House Journal: Page 1914: Thursday, May 1, 2003
I want to start tonight by saying how proud I am of this Iowa House. In my eleven
years, I've never seen a more congenial, bi-partisan or non-partisan, more orderly
session and all of us should be proud of the way we did our job this year.
When we started this session, many said that with forty new members, that was
going to be our greatest weakness. It was our greatest strength this year. You know,
the last four months we have focused on four items; property and income tax reform,
regulatory reform and an economic stimulus package. In any other year the
accomplishment of one of those items would have been heralded as the hallmark of a
legislative session. We did all four. This House had a monumental year.
We resolved a lot of old carry-over issues -.08 alcohol limit, gambling and taxes, (at
least we got the gambling taxes part done). When we started the session we, we
Republican's at least, held ourselves to three basic tests for the year. Does it create
wealth, remember that? Opening day? Well, we have focused on the big four here
recently. We shouldn't forget our efforts to become more energy independent as a
state. I think that's on creating wealth. We did wind energy and a co-generation bill.
We passed a broad band initiative to deliver high speed access to all of Iowa. I think
that's about helping to create a state that fosters the creation of wealth. We did an
NGIP junior program and we worked to focus on commercializing our research and
development efforts at our research universities. And I know that's about creating
wealth.
The second test we challenged ourselves with was, does it improve student
performance? The first thing we had to do was to make sure we did no harm. Coming
in with a tight budget year, I know this is certainly true in our area, the people were
concerned about was the kind of cuts that were going to befall education. We protected
our priorities. We protected allowable growth. We protected our teacher comp
program. We protected our K-3 reading program. We said those were priorities and
we took care of them. Perhaps more importantly we finally ended the dispute between
rural and urban school districts over school infrastructure. Dan Boddickers' worst vote
he ever cast was following me down that path once upon a time. You owe
Representative Tymeson a thank you Representative Boddicker, for getting you out of
that vote.
Our third test was to put Iowa on sound financial footing. We came in, we started
with a four hundred million dollar projected shortfall. This chamber made the tough
decisions on things like Medicaid reform. When we walk out of here tonight, we walk
out with a balanced budget and one that complies with our 99 per cent expenditure
limitation allowed. Our appropriations chair did it with a smile. Congratulations
Representative Dix.
But, none of us did it alone. We are blessed with great people who work with us.
The folks in the well, the folks in all of the back rooms, the Chief Clerks Office, the
people crunching numbers, the people drafting amendments, the people proofing the
journal. They all continue to work when we walk out of here. Whether it's at 5:00 in
the afternoon or 11:00 at night. And we owe all of them a debt of thanks.
I have to say a special thanks to the Republican Caucus staff. In eleven years, I've
never had a better group of people to work with. I want to thank all you guys. To Tim,
Becky, Cynthia and especially Allison, whose job it was to kick me in the shins this
week if I was scowling and not smiling, you are the best team I could ever ask for. Now
© 2003 Cornell College and
League of Women Voters of Iowa
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