Published: February 19, 2009 09:00 am      

Legislators field questions

DEWITT — Four area members of the Iowa Legislature answered questions from about 30 people here Saturday in a forum sponsored by the DeWitt Chamber and the Clinton County Farm Bureau.

Participating were two senators, Roger Stewart, D-Preston, and Shawn Hamerlinck, R-Davenport, and two members of the house of representatives, Tom Schueller, D-Maquoketa, and Steve Olson, R-DeWitt.

Here are some of the questions and the responses.

n Reggie Kauffman, Calamus area farmer, was concerned about proposed increases in funding for the Department of Natural Resources.

“Right now this is what they are spending their money on,” he said, pointing out the DNR has constructed a 150-room luxury hotel at Rathburn Lake with a two-story indoor water park, an 18-hole golf course and cabins ranging from one bedroom with loft to four bedrooms, all with full kitchens, according to the DNR Web site.

The legislature last year gave preliminary approval to a 3/8th cent sales tax for the DNR and the issue is up for a second approval this year, he said. Then a public referendum would need to pass to impose the tax.

The DNR also is asking for an increase in the cost of hunting and fishing licenses this year, according to Kauffman.

Olson said he voted for the sales tax last year “because it has to go to a vote of the people — they can deal with it.

“A lot of the proposals the DNR has come forward with this year have gone down the drain,” Olson said. “The hunting and fishing license (fee increase) all of a sudden is not going to happen. I think the (DNR) management is under very tough scrutiny.”

Stewart said he voted for the sales tax last year for the same reasons Olson did.

“I understand it (Honey Creek) is a very beautiful spot, but the most important thing we have to conserve is our water and our environment. We need to spend (money) wisely.”

Hamerlink pointed out the DNR has proposed a bill that would fine truckers $1,000 if their truck sits idling for more than three minutes.

“Imagine DNR guys running around truck stops with stop watches,” he said. “Common sense and reality have to come in somewhere in the government. So that idea was yanked off the table.”

n Norman Bousselot, a member of the Calamus School Board, was concerned about a bill he said would eliminate two-thirds of the school districts in Iowa.

“If you vote for that,” he said, “I’d suggest you put your keys in your car and keep it running.”

Schueller told the group, “The next morning I had a 7:30 a.m. meeting with that senator on a different matter, as did eight other legislators. He almost got in his car with his keys. We let him know that small school districts are putting forth some good quality education and that he needed to stick to his urban issues.”

Hamerlinck added, “Ask him his graduation rates compared to ours.”

n Gary Landau, of DeWitt, was spokesman for a group of court reporters.

“On Monday we won’t get paid” because of a furlough day declared as a cost saving measure by Chief Justice Marsha Ternus of the Iowa Supreme Court, “and we can live with that,” he said. “But last week we got word that she is exploring the idea of replacing court reporters with electronic recording systems. Of course we’d like to keep our jobs, but you probably could not find a single district court judge or a single attorney who thinks that is a good idea.

“If you’ve been in court, you’ve seen me stopping people and asking them to repeat — maybe there have been extraneous noises around the room or people talking back and forth. In the last 30 to 40 years this has been tried in different states, and it has failed in every state.”

Schueller agreed.

“I served on the Maquoketa city council and we would go into closed session (which has to be tape recorded). More times than not, when those tapes needed to be brought forward, we found we had faulty equipment or the tape got damaged or disappeared.”

He added, “It’s not only affecting court reporters. Sen. Stewart and I were at a meeting with the Jackson County Bar Association and learned that in our rural county they’ve delayed civil cases for four months (for lack of court staff).

”And they’re talking about having to travel to Clinton or Dubuque or Scott County, which creates a hardship for the clients, and the attorneys charge more for mileage.

“You want to talk about a fair and equitable justice system with a jury of your peers? Sometimes in rural issues a jury from Jackson County would understand a little better than a jury from Scott County.”

Bert Watson, a Clinton attorney who also serves as a magistrate in the Clinton County Courthouse, told the panel the chief justice also is considering eliminating magistrates in counties where there is not a lot for them to do.

According to the Iowa Code, magistrates can hear simple misdemeanor cases, such as traffic violations, small claims, and can approve search warrants, among other things.

Stewart said, “I don’t exactly know why the chief justice is bringing these things forward right now. The governor’s budget calls for additional funding for judicial branch.”

“I don’t think she did very much practice in courtrooms,” Landau said.

According to the Supreme Court web page, Chief Justice Ternus worked in private practice with a Des Moines law firm until she was appointed to the high court in 1993.

n Amanda Gruber, who deals with drug-affected newborns, and Carmen Gisel, who works in the field of home care, also addressed the panel, urging better funding for their fields.

Schueller said he served on an interim committee last summer and assured the women, “I think you’ll see some of those issues addressed this year.”

Stewart, explaining why he was not familiar with a particular human services bill, said, “About 2,000 bills come before the legislature. At the end of the session we have passed maybe 200.

“We spend about 25 percent of the budget on human services, about $1.4 million. I agree with you — the need is there, a great need. “



Waiting for the stimulus

Rep. Olson told the approximately onlookers:

“On the budget process, we have been dragging our feet, waiting to see what the benefit of the stimulus package is going to be to Iowa.

“My concern is that we are going to shift funds around and utilize it (the package) to fill some holes in the budget. Then, down the road five years, it’s going to create bigger problems for us.

“If we stick to utilizing it (the stimulus) for roads and buildings or environmental fixes, that’s fine. But to just fill holes in the budget, that’s going to get us in trouble.”

Schueller agreed, but added the hope that there will be enough oversight in the stimulus bill “that it will be used for shovel ready projects and still stimulate the economy.”

Here are some other comments from the legislators.

Schueller: “When you talk about the budget, I would just point out that education is about 60 percent of the budget. Adding Medicaid and Medicare makes it 80 percent.

“The last piece of the puzzle is incarceration, and that adds up to about 90 percent — the major portion of what we have to deal with.

“The budget subcommittees are looking at every line item.”

Olson: “New things that require funding — a lot of them are being tossed overboard. The chairman of a committee has the choice of assigning a bill or burying it. There is a lot more stuff killed than people realize.”

He and the other members of the panel suggested the place to start being heard on an issue is with the committee or subcommittee chairman.

Hamerlinck, a freshman this year: “The state has more money in the general fund this year than it has ever had in history. The governor’s proposed general fund is $148 million more than last year.

“The way he’s doing this is taking funds out of other funds and sticking it all in the general fund. That way you can spend it.

“That tax you pay on cigarettes? It’s supposed to go to a fund for smoking cessation. It’s gone. That money is going in the general fund. The senior trust fund is pretty much depleted. Ten funds are gone, being put into the general fund or supplementing the rainy day fund.”