Another Iowa legislative session? Great. That’s all we need

Years ago, I interviewed Lamar Alexander when he was running for president in 1995. He was the plaid shirt guy. He told me a funny story about a presidential candidate. Whether it was about himself or another candidate, I can’t recall.

The candidate saw a woman having a smoke break behind a business. He approached her and introduced himself as a candidate for president.

“Great,” the woman snorted between drags. “That’s all we need is another president.”

I thought of that story as the Republican-controlled Iowa Legislature prepares to gavel in the 2024 session on Monday.

“Great. That’s all we need is another legislative session.”

Didn’t we just have one?

Weren’t we just watching the Legislature require schools to remove books from libraries that describe a “sex act” and act as if LGBTQ people don’t exist until kids are in seventh grade?

It seems like just yesterday Gov. Kim Reynolds and Republicans were assailing public schools as immoral, liberal indoctrination facilities. Spiteful, fearmongering attacks on transgender kids seem fresh in our minds. The state-mandated discrimination has barely started.

It couldn’t have been that long since Republicans made it tougher to get food aid or Medicaid health coverage. The smell of mendacity and pulled bootstraps remains pungent.

It doesn’t seem that long ago Republicans weakened the Democratic state auditor while making the new Republican attorney general more powerful.

We just cut taxes, again. And income tax cuts passed in previous sessions have yet to take full effect. Revenues are just now slowing. Didn’t we just lowball spending on public schools, state universities, children’s mental health, nursing home inspections and other areas that used to be priorities?

And now we must watch another running of the Republican bulldozers?

Well, we can thank Iowa voters, who, in 1968, approved a constitutional amendment requiring annual legislative sessions. Before that, the Legislature met only in odd-numbered years. The amendment passed 281,253 to 246,563.

Without that change, we’d all be spared from the 2024 legislative session. This newspaper editorialized in favor of the change, believing in the argument that more complex issues required annual sessions. Shame on us for being so shortsighted. Must have been the reasonable politics of the time.

Now, we’re neck-deep in unyielding red state recklessness. Every other year sessions would be more than enough. Sure, it would shrink the per-diem gravy train enjoyed by lawmakers and mean fewer free meals at special interest receptions. But don’t we deserve a break?

Heck, while we’re at it, let’s go unicameral. If it’s good enough for Nebraska, it’s good enough for us. Convert the Senate chamber into a Museum of Iowa Political Sanity. “Gather ‘round kids. I’ll tell you the story of when bipartisan cooperation still existed.”

There’s also no need for the 2024 session to last 100 days.

Issues are no longer very complicated, thanks to total Republican control of the Golden Dome of Wisdom.

Reynolds will announce her agenda in her Condition of the State address Tuesday evening. It shouldn’t take lawmakers long to pass her priorities. Last year, it took the Legislature just two weeks to approve publicly funded private school scholarships that will cost billions of dollars over the next decade.

Any daylight that might have existed between Reynolds’ wishes and legislative preference disappeared when she recruited primary candidates in 2022 to run against opponents of “school choice.” Now it’s yes governor. Right away, governor.

We know how the budget will be built. A billion bucks at least will be socked away to cover the cost of tax cuts. Private school scholarships will need a bigger chunk of public cash. Other priorities will get small increases or status quo spending.

Trust Republicans. Thy know you want additional tax cuts more than adequately funded schools, an effective children’s mental health care program, clean water or state parks with updated facilities. Yes, you do. It shouldn’t take much time to slice state revenue yet again to reward their wealthy donors and make Iowa an irresistible destination.

Media will still be relegated to the rafters in the Senate. Reynolds won’t hold regular news conferences. The testimony of experts and public input mean very little to this Legislature. Democrats are on the sidelines, powerless. Why waste our time?

So none of this should take all that long. Lawmakers could offer their completed agenda by Feb. 14. A valentine to Iowans. They can hand out conversation hearts. “Don’t complain,” “Cry more libs” and “GOP 4 ever.”

But, there’s not much we can do to change course. Lawmakers are coming back. They’ll pass what they want, but not what we need.

(319) 398-8262; todd.dorman@thegazette.com