Prevailing wageOn Monday, February 16, the House Labor Committee approved HSB 149, the prevailing wage bill. The bill requires a contractor to pay workers the same hourly wage plus fringe benefits for certain public improvements as the contractor would pay workers for a private construction or ...
State Sen. Tim Kapucian (R-Keystone) will be hosting a Listening Post at the Tama Civic Center Feb. 28 at 10 a.m. and tentatively at Grundy Center on March 14. State Rep. Lance Horbach has been invited to attend both dates. Also, Kapucian will join Rep. Dawn Pettengill March 7 at the Keystone ...
Though this year's session of the Iowa General Assembly is fast approaching the mid-way point, many of the most contentious issues and controversial pieces of legislation being pushed by the governor and his legislative counterparts are yet to come to full debate in the Legislature. In ...
Short-changing our kidsOne of the big news items in the Capitol is the fact that Senator Matt Mc Coy has filed a bill which would force all schools smaller than 750 students to consolidate with other small schools with the ultimate goal of having only one school district with one superintendent ...
The deepening national recession puts a strain on the budgets of Iowa middle-class families.That's why I support bipartisan efforts in the Iowa Legislature to help create more good-paying jobs, stand up for the priorities of middle-class families, and be fiscally responsible. It's also why I'm ...
What a beautiful week we have had in Iowa Luckily, we have been busy enough here under the dome that I haven't had time to even think about the weather. So far the only bills we have debated have been what I would call fix it bills, nothing too controversial, just minor bills to fix existing ...
This week at the Capitol there was a lot of buzz about a few different things. The first is the Governor's budget. Released last week, we are still analyzing it and trying to understand what it means for Iowans. So far, it looks like the 6.5% cut is just the tip of the iceberg.The budget ...
Gov. Culver is asking the Iowa Legislature to approve a 20-year bond debt of $700 million to be used as a stimulus for flood recovery efforts. Yesterday, there was a press conference held by Senator Matt McCoy (D-Des Moines) stating, "Time and time again, young people have told us that the one ...
Now that February has arrived we are beginning to see some real action occurring in the Iowa House. We are beginning to pass a few bills, and rumors abound at the Capitol. One of the rumors that seems to have validity is that the Governor and the Democrat Majority are planning on doing ...
Appalled at publicdefender's spendingI was going to write about selling the Lottery, and how silly that would be. We would receive $200 million dollars to spend today and in return we would give up over a BILLION dollars over the term of the lease.Duh? One of my constituents said it best, "You ...