Capitol Digest, 1-26-10

A roundup of legislative and Statehouse items of interest for Tuesday, Jan. 26:

‘DRAMATIC WEATHER' STRAINS DOT BUDGET: The combination of “dramatic weather” and lagging revenues is putting the squeeze on the Iowa Department of Transportation budget, Director Nancy Richardson told lawmakers Tuesday. Typical Iowa snowfall has been 32 inches a year, she told the Transportation, Infrastructure and Capitals Appropriations Subcommittee. It was 41 inches in 2008 and 58 in 2009. “Good grief, I don't know how much it will be this year,” she said. The department's costs have risen along with the snowfall. IDOT typically uses 180 tons of salt a year, but that has increased to more than 300 tons in recent years. At the same time, revenues – motor fuel taxes, in particular – are 2.7 percent less than projected. They were projected to increase less than 1 percent, but at the current rate, Richardson expects revenues to be off by 5 percent by the end of the year.

MONEY'S WORTH GUARANTEE: Just because state lawmakers' daily expense money runs out after 80 days does not guarantee they'll be making a quick exit from the Capitol this year. Gov. Chet Culver told a member of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association who was concerned that a shortened session may not address the critical issues facing the state not to worry. “You'll get your money's worth because even when they stop taking that (per-diem) payment, they're going to stay for an indefinite period of time until we can adjourn,” the governor said. Culver said lawmakers are to be commended for saving the state money, but he added “they'll certainly be putting in a lot of work before we can adjourn.”

PEOPLE POWER: Members of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement held a noisy Statehouse rally to demand that the Legislature put people ahead of corporate interests this session. CCI members called for local control over the locating of confinement animal feeding operations, interest rate caps on pay-day loans and affordable college tuition regardless of a student's immigration status. They also pushed for campaign contribution limits and public financing of elections and enactment of combined corporate reporting for tax purposes to close a loophole for out-of-state corporations.

NEW PUSH FOR OPENNESS: State lawmakers are taking another run at establishing an Iowa public information board that would deal with complaints, compliance and enforcement of Iowa's open meetings and open records laws. A Senate subcommittee began work Tuesday on a revamped version of House File 777 that would establish the transition to a five-member oversight board that would be in place by July 2011. Sen. Pam Jochum, D-Dubuque, said a grant has been sought from the Iowa Newspaper Foundation to fund the initial effort with $600,000 eventually needed to finance the board's functions. The proposed legislation would address issues such as walking quorums and public release of personnel applicants and draft government documents. Jochum said prospects for winning legislative approval this session were “promising.”

AMENDED REPORT: House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, D-Des Moines, said he will be amending his campaign finance report after records were inadvertently shredded at his law firm when they were changing offices there. “I discovered that about a week before the filing deadline when we were preparing the report,” McCarthy said. He said they ordered those records from the bank, and notified the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board that they would file the report on time that listed all expenditures and most contributions. He said there is a potential “few additional checks” and that the complete and final report should be available by Friday or Monday. The Republican Party of Iowa pounced on the omission. “This is the type of arrogance that has permeated the Democrat majority in Des Moines. Our state government is there to serve Iowans, not the other way around,” said RPI executive director Jim Anderson. McCarthy said he “got a kick” out of the Republican news release criticizing him.

THINKIN' LINCOLN: The Iowa Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission will celebrate President Lincoln's 201st birthday and explore myths and mysteries surrounding his 1865 assassination during an event next month in Des Moines. “Fun to be 201” will take place from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Feb. 12 at the State Historical Building. The event is free and open to the public and will feature live music, Civil War re-enactors, Lincoln impersonator Stan DeHaan, and a “Myths and Mysteries of the Lincoln Assassination” presentation by Dr. Blaine Houmes of Cedar Rapids that studies the Lincoln assassination from a medical point of view.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “This committee is so bipartisan that (Chairman Dennis Cohoon, D-Burlington) offered to let me run the bill to transfer money from the Road Use Tax Fund to the state patrol. What a friend.” – Rep. Dan Huseman, R-Aurelia, responding to comments that Transportation Infrastructure and Capitals Appropriations Subcommittee members long have had a bipartisan working relationship.