Legislative briefing: Upcoming session could be rough

McCarthy tells Ottumwans: Stakes too high for partisanship

By MATT MILNER, Courier staff writer

OTTUMWA — This is not, as legislative years go, looking like a particularly fun year for leadership in the Iowa House.

Revenues for the state crashed in 2009, just as legislators passed the largest budget in state history. The resulting scramble for money was so serious that state employee unions made new concessions, and the court system ordered shorter hours and closures.

Taxes aren’t a trailing indicator for economic recovery; they are the last indicator. Items like sales taxes can only be collected after sales are made, so the economy has to pick up before the state can collect. And since income taxes are collected on the previous year’s paychecks, there’s a built-in lag there as well.

Add in the fact that the Legislature cut its planned 2010 session from 100 days to 80, and there is a lot of work to do and less time to do it.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy suspects that could help tamp down rancor that would usually arise during an election year. The stakes, he said during a Friday visit to Ottumwa, are too high for partisanship.

“I think it will cause us to be more focused. We’ll have more longer days and nights,” he said.

The Democrats, who control both the House and Senate, along with the governor’s office, say they need to squeeze a quarter-billion dollars in savings out of the state government, mainly by finding ways to improve efficiency. That’s a tough job in good times, let alone when every member of the House and many state senators are looking at re-election campaigns.

McCarthy said partisan battles in Iowa are over-hyped and often confused with the bitter fighting at the federal level.

“The point I try to make quite a lot is that there is so much partisanship in Washington, D.C., that people forget we have a pretty clean system in Iowa,” he said.

Rep. Mary Gaskill, D-Ottumwa, and Sen. Keith Kreiman, D-Bloomfield, agreed with McCarthy that there is better cooperation between parties than many voters realize.

Local officials have their own concerns heading into the session. State officials have proposed closing the Mount Pleasant mental hospital, the only such facility in southeast Iowa and one of only four statewide. Supervisor Steve Siegel called that “a cost shift to the counties,” that will mean higher transportation costs for southeast Iowa residents without realizing significant savings.

McCarthy faced similar questions during a Thursday visit to Bloomfield. He replied that the closure is one proposal among many. Right now legislators do not want to take any issue off the table, though negotiations during the session will certainly pare down the options.

Ottumwa Schools Superintendent Jon Sheldahl asked about allowable growth, the percentage that the state says school districts can increase spending. It’s a tricky question this year. State law requires the Legislature to set the percentage two years in advance, which means it should set the 2012 rate during the upcoming session.

The “prudent” move at this time would be setting the rate at zero percent, McCarthy said. But such a decision ignores indications the state is moving out of a recession. There is discussion about finding a way to wait a year and set the 2012 allowable growth rate during the 2011 legislative session.

McCarthy also has to worry about helping his caucus protect its majorities in a year that is setting up as a toxic one for Democrats. Observers at the federal level are predicting large Congressional losses for the party. A weakened Chet Culver facing a tough fight at the top of the state ticket could also hurt.

Iowa, McCarthy said, doesn’t always follow the national trends.

“We’re a bona fide purple state,” he said.

Matt Milner can be reached at (641) 683-5359 or via e-mail at mmilner@ottumwacourier.com

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