Senate Journal: Page 4: Monday, January 10, 2000

  facing Iowans.  I look forward to working on these issues with each and
  every one of
  you.

  I also want to take this opportunity to thank all of the administrative
  staff and the
  staff of the central staff agencies for all the hard work they have provided
  in the past,
  their efforts in the upcoming session, and also welcome all the new staff to
  the Iowa
  Senate.  I also want to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of
  you for the
  kindness you have extended to me over the past year.

  REMARKS BY THE MINORITY LEADER

  Senator Gronstal addressed the Senate as follows:

  Madam President, Ladies and Gentlemen of the Senate:

  First of all, I'd like to welcome everyone back to this first session of the
  2000s.  We
  have an incredible opportunity this year to pursue an agenda that will
  assure the
  future of our families and our state.  There are dozens of issues that
  confront us this
  year, but today I'm going to talk about just three:

  The first priority this session is to help schools be accountable to parents
  and their
  communities.  Schools will report when kids are not at grade level in
  reading, writing,
  and math and will then provide the extra instruction that child needs to
  succeed.  Our
  Accountable Schools Initiative will help parents and schools focus on the
  basics and
  provide five million dollars to pay for the extra help, so all students
  succeed.
  Republican senators rejected similar proposals in 1998 and in 1999, but this
  year we
  are happy that Republican leaders in the House and Senate have started
  talking about
  these common sense proposals.  Back to the Basics and accountability in our
  schools
  will be one of the centerpiece accomplishments of this session.  Our
  families shouldn't
  have to wait to find out when their children are falling behind and our
  schools should
  not have to wait for the resources they need to make sure every child
  succeeds.

  The second Democratic priority of this session is to transform Iowa's health
  care
  system by directing the tobacco settlement to health care.  By taking the
  money we
  have reclaimed from tobacco companies for treating people and using a
  significant
  portion for prevention, we can become national leaders in preventive health
  care.  We
  spend billions of dollars in this state treating disease.  The tobacco
  settlement gives us
  an historic opportunity to begin investing in wellness.  Let's not squander
  this
  opportunity by coming up with a series of pork barrel projects that won't
  improve the
  long-term health of our families.

  The third priority for this session must be a commitment to clean water.
  How can
  we expect our families to stay here and new families to move here and enjoy
  Iowa's
  natural beauty when 159 streams and rivers are polluted.  For a modest state
  investment we can create a 75 million dollar clean-water initiative that
  will put
  thousands of acres of environmentally sensitive land in filter strips along
  those
  polluted streams and rivers.  Iowa's families shouldn't have to wait for our
  waters to be
  safe.

  There are a host of other issues to deal with this year.  Issues like work
  force
  development, crumbling schools, community attractions, utility
  restructuring, and the

© 2000 Cornell College and League of Women Voters of Iowa

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