Each week gets busier and busier and now we have reached “funnel week” at the capitol. The funnel is a self-imposed deadline set by the Iowa Legislature for bills to make it out of committee and onto the legislative calendar for debate. You can imagine every legislator who has a bill in committee is feverishly pushing for passage. Many good bills will not make it through the funnel. A former legislator, Representative John Connors of Des Moines passed away and his funeral was Wednesday of this week. Many members were gone for the service. I did not have the pleasure of knowing the man but have heard many fond memories and accolades from both sides of the aisle. I send my sympathies to his friends and family. Wednesday evening we debated SF 376, a bill that allows the state to obligate you and me and our kids for the next twenty years to pay off $175 million worth of bonding. I am sure you will hear that my “No” vote says that I am against the veterans, the Department of the Blind, the Department of Corrections, community colleges and education. NOT TRUE! I am all for these things but, we can’t keep rolling our debt further into the future. We need to do more conservative thinking, rather than the “dump and run” attitude that the majority party seems to have acquired. We need to cut the frivolous spending completely and fund our priority concerns rather than borrow, borrow, borrow. Though some bills will live on after this week, many of those may not be the kind of legislation that will create jobs or be in the best interest of Iowa taxpayers. The governor and his allies in the Legislature continue to push their anti-jobs union agenda even as there are new reports coming daily of more layoffs, more business and plant closings, more worker furloughs and more cutbacks in hours. Just this week, a report from the Iowa Workforce Development reported that Iowa has lost 17,500 jobs in the last year and unemployment rose to its highest level in over 20 years. This is consistent with the story published only a few weeks ago by U.S. News and World Report showing that Iowa is second to last of all the states in the country when it comes to friendliness to businesses. Only West Virginia has an employment climate that makes Iowa’s high taxes, onerous rules and regulations and preponderance to discuss union boss backed legislation that will stifle job creation and economic growth seem more appealing. With just a few weeks to go in the session, the Governor and his party counterparts in the Legislature have pledged that they will do all they can to push through four major special interest labor bills, even though they will result in higher taxes, far fewer jobs and reductions in quality of health care. This session, with the aggressive support of the governor, the Senate Business and Labor Committee moved a doctor shopping bill out of committee that will drastically reduce the quality of care for Iowa workers and radically increase workers’ compensation insurance premiums for Iowa employers. Iowa employers, already stretched thin, could have to pay tens of thousands of dollars in extra insurance costs which could easily lead to more layoffs, furloughs, hour reductions and plant and business closings as a result of the added financial burdens. At a time when employers and employees need an easier economic path to travel, the governor and his legislative allies only want to erect more barriers and blockades. This is the ninth week of this year’s legislative session and there are over 80,000 unemployed Iowans. Yet there has been no real action taken by the governor or his legislative allies to help get Iowans back into jobs. During this time, however, they have instead focused on their priorities which include legalizing marijuana, redefining marriage, rapidly consolidating Iowa’s smaller schools. They have also passed a controversial bill out of committee that would force Iowa’s electoral votes to be awarded based on the national popular vote instead of the Iowa popular vote. While we have made creating jobs and grow Iowa’s economy our top priority, they continue to focus on many unpopular ideas and anti-jobs bills that will do nothing to put Iowans back to work. Our state is uniquely situated to weather this current economic storm because Iowans are blessed with common sense and we still cherish freedom, understand personal responsibility and value hard work, honesty and a belief in self reliance. We know that while these are challenging times, challenges always provide opportunities. As Iowans, we should take this opportunity to grow our state and provide a future for our children and grandchildren that all of us can be proud of. When we pursue the right priorities, we can be assured that our best days will be yet to come. As always, I welcome your questions and comments. Thank you for letting me represent you at the capitol. Please feel free to contact me: tim.kapucian@legis.state.ia.us or 515 281-3371. I will be hosting a 10:00 AM Listening Post April llth at The Gathering Place, 302 Main St. in Dysart. The representatives from the district will be invited. Senator Tim Kapucian Grundy, Tama, Benton & Iowa Counties