January 30, 1999

Press Release: NEWS FROM THE CAPITOL

A Promising Week

Despite the great likelihood that the care of our children and vulnerable citizens will become secondary to partisan politics in the near future, it is great to report that these important groups seemed to be first in the hearts of legislators and the Governor last week.

The week started well when the Governor and the Legislature agreed on three different ways to help schools. The first part increases "allowable growth" for schools to 4% two years from now. The second part immediately provides four million dollars to schools which have increasing enrollments, and six million dollars to schools which have decreasing enrollments.

On Thursday, the Governor provided good news to schools and kids in his budget speech to the legislature. Among other proposals, the Governor stated that the State should continue to provide additional money to schools for improvements in technology; that the State should find a way to make sure that all of Iowa’s children have a chance to go to college or vocational school upon graduation; that more children of lower income working parents should be covered by the State’s HAWK-I medical insurance plan; and that the State help school districts which need infrastructure repairs.

The Governor is also proposing restrictions on the managed care industry in Iowa. If agreed to by the legislature, there would be a reduction in the waiting period for pre-existing conditions from twelve months to six; managed care companies would no longer be able to impose "gag" rules on doctors which keep doctors from recommending some treatments; and a fair process for settling disputes concerning payment would be created.

Finally, the Governor proposed to increase the availability of preventive health care. To help aging seniors, he proposed the enactment of a Nursing Home Bill of Rights; an increase in funding for care staff salaries; and an increase in the number of long-term care ombudsmen to better guarantee that long-term care residents receive the care and respect they deserve.

The Governor’s budget proposals do not exceed what the State can afford. In fact, he is also proposing a twenty million dollar cut in the property taxes. On the other hand, can we afford to continue to let our schools and test scores decline? Can we afford to continue to have children of working parents not covered by health insurance? Can we afford to permit vulnerable citizens to be mistreated by those more powerful?

I do not agree with all of the proposals the Governor made last week, and I still believe some of our tax dollars will be wasted if all of his proposals are enacted. However, it will be interesting to see how many of his good proposals are defeated by politicians who want to help themselves or their powerful friends more than they want to help Iowa’s children and vulnerable citizens.

Finally, last week I continued to work with members of both parties on ways to fight the methamphetamine threat. I am still hopeful that effective non-partisan solutions can be found to reduce both the supply and demand of the drug, and to punish those who use and sell the drug. A meeting with local and state drug agents and county attorneys was particularly informative. Ideas were discussed which may result in drafting helpful laws which will help our local communities and law enforcement in this fight.

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