Senate Journal: Page 171: Thursday, January 28, 1999

  It is our natural resources that hold the key to a stronger, more prosperous
  Iowa.
  But to be first in the nation in Environmental Quality and especially to
  have the
  cleanest water in America, we must take difficult first steps.

  When a body of water with the name of Clear Lake had levels of E. coli which
  spiked over safe limits, when its beaches were closed, when its community
  lost
  thousands of dollars of much-needed tourist revenue, isn't it a signal that
  we need to be
  better stewards?

  But it is not just our lakes that need care. Our Department of Natural
  Resources
  has not had the resources to conduct even baseline water quality analyses.
  As Dave
  Moeller, the DNR's Fisheries Supervisor for the Northeast District, said,
  "...We can't
  do anything about it until we see dead fish."

  Members of the General Assembly, we  can   and we  must   do something
  about it!  We must carefully assess the condition of our groundwater and
  surface
  water, and then we must create a comprehensive groundwater and surface water
  monitoring program.

  The budget I propose provides resources to do just that and more. It
  provides funds
  to establish an Iowa watershed protection program, attend to our wetlands
  and enforce
  the Federal Safe Drinking Water Act.

  Our environmental proposals, however,  do not start or stop at the water's
  edge.
  We are committed to enhancing our soil and to protecting our air.

  That's why we advocate a Fuel Quality Standard for Iowa supported by the
  Iowa
  Corn Growers Association which includes ethanol and which will provide both
  environmental and value-added economic benefits.

  We propose more resources to better implement our current manure management
  program. And as we consider the interdependence of agriculture and the
  environment,
  we are asking the legislature to consider empowering the people of Iowa with
  some
  degree of local control operated within a statewide framework for livestock
  production.

  We will protect our natural heritage for the present and future citizens of
  our state.
  We will be good stewards and rededicate ourselves to restoring and
  conserving the
  land, protecting our water and cleaning up the air. Let it be said that here
  in Iowa, we
  put our money where the environment is.

  To be first in the nation in health care, we have specific goals. We propose
  to
  expand HAWK-I, Iowa's child health care initiative, to cover all children in
  families
  with incomes of up to 200% of the poverty level.  Imagine the frustration of
  parents
  working hard to support a family, struggling to lift themselves out of
  poverty, and
  beginning to succeed, only to discover that their efforts disqualify their
  children from
  access to basic health care. Is this a small problem?  Hardly.  Our
  initiative will offer
  basic health care for the first time to an additional 12,000 of Iowa's
  children!

  Next, we cannot be first in health care and sit idly by and watch people
  hurt and
  neglected by the excesses of managed care.  We've all seen and read about
  those
  excesses in the news. But in Iowa we believe that people are more important
  than the
  process!  Let us working together ensure fairer access to medical services
  for all of
  Iowa's people. Let us guarantee that Iowans will receive coverage for
  pre-existing

© 1999 Cornell College and League of Women Voters of Iowa

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