House Journal: Page 1910: Thursday, April 29, 1999

	There's a little place at 321 30th St. SE, where my wife and four kids, soon to be five, 

a boy by the way, in September, are waiting for me. And so my life goes on. And so the 
last person I want to thank is my wife and I'll do that by speaking to her in French. 
Now Representative Fallon I'm not as diverse in languages as you are. Goodbye to all of 
you and God bless you.
REMARKS BY SPEAKER SIEGRIST
Speaker Siegrist offered the following remarks:
Ladies and Gentlemen of the House, Staff, Pages, Press and Friends:
I have to admit that I feel a bit odd delivering this speech from up here.  I would 
feel more comfortable from my normal position on the floor.  However, it is a great 
honor to be able to make a few comments as we adjourn for the year as the Speaker of 
the House.
One hundred nine days ago - yes, we are getting out early - I stood before the 
House and said we had five goals for this session.
First was the goal to improve education.  We did it.  The Reading/Class Size 
package which we passed will have significant impact on the quality of our educational 
system well into the next millenium.  We provided funding for growing and declining 
school districts.  And we are taking steps to make sure our teachers are the best 
prepared in the nation.
Our second goal was achieved with the passage of a broad-based methamphetamine 
program.  We have sent a clear message that we will not tolerate meth dealers in our 
state and that we will help those that are addicted.
The third goal was to reduce the tax burden in our state.  We did it and Iowans will 
be appreciative of the extra money they will get to keep instead of the government.
Fourth was to enhance the quality of life in our state by expanding recreation and 
tourism opportunities.  The components of the infrastructure bill go a long way to 
making Iowa a better place to live.  The C.A.T. fund, recreation grants, historical site 
grants, lake dredging, water quality monitoring and Loess Hills protection are only a 
few of the things that this body passed.
Fifth we talked about workforce development issues and worker retraining, and we 
dealt with those as we prepare to meet our needs for more workers in our state. Add to 
that things like the Patients' Bill of Rights, covering diabetes under insurance policies, 
Medicaid buy-in for the disabled, the community college funding this year, tuition 
grants, the Constitutional amendments that the taxpayers are going to vote on June 
29th, and I think we have a session to be proud of.
Everybody has things they'd like to have seen done. Everybody has things that they 
didn't like but overall when we leave here today I think all of us will have something 
that we can say we made a difference on in the state of Iowa. As it relates to the 
accomplishments of this legislature, I think we have a lot to be proud of. All of us 
should take that back with us and talk about it because I do believe as we get ready to 

© 1999 Cornell College and League of Women Voters of Iowa

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Last update: Tue May 4 13:40:04 CDT 1999
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