Culver foresees faster recovery for Iowa

GRIMES – Iowa could see a faster recovery thanks to aggressive state and federal stimulus efforts designed to retain and create jobs by bolstering private and public sectors, Gov. Chet Culver predicted Monday.

Culver told a gathering of 450 Iowans to discuss the state's roughly $2.5 billion share of the $787 billion federal stimulus package that the federal infusion and a just-approved $830 million state bonding effort will help Iowa work its way out of recession over the next two to three years.

“I think you're going to see a lot of economic activity,” agreed U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, who also attended Monday's meeting at the Dallas Center-Grimes high school. “That's a pretty good shot in the arm. We've got the money coming in. We just need their input on where this money ought to go.”

Culver said state transportation officials already are in the process of getting scores of “shovel-ready” projects under way and he hopes by four months from now the state will start seeing the proceeds from his “I-Jobs” initiative that lawmakers approved before adjourning their 2009 session early Sunday.

“It is my goal that we implement the recovery dollars right,” Culver said. “We want to be smart about implementation. We don't want duplication, we want efficiency and accountability.”

The governor praised the work of the Legislature in producing a balanced fiscal 2010 state budget and authorizing $830 million in bonds that will help upgrade aging infrastructure, make needed advances in housing, broadband telecommunications, water quality and sewer systems, and speed recovery efforts in disaster-ravaged places like Cedar Rapids and the University of Iowa in Iowa City.

“I'm really very pleased overall,” Culver said. However, he expected it would take him the full 30 days to assess the Legislature's work product that has arrived at his desk and he did not rule out the possibility of a veto or two.

“I don't think there are any big surprises that will end up on my desk,” he said. “I think there won't be a whole lot on things that I want to prevent from going into law.”

The governor did say he believed more needs to be done to help working Iowans, especially in the area of labor reform, because the state is going to be counting on “front-line” workers to make the recovery possible.

During the interim leading up to the 2010 legislative session, Culver said he hopes to “bring more of the business community on board” to build a coalition for legislation to address the prevailing wage and collective bargaining issues that stalled this year.