House Journal: Page 45: Tuesday, January 9, 1996

 budget that I am presenting to you protects our cash reserves
and keeps ongoing expenditures at 4 percent growth.
We know from our history that there are times to reap and times
to sow, that there are droughts and floods that follow
bin-busting harvests. We must be prudent in our spending today
so that we will be able to meet the needs of Iowans when times
are leaner.
We are also working to make state government more accountable
and responsive. The bipartisan Council on Human Investment,
chaired by Lt. Governor Joy Corning, is developing and
implementing a new state budget system that ties expenditures to
the results Iowans want. The system, called Budgeting for
Results, will be used by seven agencies beginning this year and
will be expanded to all state agencies by the year 2000.
This is also the time to pay attention to our infra-structure
needs. It is this generation's turn to invest in our public
facilities. Therefore, I am recommending that we establish a
permanent Infrastructure Fund that will provide a reliable and
steady stream of funding to build and rebuild our public
buildings and infrastructure.
This year, we Iowans have much to celebrate, much to give thanks
for, much to reflect upon. Iowa's subtle magic, that Hugh Sidey
described, has indeed been protected and enlarged. Today, we are
better prepared for our future than ever before.
But birthdays involve gift-giving. And it is that last feature
of our sesquicentennial that we must also remember throughout
this year.
As citizens, each of us should take the time this year to help
out a friend in need; assist a family in trouble; help clean up
a park; coach the local team; serve on a community board; and
say a prayer for our local troops overseas. These are gifts we
can give our state. They will make this an even better, more
civil place. Such giving is one of the remarkable virtues which
have been given to us by those who have gone before us.
As public servants, we should use this year to give to the state
our commitment to do what is best for Iowa. The course I have
laid out for you is ambitious and challenging. But it is a
steady course; a clear course for our future.
Our gift to this state in its 150th year should be to leave all
personal, partisan, or private interests at the door. For this
must be the place where the public interest rules.
And, we and those we serve will be better for it.
So let us celebrate, let us give thanks, let us reflect during
this year. Let us give the state the best that is in us.
With God's help and yours, we can make our state stand out like
a candle of light in the Heartland of America - the same beacon
of hope which guided those early pioneers 150 years ago.
And 150 years from this day, they will look back and thank us
for giving them the greatest days in the history of this Great
State of Iowa.
Thank you, God bless you, and Happy Birthday, Iowa.

Iowa General Assembly

Index: House Journal (76th General Assembly: Session 2)

© 1996 Cornell College and League of Women Voters of Iowa

Comments? hjourn@legis.iowa.gov.

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