House Journal: Page 1080: Wednesday, April 4, 2001
The Honorable John Connors announced the 1981 class of
legislators who were eligible to become members of the Pioneer
Lawmakers and introduced the Memorial Choir who sang “On Eagle’s
Wings.”
Honorary members of the 2001 class were the following: Mike
Glover, Keith Luchtel, Larry Blixt, Jim Carney and Diane Bolender.
The Honorable John Connors presented the Honorable Arthur
Neu, former Lieutenant Governor, who addressed the joint
convention as follows:
It seems strange to be back up here today. I remember being here many times from
1973 through 1978, but always to introduce then Governor Bob Ray.
In reading about your problems this session, I was reminded of the General
Assembly in 1967. In 1964 there was a sweep by the Democrats in the election which
resulted in both houses, the Governor's Office as well as the entire executive council
with but one exception, being held by that party. In the 1968 election, the Republicans
regained control of the House by a very narrow margin, but the Democrats still
controlled the Senate by a three vote margin. Harold Hughes was reelected as
Governor.
I was one of the freshmen Senators, and it was an experience. The session was the
longest ever and didn't adjourn until early July. A consensus developed as soon as
warm weather arrived that the air circulation system in this wonderful old building
was woefully inadequate.
What made me think of the '67 session was your struggle with school legislation.
Prior to 1967 state aid to schools was minimal. The public school system was largely
funded with property tax. There was a consensus that something had to be done but no
agreement on how to accomplish this.
The Republicans in the House passed a school aid proposal called "The Petersen
Plan", and the Senate passed a plan called "Proportionate Sharing." In addition, there
was not nearly enough revenue to fund either plan, so a tax increase was unavoidable
if the state was going to provide significant aid to the public schools.
Each House passed its school aid plan and the whole thing ended up in a conference
committee. The committee merged the two plans, and, although it did not have
authority to decide on what if any taxes were to be increased, acknowledged that the
plan depended on increased revenue. The committee met with Governor Hughes and
the leadership of both parties in each House. After some posturing, the school aid plan
was agreed to as were the taxes to fund the aid.
The proposal was reported out and passed both Houses by a wide margin. A large
majority of each party in each House supported the legislation and Iowa had its first
significant aid to schools. Ironically the legislation was supported by the ISEA and the
farm bureau - a modest miracle in itself I thought.
© 2001 Cornell College and
League of Women Voters of Iowa
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