More money needed to fight bird flu, Iowa ag department says

The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship is asking for more state money to prepare for and respond to foreign animal illnesses.

Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig asked a budget subcommittee Monday to double the state appropriations going to that cause from $750,000 to $1.5 million.

The boost would allow the department to better respond to threats like bird flu and African swine fever, Naig said. With the new money, the department would hire more employees and buy equipment for responding to African swine fever, Naig said.

The department also is asking for increased funding for meat and poultry inspection, weights and measures, pesticide investigations and the soil and land conservation cost share.

Gov. Kim Reynolds’ proposed budget would keep the general fund appropriations to the agriculture department the same but would add $500,000 from a separate fund to cover the equipment costs for foreign animal illness response.

Alzheimer’s Association asks for more specialists

The Iowa Alzheimer’s Association is asking lawmakers to strengthen resources for Iowans with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

Around 50 advocates were at the Iowa Capitol on Monday to lobby legislators on two specific provisions:

More specialists would provide resources both for people with Alzheimer’s and for caregivers and their families, the group said.

There are 66,000 people ages 65 and older with Alzheimer’s in Iowa and 73,000 caregivers, according to the national Alzheimer’s Association. The need for specialists is high, Iowa Alzheimer’s Association executive director Doug Bickford said, especially as the number of Iowans living with Alzheimer’s is expected to rise.

“We need a 446 percent increase in geriatricians to meet the expected demand by 2050 if treatments don’t advance further than they are right now,” he said. “This is dire stuff.”

Kim Reynolds opposes water rule

Gov. Kim Reynolds joined two dozen other Republican governors in opposition to a federal rule regarding the regulation of certain waterways.

The Republican governors in a joint letter to Democratic President Joe Biden wrote that they believe the administration should delay implementation of the rule, which is under the federal Clean Water Act, until the U.S. Supreme Court rules on a related case.

“That opinion could significantly impact the final rule and its implementation,” the governors wrote in the joint letter. “To change the rule multiple times in six months is an inefficient and wasteful use of State and federal resources and will impose an unnecessary strain on farmers, builders, and every other impacted sector of the American economy.”

Auditor urges oversight of school activity funds

State Auditor Rob Sand issued a recommendation that school districts conduct oversight of student activity funds.

Sand said he decided to make the recommendation after his office discovered “a substantial amount of misuse of student activity funds.”

Sand’s office said it identified more than $268,000 in misused student activity funds over the past decade, the largest shares of which were attributed to undeposited collections, improper disbursements, uncollected facility usage fees and improper deposits.

“This serves to remind school district boards of directors, faculty and staff that student activity funds are public funds, are the property of the school district, and must be used to benefit the public,” Sand said in his statement.