocate some of the Americans devastated by the hurricanes, earthquakes and other natural disasters that have recently taken place in Puerto Rico. He believes that many of them could find a new life in Iowa, working currently unfilled jobs, if they want to.

“There are people there who are looking for a change, and if we can help them and help ourselves, that’s something we should look into,” he said.

Brown said Iowa can be an attractive place for others to move to, as a recent study has shown that Iowa has a longer life expectancy for its residents than anywhere else in the country.

With that, however, comes the problems stemming from the privatization of Medicaid.

“I think we have to continue to look at that system and make sure it’s right for Iowa,” Brown said. “I have not avoided that issue at all. The system we’re currently under is not the best structure for our state. … Right now, I think there’s a lot of work that needs to be done in that area.”

Prichard said his biggest disappointment coming out of the session last year was the fact that Iowa’s Medicaid problem wasn’t addressed. He hopes it will be this year.

“The governor has made statements as recently as yesterday that she’s willing to look at these things,” Prichard said on Wednesday. “It absolutely needs to happen. It’s hard to believe it’s come to this point, where we haven’t acted to protect Iowans.”

Last year, Democrats introduced a bill in the house to help restore long-term care, but Prichard said the Republican majority wouldn’t even give the bill a committee hearing.

“I’m happy to hear that the governor’s talking about it, but we’ve proposed legislation that’s gone nowhere,” Prichard said. “It’s been frustrating for us to not be a part of the conversation and not see the changes that need to happen.”

Prichard said he won’t take his foot off the gas when it comes to fixing Iowa’s Medicaid problems.

“We need accountability, and we need to make the system work,” he said. “We’re at the table to do that.”

One factor that, on the surface, looks like it might help get more legislation passed this year is what’s described as a “bump” in the budget — the state of Iowa closed 2019 with a surplus of nearly $300 million. Many legislators have expressed hope that surplus could help invest more money into Iowa’s priorities.

Among the possible uses for the surplus that have been discussed include lowering income tax rates, having the state take over some of the mental-health costs currently paid for by property taxes, or accelerating and expanding the 2018 tax cuts that are being implemented over several years.

Both Brown and Prichard are cautious about the excess funds, however.

Brown said that the Legislature will always take a look at possible tax reforms, but said lawmakers should look at “multiple things” when it comes to this year’s budget surplus, such as transportation issues in the school system or relief to areas of the state that suffered from flooding last year.

“We need to keep in mind the western part of our state has a tremendous amount of infrastructure that has to be rebuilt after last year’s flooding,” Brown said. “I think that has to be in the conversation. We need to look at multiple things.”

Prichard said it would be unwise for the state to base long-term legislation on what he believes is a one-time windfall, describing the increased surplus as an “overcorrection.” He said the 2018 tax cuts haven’t been implemented yet, and those were going to hit the budget this year and in future years.

“It’s a one-time surplus bump,” Prichard said. “It isn’t accurate to say that we can make a long-term decision just based on that one-time bump.”

Prichard said he’s always wary when the state Legislature starts talking about tax cuts, because often tax reductions at the state level mean more taxes at the local level.

“We can see here in Floyd County what that means — it means that now we have to subsidize our hospital, our schools and other projects in our community by raising property taxes at the local level,” he said.

“If we’re going to talk about a tax cut, we need to make sure it’s a tax cut and not a burden shift, which is what we’re seeing now,” Prichard said.

Other issues both Prichard and Brown believe will be on the table this session include education funding, industrialized hemp, medical and recreational cannabis and “hands-free” driving.

Industrialized hemp

The legislature passed a bill allowing farmers to grow industrialized hemp last year, but Brown called it a “small step.”

“I don’t think it’s a crop that’s going to save family farms, but I think it may be another crop that can be grown to supplement a farming operation,” Brown said. “It will be interesting to see, once that program is put into place, what works and what doesn’t and what changes need to be made.”

Prichard said he thinks Iowa is behind where it should be in terms of industrial hemp production.

“This is something that Iowa could be a leader in,” he said. “We’re good at growing things, and this fits right in with us as an ag state. It’s something I’ve been supportive of over the years.”

Medical cannabis

Prichard said that medical cannabis is also something he has been supportive of.

“This medicine has been beneficial for a lot of people,” he said. “I think there are opportunities with both medicine and industrial hemp to benefit Iowans — to benefit the economy and to benefit people who need certain medications.”

Brown also favors some easing of medical cannabis restrictions, but does not believe Iowa should go the route that neighboring Illinois recently took — legalizing marijuana for recreational use.

“I see the benefits for medicinal use, and I think we need to make sure we have that right for the state,” Brown said. “As far as recreational use, I’m not there.”

Education funding

Education funding is always the biggest slice of Iowa’s budget, and Prichard said he was hopeful there will be new money this year, but in years past funding has not kept up with inflation.

“We have an opportunity to bump public school funding up, but there hasn’t been a lot of talk as to where that number is going to fall,” Prichard said. “I would advocate for something that’s at least 3% just to stay ahead of inflation.”

Prichard said he was open to listening to anything else that could better Iowa’s educational system.

“Anything we can do to improve education in Iowa, we need to make sure we are educating tomorrow’s workforce,” Prichard said.

LP gas supply

In late 2019, as Iowa farmers were rushing to harvest their their corn and soybeans, the demand for propane skyrocketed and there were shortages. Gov. Reynolds signed an emergency proclamation to help alleviate propane delivery problems, suspended provisions of Iowa law restricting the hours of service for crews and commercial drivers delivering propane.

Reynolds later signed an executive order allowing vehicles transporting propane to be oversize and overweight.

Brown said he wants to minimize the chances of a shortage happening again.

“Those supplies were extremely tight, not just for the agricultural industry but for the transporters and retailers — it had an economic impact for them,” Brown said. “We need to make sure that when we need that LP, it’s here.”

Hands-free driving

Eighteen states have laws which bar drivers from handling a smart phone while they’re driving. Gov. Reynolds recently stated that “seems like the next natural step” for Iowa to take.

Brown said the issue was a top priority for him, and he believes the Legislature will take a serious look at it this session.

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