Dwayne Alons
STATE REPRESENTATIVE
Fourth District
“Off we go” to the Capitol for the 2nd session of the 83rd Iowa General Assembly. That sentence started like the “Air Force song,” but I don’t believe we will be putting that one to music. The 2010 Legislative session will be challenging, memorable, and hopefully short. We are scheduled to meet for 80 days instead of 100 due to the legislature contributing its part with the budget cuts. That means the per diem payments to legislators will end on March 30 and any additional days will not be reimbursed for costs incurred in Des Moines. It will be interesting to see if the majority party can get the budget finalized and all of the other policy bills to the governor’s desk in that time. I have a bill to extend those cuts to legislators in future years until we have a fully balanced budget and our cash reserve and economic emergency funds are fully restored.
I would like to spell out for you some of the things that, I believe, we should be working on while at the Capitol.
Iowa Family Budget Initiatives:
• Constitutional Limit on State Spending
We currently have a 99% spending limitation in the Iowa Code, but it is too easy to ease around that limitation. Putting it in the Constitution makes it a hard limitation that protects the taxpayers of Iowa.
• Super-majority Vote to Approve New State Debt
Last year the majority party approved over $800 million of new state debt, which will cost future generations $1.7 billion to pay off that debt. We need a super-majority of a two-thirds vote in the legislature to authorize that kind of commitment on our taxpayers.
• Sunset Authorizations of Every State Program
Many programs begin with an idea that such a plan could be short term, but it seems without a mandate to sunset every “good idea” they just go on and on forever. Iowa families make adjustments as conditions change and state government should be able to do the same.
The Liberty Agenda: Putting People First
• Allow Iowans the right to vote on marriage
We have a decision by the Iowa Supreme Court that changes the definition of marriage in the Iowa Code. Since the Iowa Constitution states that “political power is inherent in the people,” this difference can be corrected by a vote of the people. I am opposed to a few leaders standing in the way of your right to vote on this important matter.
• Return to the fundamentals of government
Government cannot be everything to everyone, so we must go back to the basics of what government should do with the available funds.
• The Iowa Good Neighbor Act
We had an instance of a person helping out a neighboring family with children needing to be supervised after school. The helpful neighbor was charged with not having a daycare license. We must do more to keep government from intruding on good neighbors helping families with some basic needs in this fast-paced life.
Iowa Health Care Initiatives
Low Cost Catastrophic Coverage for those under 30
Medical Malpractice Reform
Expand health insurance tax deductibility to individuals and small businesses
Prevention Credits: Putting a Premium on Wellness
No pre-existing exclusions when changing plans with the same provider
I, also, believe we should be reducing the mandates on our local schools, allowing for more local control and empowerment of local teaching professionals. We should reduce the role of the Department of Education and allow for the schools with the best results to become models and mentors for lower performing schools.
Please let me know your thoughts or any ideas about streamlining government to help you keep more of your hard earned dollars. Contact information: dwayne.alons@legis.state.ia.us or 515-242-6415.
