HOUSE TO HOUSE

By Polly Granzow,State Representative

Property Tax Relief

The House and Senate passed a 4% allowable growth bill for K-12 schools.  Each year, the legislature sets the rate of increase two years in advance.  The Democrats campaigned for a 6% rate but pushed for only 4%.  It is interesting to note that any increase in allowable growth also increases local property taxes, unless the school District is not growing.

I co-sponsored an amendment for a 6% allowable growth because of the property tax savings.  It would have saved $22,194 at AGWSR, $8,850 at Alden, $54,736 at ENP, and $14,719 at Hubbard Radcliffe.  The second part of the amendment would have required the state to pay any increase in property tax.  It would have paid $8,324 at BCLUW, $6,282 at East Marshall, $24,661 at Iowa Falls, and $17,166 at West Marshall. The amendment was defeated on a partisan vote.  This was a missed opportunity to provide property tax relief.

Cloning 

Governor Chet Culver and House and Senate Democrats are pushing an agenda to repeal the ban on human cloning, but it is titled “stem cell research”.  There is currently no ban on embryonic stem cell research in Iowa.  The Iowa Code (707B.4) states it is illegal to clone anything, receive a cloned anything, or participate in cloning activities.  “Somatic cell nuclear transfer” is the technical name for human cloning.  This current law passed nearly unanimously by a vote of 92-1 in 2002.  Now there is an effort to change the law and allow human cloning.

This bill tampers with ethical decisions.  I believe it is wrong to clone human beings for the purpose of harvesting genetically matched material for scientific study.  We already have promising and acceptable research uses of stem cells from adults, umbilical, placental blood, and amniotic fluid, and they have proven to be very successful.  I requested a public hearing which will be February 21, 2007 in the evening in the House chamber.

Up in Smoke

The issue of smoking bans and tobacco taxes is taking many interesting twists and turns.  There is a proposal to give cities and counties “local control” and give City Councils and Boards of Supervisors the authority to dictate where smoking would or would not be allowed in their jurisdictions.  There is another proposal to ban smoking statewide in public places.  When the bill starting listing places that would be exempt, it has become unworkable “at this time”.

There is also a bill to increase the cigarette tax by $1.00 per pack.  Iowa’s current law is $.36 per pack and would increase to $1.36.  The purposes are to discourage smoking and use the revenue for health related costs.  The fact is that the money would be deposited in the General Fund and not protected for health reasons only, and as smoking decreases, so does the revenue.  Everyone is salivating over how to spend the “extra” money in ways other than healthcare.  Debate on these issues will be interesting.

 Other Issues

Senator Horn introduced a bill to allow Touchplay in some restricted areas.

House Democrats filed a bill in State Government Committee that repeals Iowa’s English as the official language.

As always, you can contact me at polly.granzow@legis.state.ia.us or at 641-858-5210 on weekends.