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Senate
Democrats
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Senate takes another step to tackle tough economy
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Greater
protections for Iowa’s middle-class families
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Rebuilding
Iowa and the lives of disaster victims
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Growing
Iowa’s economy with biodiesel
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Iowa to
host White House forum on health care
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Increasing
protections for Iowa workers
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Nominate
your favorite teacher for big honor
The overriding issue of the 2009 session is responding to the
deepening national recession and its impact on middle-class Iowa families.
More Iowa families are losing jobs they depend on. Iowa small businesses
are seeing sales drop. And homeowners are
facing foreclosure.
Our job in the
Legislature is to help Iowans through these tough times, to optimistically
build toward a prosperous future, and to keep the commitments we’ve made on
economic growth, health care, education, energy independence and disaster
recovery.
This week, the
Senate approved a $175 million bonding plan that will:
▸ Create
good-paying jobs for workers in the construction industry and related
businesses who will expand or improve Iowa’s
prisons, community-based correction facilities, the Iowa Veterans Home and
other state-owned buildings.
▸ Ensure
the safety of our communities and neighborhoods by expanding and fixing up
our prisons and community-based corrections facilities.
▸ Protect
the safety of Iowans in their workplaces.
▸ Ensure
that the Iowa Veterans Home in Marshalltown
becomes a state-of-the-art facility for Iowans who have honorably served our
country in the armed services.
The evidence is
clear. These stimulus initiatives will help our state recover sooner from the
national recession. It is projected that this stimulus bill will create
nearly 5,000 jobs across Iowa.
Every $1 million
invested in infrastructure supports 28.5 full-time, year-round-equivalent
jobs, according to a recent study by the National Association of Industrial
& Office Properties. Plus, during the construction phase, new projects
employ workers who spend their paychecks in the local economy.
The national recession continues to hammer Iowa. Our state’s
unemployment rate rose to 4.8 percent in January, while the national rate
climbed to 7.6 percent, the highest since 1992.
This economic slowdown is hurting Iowa homeowners, and the pain is not
limited to risky subprime mortgages.
John Gianola, of Iowa Legal
Aid's Foreclosure Defense Project, recently reported that “a typical
foreclosure case now is people who may have had reasonable long-term,
fixed-rate loans, but because they lost their jobs, they can no longer afford
even a conventional mortgage."
Iowa's
home foreclosure rate hit a 10-year high last year. More than 30,000
mortgages were delinquent or in foreclosure in the last quarter of 2008,
according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
This is everyone’s problem. Each neighborhood foreclosure
threatens the financial security of our communities and lowers the value of
every house in the neighborhood.
In Iowa,
the national economic problems are making the situation even worse for
communities affected by last year’s natural disasters, but in the
Legislature, we’re working in a bipartisan way to help struggling families
make it through these tough times.
First, because many struggling homeowners aren’t aware of
their rights and alternatives to foreclosure, the Senate Judiciary Committee
has passed legislation requiring creditors to inform homeowners of mediation
and counseling services before a home foreclosure begins.
If the creditor fails to comply with this requirement, the
courts must slow things down and give homeowners a chance to avoid
foreclosure. If you or someone you know needs advice on mortgage assistance,
go to www.IowaMortgageHelp.com.
The site is maintained by Iowa’s
Attorney General.
Second, the Senate Commerce Committee is moving to toughen
state laws governing mortgage bankers and brokers by requiring criminal
history and credit background checks, pre-licensure and continuing education,
national licensing, and a net worth, surety bond or recovery fund.
Third, the Commerce Committee is taking steps to crack
down on debt settlement firms, which are businesses that promise to settle a
consumer’s debts for a fee. The consumer usually pays the fee up front. If
the debt settlement firm fails or makes a half-hearted effort, the consumer
is out the initial fee and left in a worse financial state.
New legislation would expand regulations to cover anyone
involved in consumer debt settlement by requiring written contracts, limiting
fees and mandating consumer disclosure. This disclosure incluedes
estimated total fees, a statement that the debt manager cannot guarantee
results, and acknowledgement that consumer may quit the service at anytime
without penalty.
Rising unemployment and foreclosure rates are signs that
the national recession is worsening, but I’ll keep standing up for Iowa’s middle-class
families.
Rebuilding Iowa and the lives of disaster victims
We are continuing our efforts to help Iowans and
communities recover from last summer’s floods and tornadoes. At the same
time, we’re laying the groundwork to prevent similar devastation in the
future.
Recent steps approved by the Senate Rebuild Iowa Committee
would:
▸ Allow
disaster victims to participate in the Prescription Drug Donation Repository
Program. This program has helped low-income Iowans obtain the often-costly
prescription medications they need. The program is one more way we can extend
a helping hand to disaster victims.
▸ Create
an Iowa Flood
Center at the University of Iowa,
which would help develop a workforce knowledgeable in flood
research, prediction and prevention strategies. Working
with local and state agencies, the Iowa Flood Center would establish community-based programs to
improve flood monitoring and prediction along Iowa's major waterways and to support
ongoing research. These efforts could help lessen the impact of future
flooding in Iowa and may serve as a national model for flood
preparedness, research and mitigation.
▸ Require
eligible communities and homeowners to participate in the National Flood
Insurance Program and to purchase flood insurance. According
to the legislation, a person who fails to purchase flood
insurance on an insurable structure in a 500-year flood plain insurance before July 1, 2010, would not be eligible to receive any flood
disaster-related financial assistance from the state.
Growing Iowa’s economy with biodiesel
Expanding the use of biodiesel in Iowa can strengthen the state’s renewable
energy economy and reduce our dependence on foreign oil. It also diversifies
markets for our local farmers and creates good-paying green-collar jobs for Iowans.
Recently, the Senate
Transportation Committee voted to require five percent biodiesel (known as
B5) in all diesel fuel sold in Iowa
by July 2009 and to increase to a 20 percent biodiesel standard by 2015. Minnesota has already
enacted similar legislation.
Under the new bipartisan bill,
the Iowa Department of Transportation or the Governor would have the power to
suspend the biodiesel requirement when necessary.
The bill now goes to the full
Senate for consideration.
Iowa to host White House forum on health
care
President Obama recently selected Iowa as a location for one of a series of
regional forums on health care reform.
The Iowa
forum, which will be hosted by Governor Chet Culver on March 23,
will bring together diverse groups that have a stake in reforming our health
care system. It will be an opportunity for the groups to put forward their
best ideas about how we can bring down costs and expand coverage for American
families.
Iowa’s
selection comes as no surprise. We’ve become a leader in health care reform
at the state level. Iowa
is on the verge of becoming the first state to provide affordable health care
to all children. Under legislation being considered this session, 30,000 Iowa kids who are
currently uninsured would have health insurance.
Our health care reforms also offer relief to adults
looking for affordable insurance options. A new state “Iowa Insurance
Exchange” will outline a high-quality, affordable health care plan and invite
private insurers to bid on providing it. This will increase options while
reducing complexity for adult Iowans struggling to find quality health care
they can afford.
The legislation includes a host of other health care
reforms, including banning gifts to doctors from pharmaceutical companies. We
will also use some of the federal stimulus dollars to reverse our impending
shortages of nurses, doctors and other medical workers.
A Dependent Care Task Force made initial recommendations
this week for improving Iowa
laws on the care and employment of dependent adults with mental retardation.
The task force was formed following the Government
Oversight Committee’s investigation of living and working conditions at
Henry’s Turkey Service an Atalissa. The Texas-based company brought mentally
handicapped men to live in a decrepit Iowa
bunkhouse while working for almost no pay.
As a result, the task force is recommending annual
registration and reporting for all types of boarding homes, a uniform
assessment tool for determining dependent adult abuse, inter-agency
coordination in the investigation of unlicensed health care facilities, and
improved record-keeping.
The task force also recommends that the Iowa Civil Rights
Commission be given subpoena power and that the Legislature make wage
discrimination against any employee, including those with disabilities, an
unfair employment practice.
The Government Oversight Committee’s hearings into the
Atalissa case will resume next week. Hearings were temporarily suspended to
allow the Department of Criminal Investigation to conduct its investigation.
Do you know any great teachers who’ve made a difference in
the lives of their students? If so, nominate them for the 2010 Teacher of the
Year award!
The Teacher of the Year award recognizes an Iowa teacher
who motivates, challenges and inspires excellence; who is respected by
students and peers; who is a dedicated professional that helps nurture hidden
talents and abilities; who is a creative, caring individual; who takes
teaching beyond textbooks and blackboards; and who is an exceptional teacher
helping to redefine American education.
For more information and a nomination form, go to www.iowa.gov/educate and search “TOY”.
The deadline is April 15.
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