Iowa lawmakers pay little attention to 'suggestion box' ideas

CEDAR RAPIDS - State legislators are fond of saying they get their best ideas from their constituents.

So far, they've taken no action on these suggestions Iowa have submitted to an online “suggestion box”:

• Improve the state's bottom line by eliminating Medicaid payment for circumcisions.

• Change sex abuse laws to hold young women who are “lieing about there age and making up some story to get guys to have sex with them” accountable for their actions.

• Creating a state registry of “anyone who has ever been fired ... so that no one every hires them again.”

“They're not always constructive,” Mary Shipman, a supervisor in the Legislative Services Agency Fiscal Services Division, said about the suggestions submitted to the Legislature's Public Input: Improving State Government web site.

“Sometimes they suggest something like ‘Make sure people use headlights at night.' I think that's already a requirement,” said Shipman, who edits the website.

And some suggestions might be meant to be humorous:

“Just lease the naming rights for the state. That would be good for the economy. Coke wouldn't want the state to be named Pepsi. Bidding would go sky-high. ‘Terry E. Branstad, Governor of Coke' has a ring to it.”

For Shipman, reading the suggestions is part of the job. Not so much for the legislators who created the website.

“I've never heard of this,” admitted Rep. Bobby Kaufmann, R-Wilton, who was elected after the website was created as part of legislators' efforts to reorganize and improve state government. He had never read the page, which is on the Legislature's website, until asked about the input and whether he responds.

“I learned there are a lot of concerned citizens with problems that the state can help with,” Kaufmann said. Although the public input page gives people a place to vent, Kaufmann encourages Iowans to contact their legislators.

Rep. Dave Jacoby, D-Coralville, has seen the site, but is not a frequent visitor.

“I have not accessed the site often due to the fact that most people will contact me directly,” he explained.

Jacoby isn't sure how much stock to put in the mostly anonymous submissions, “but it is interesting to get a flavor for what some people are thinking, such as easier access to voting records and an information page for citizens that is easier to navigate.

His top priority, Jacoby said, is responding to people who contact him directly. He is concerned that some people may not know how to contact their legislator directly and “without a response they may be frustrated.”

Offering ideas

Apparently, few people get a response to their suggestions. That doesn't surprise them.

“But I was a little disappointed,” said Lorna Hedinger, who posted a concern she thinks is shared by many Iowans who work in the health care industry.

“We are required as in many jobs to work holidays and are paid holiday pay - $204 for working the day and missing out on family functions,” the Adams County nursing home employee posted. But doesn't see much of that “and-a-half” pay because of the tax bite.

“The problem is when I get my check I only get $60 of that day's pay. I'm missing $144,” she wrote. “I am asking that paid holidays are tax-free. That $204 could be a car or part of a house payment for some people.”

“I guess it's not important enough to think about,” Hedinger said about the lack of response from lawmakers.

Rod Freeseman might be one of the lucky ones. Although no one responded to his comment, the Legislature did change Iowa law to bolster liability protections for landowners. He sought that protection after an Iowa Supreme Court decision on landowner liability that he thought might threaten an annual trail ride he and his dad have sponsored since 1973 to raise funds for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

Last year, they had 500 participants and raised $13,000 on the trail ride in northeast Iowa.

“We currently get permission from 27 land owners who trust their generosity is protected by the laws you write,” Freeseman wrote on the public input page. “Without that trust if one land owner rejects our request to ride across their land we would be forced to cancel the ride.”

Freeseman discovered the public input page while searching the Legislature's website to find lawmakers' addresses.

Although lawmakers took action on his issue, Freeseman didn't hear from anyone after posting his comment.

“It's frustrating because you don't know if anyone receives your input,” he said. He supposes it would require more staff to have someone respond to the comments posted on the page.

“To be honest, I wasn't expecting a response,” he said. “I guess you just hope someone reads it and maybe they talked to someone and so on.”

Worth having page?

Teaira Cooksey wasn't surprised she didn't get a response. She was surprised her comment appeared on the input page.

“I emailed a legislator and didn't know they would post it there,” the graphic designer at Indian Hills Community College in Ottumwa said.

The lack of response makes her question the purpose of the page “if they aren't going to listen to the public.”

“It probably makes them feel good,” said Cooksey, whose comment has been removed from the site.

Shipman, the page's editor, does very little editing of the suggestions. Shipman reads through the comments about once a week to see which will get posted online. Most do.

“Some, rarely, are obscene,” she said. “If the messages are obscene or attack an individual, we don't publish them. Or are threatening.”

Threats of legal action, however, are permitted:

“i heard that you sick lowlife jerks are going to use dogs as bait for wolves.if you put even one dog out there, i WILL file civil and criminal charges on ALL of you.its a felony.its animal cruelty and its wrong.my lawyer is already looking into it.”

“Sometimes I hesitate to publish the comments,” Shipman said, “but we err on the side of saying comments should be published.”

Shipman admits there are some comments she would like to respond to, “but I don't.”

She wishes more lawmakers spent time reading the suggestions.

“It would be eye-opening if the legislators reviewed them,” Shipman said. “Sometimes I think I'm the only one who reads these.”