Lawmakers split on merits of shortened 2010 session

By James Q. Lynch 

The Gazette

CEDAR RAPIDS – Shortening its 2010 session by 20 days was either the best thing lawmakers did this year or a mistake that should never be repeated.

“It was a noble effort,” Rep. Nate Willems, D-Lisbon, said Saturday at the League of Women Voters' legislative forum at St. Luke's Hospital. “From my perspective, it was a great idea, but not something that should be repeated.”

However, Sen. Rob Hogg, D-Cedar Rapids, liked the shortened session.

“I thought it was great,” he said, adding that it allowed lawmakers to save taxpayers somewhere between $700,000 and $1 million.

His colleagues at the forum agreed the savings were important. After state tax receipts took a recession-riddled nose dive, Gov. Chet Culver ordered a 10 percent across the board budget cut, lawmakers shortened their session from 100 days to 80. They finished on the 79

^th

day.

The election-year session – typically 10 days shorter than the first year of the two year General Assembly – was the shortest gathering since the 64th General Assembly adjourned after 75 days in 1972.

Hogg thought it forced legislators to focus on their work and suggested that the Legislature plan 80-day sessions every other year.

Others said it did not allow time for the process to work.

“The first day of the session they told me I had four days to get my bill requests in,” said Rep. Kirsten Running-Marquardt, D-Cedar Rapids, who was elected in a November 2009 special election. “I was like, ‘What's a bill request?'”

The first week of the session Willems filed a bill request for legislation to give landowners more leverage in dealing with wind energy producers who lease land for turbines.

“I didn't get a draft until late in the funnel week and the bill was dead by then,” he said. The “funnel” is a self-imposed deadline for non-money bills to clear at least one standing committee of the House or Senate to stay alive for debate.

“The process takes a certain amount of time,” Willems said. “Bills don't have time to rise or fall on their merits in a shortened session.”

Rep. Todd Taylor, D-Cedar Rapids, agreed he wouldn't want to repeat the short session. It forced lawmakers to work long hours to accomplish their work. During the session Taylor noted he had to have his Justice Systems budget – funding for corrections and public safety – finished a full month earlier than last year.

That meant there was less time for discussion among lawmakers as well as less time for state agencies, citizens, interest groups and lawmakers to present their ideas for consideration.

“It was a bit of a strain on everyone. It took a toll,” Sen. Bob Dvorsky, D-Coralville, said, but the Legislature passed more bills than in 2009. He suggested lawmakers consider a 90-day session as a compromise between saving money and having enough time for the process to work.

An advantage of the shorter session, Hogg said, was that it “gets citizen-legislators back to our normal lives quicker. That's good.”