Iowa Politics Today: Branstad mum on signing bill nullifying county level wage raises

A roundup of legislative and Capitol news items of interest for Monday, March 13, 2017:

VOTER EDUCATOR:

Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate is the winner of the National State Boards of Education Award for Outstanding Leadership in Voter Education for conducting two statewide Iowa Youth Straw Polls and the Iowa Youth Caucus.

Pate's efforts helped 'light a fire in the hearts of our young, empowering them to preserve and protect government of the people, by the people and for the people for generations to come,” said Gloria Kirshner, president of National Student/Parent Mock Election organization.

Pate partnered with the Iowa Democratic and Republican parties to organize a statewide Iowa Youth Caucus in November 2015. His office also worked with the Iowa Council for the Social Studies, the Iowa Department of Education, as well teachers and administrators across the state, to conduct two statewide Youth Straw Polls in January and November 2016. Both straw polls included more than 58,000 student participants from more than 250 schools across Iowa.

The Iowa Youth Straw Polls were the culmination of Caucus 101 and Elections 101. They are free, online, social studies curricula developed by Pate and written by Iowa teachers. They are available for anyone to use at Elections101.org.

BRANSTAD NONCOMMITAL:

Gov. Terry Branstad on Monday declined to say whether he would sign a bill nullifying four county ordinances raising minimum wages higher than the statewide average without getting a commitment that the GOP-led Legislature would address Iowa's $7.25 hourly minimum yet this session.

Branstad told reporters he understood concerns raised by businesses about wanting a statewide uniform minimum wage, saying 'that kind of situation is not healthy.” But he also noted that Iowa is getting out of step and uncompetitive with neighboring states with minimums higher than Iowa's $7.25 hourly level.

'I don't want to cost us jobs. I don't want to put small business out of business, but I also recognize that there has been some time since the minimum wage has been increased and a lot of our neighboring states have chosen to do some increase over time in the minimum wage and I certainly think would be something we should consider,” he said.

A House-passed bill is awaiting action in the Iowa Senate. House File 295 would pre-empt local governments from usurping state authority in business and employment matters. The bill passed after Democrats tried unsuccessfully to raise the statewide minimum hourly wage to $10.75 by 2019 and preserve higher wage floors adopted by four counties.

SPENDING LIMITATION:

A Senate Appropriations subcommittee voted 3-0 Monday to approve a resolution seeking voter approval to write the state's statutory 99 percent limitation into the Iowa Constitution. Senate Joint Resolution 9 seeks to make the requirement that the governor and Legislature not spend more than 99 percent of the adjusted revenue estimate for the state's general fund a constitutionally protected expenditure limitation. Constitutional resolutions must be passed in exactly the same form by both House and Senate of two consecutive general assemblies to be put before Iowa voters as a statewide ballot issue. SJR 9 now goes to the full Senate Appropriations Committee for consideration.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: 'When the governor said, our blessed governor, when he said he was going to raise the wages of families by 25 percent, I'd like to know what he was smoking because everything he's done has made it harder and it has not benefitted, it has hurt the Iowa worker.”

- Sen. Tony Bisignano, D-Des Moines, in discussing a prevailing wage amendment to a transportation money swap bill that would allow the state Department of Transportation and local governments to swap federal funds in a way that backers say would make more money available for local projects.

-Compiled by the Des Moines Bureau