On Thursday the Iowa Legislature passed collective bargaining reforms for public sector employees. This legislation will update the existing Chapter 20 laws for Iowa public sector employees.The original goal of the legislation outlined was to provide flexibility for our local officials to meet ...
DES MOINES - In response to the passing of Republican-sponsored, SF213 and HF291, bills that gut a Chapter 20 law that has worked well for forty years to the benefit of working men and women in Iowa, Iowa Democratic Party Chair, Derek Eadon issued the following statement:"This assault on ...
Week 6 was marked by considerable debate time with debate into the late evening Tuesday and Wednesday nights on House File 291, Collective Bargaining Reform. On Thursday, with roughly four amendments completed and eighty more amendments still to go the speaker called for a "time certain" ...
Since the November, 2016, General Election, it's been said: the rural areas have spoken - the heartland has felt left out - the cities and big counties have dictated too much policy.Let's hope in Iowa the Legislators in Des Moines listen to and hear this message from all areas-It's time for ...
In the Senate:We are already in week five and busy with committee work. We are coming up on our first funnel week. This means all bills need to be through committee in order to be considered for the rest of the legislative session. The only exceptions to the funnel are oversight, appropriations ...
Iowa has the largest Pay Gap in the nation. The Pay Gap is calculated using Bureau of Labor Statistics data, which gives the average annual wage of a state-government worker and the average annual wage of a private-sector worker for each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Our study ...
A public notice published by the government is not really publicOnce a year, all local governments in Iowa are required to publish a public notice in a newspaper listing the salaries of every one of their employees.Anyone who thinks public notices aren't important or aren't read by the average ...
Editor's Note; This is a new legislative column submitterd by State Senator Jeff Edler (R-State?Center) who was elected in November, 2106, to Iowa Senate Seat 36 representing Tama, Marshall and a portion of southeastern Black Hawk counties.In the Legislature:We passed three bills out of the ...
I was blessed to grow up in rural Iowa as a youth. Unfortunately, I did not fully appreciate how lucky I was. I remember reading about far off exotic places and wanted to travel and live in different countries and experience different cultures. After all, in my view, not much was happening in ...
The energy level in the Capitol continues to increase as more bills make their way through subcommittees and committees. I expect this session to be marked by more spirited debate than in past years because of the opportunities that arise with both chambers and the governor's office being ...