Important measures still alive

State lawmakers pared their agenda this past week ahead of the annual “funnel” deadline. Non-budgetary bills that failed to clear a House or Senate committee were tossed on the scrap heap for 2010. Survivors marched on.

Among the bills still alive for consideration are a pair of measures we feel are especially important to the Corridor.

Lawmakers are pushing ahead with legislation that seeks to expand Iowa's flood mitigation and watershed management efforts in the wake of historic floods in 2008.

The legislation would limit some development in 500-year flood zones, although supporters, led by Sen. Rob Hogg, D-Cedar Rapids, had to back away from broader, controversial flood plain construction limits. The bill would, instead, focus on preventing the construction of critical facilities in flood plains, such as hospitals, jails, water supply facilities and emergency services.

The legislation contains several recommendations from a special panel appointed to come up with flood mitigation strategies, such as forming local watershed management authorities to guide local projects and coordinate with other communities. But the legislation does not include state funding, leaving local governments to find it.

We hope when the state's budget situation improves, lawmakers find a statewide source of funding. Otherwise, Iowa will continue to have a piecemeal approach to watershed management that fails to adequately safeguard communities from flooding.

On another issue spawned by the flood of 2008, lawmakers are moving legislation that would allow boathouses to remain in Ellis Harbor. Owners could transfer ownership of boats and for permits to family members. If they don't, they'd be available to the public for purchase.

The boathouse harbor was hit with a one-two punch in 2008, the first from flooding and the second from state regulators who said the floating neighborhood violated state rules. Gov. Chet Culver has since stepped in to defend the boathouses, which have docked in the harbor since the 1920s, and newly elected state Rep. Kirsten Running-Marquardt, D-Cedar Rapids, sponsored legislation to save them.

The Department of Natural Resources considers the boathouses as a threat to the “principle of sovereign waters,” or the same as allowing someone to build a house in a state park. We understand the department's concerns, but respectfully disagree. We see the boathouse harbor as a unique aspect of Cedar Rapids that is worth preserving and respecting its historic roots.

We were pleased to several other bills survive as well. Among those we continue to support are measures that would ban texting while driving, allow state inspections of federally licensed dog breeders and create a five-member board to enforce Iowa's open records and meetings law.