I am honored and humbled to once again be elected to the Iowa House of Representatives to serve the people of District 72. I truly appreciate the trust that has been placed in me by the voters of this district that includes parts of Marshall and Black Hawk counties and all of Tama county. I look forward to working with the other members of the Iowa House and Senate and with Governor Reynolds. The Republicans retained control of both chambers, the Iowa House with a 54 to 46 majority and the Iowa Senate with a 32 to 18 majority. With a Republican governor, Gov. Kim Reynolds, that means that Republicans will continue with what is commonly called the “Trifecta”, controlling both legislative chambers and the governor’s office, and therefore the ability to control the legislative agenda. We took that responsibility seriously over the last two years and passed numerous common sense pieces of legislation related to education, mental health, Second Amendment rights, tax reductions, protecting life of the unborn, protecting our election integrity, and many other areas. We will be able to continue that trend for the next two years. Two races for the Iowa House went into recounts but have been settled since Election Day. Incumbent Republican Rep. Michael Bergan of District 55 in Winneshiek, Fayette and Clayton counties won by a margin of 9 votes. In House District 82 which covers parts of Davis, Jefferson, and Van Buren counties, Republican newcomer Jeff Shipley beat Democratic incumbent Rep. Phil Miller by 34 votes. There are two new additions to the Iowa House that are worth noting. The newly elected Republican from Adair county was Ray “Bubba” Sorenson, who is well known for his patriotic paintings called “Freedom Rocks” around the state. Another newly elected Republican is Brian Lohse of Bondurant. Brian and his wife Mary won the Iowa Lottery a few years ago and have done a fantastic job of using their winnings to improve their community in many ways. One very visible result is that they have built the “Brick Street Market and Grille” along highway 330 in Bondurant as one of their community projects so that the growing town will have a local grocery store and restaurant. I’ve seen this restaurant used for community functions such as a weekly bingo for folks in the community to enjoy and I’m sure many other events. Work on the 2019 session, the 88th General Assembly, is already underway with planning caucuses and research on legislation. In a recent caucus the House Republicans re-elected Rep. Linda Upmeyer to continue as the Speaker of the House and Rep. Chris Hagenow as the House Majority Leader. Speaker Upmeyer and Majority Leader Hagenow have done an excellent job of leading the House and the Republican caucus the past few years, I look forward to another two years of progress under their guidance. Recently, the committee chairs and vice chairs were announced by Speaker Upmeyer. There were many changes over the past General Assembly due to many retirements and results of the election. Rep. Pat Grassley, of New Hartford, will continue as the Appropriations chair, while Rep. Lee Hein, of Monticello, is the new Ways and Means chair. Rep. Cecil Dolecheck, of Mount Ayr, will be the new Education committee chair. I will move from my past role as vice chair of the Natural Resources committee to chair the Environmental Protection committee. I look forward to working with this committee to advance common sense solutions to our environmental issues. Other committee assignments have not been completed as of this writing, I’ll update you on my assignments in a future newsletter. I continue to make donations to the volunteer fire departments in my legislative district from my unused legislative travel and living expense funds. I recently surpassed the $40,000 mark in these donations. Our firefighters do a tremendous job of protecting our lives and our property, and we owe them a great deal of gratitude. These donations are my way of returning these unused dollars back to the taxpayer and showing my appreciation for the many sacrifices our firefighters make every day of the year. I am looking forward to the many challenges and opportunities in the coming legislative session! As always, please feel free to contact me at dean.fisher@legis.iowa.gov or 641-750-3594.