Property Taxes, Education Reform Top Priorities of Cedar Falls Legislators

The Iowa Legislature opened for business on Monday. Here are what Cedar Falls Senator Jeff Danielson (D-10) and Representative Walt Rogers (R-20) plan to focus on during the 2012 session.

What do you think the legislature should address? Tell us in the comments.

Walt Rogers:

The three big issues this year are commercial property tax reform, mental health redesign and reform and education reform.

This first week there has been a lot of talk about working together and not having things be as contentious as last session. With last year's budget, Republicans were trying to hold the spending down, and Democrats were trying to hold the line on some of the programs we've had spending on. But at the end of the day we had a great budget, and we want to continue that.

We're trying to definitely set a different tone than the partisanship in Washington. In fact, with the precarious nature that Washington is in, we have to be prepared and ready as a state for the amount of federal money we receive to decrease. They give us $6 billion a year to allocate as a state. We have to be prepared for that to go down.

Commercial property tax reform: We have a lot of business owners, small business owners, Main Street business owners. Property tax reform is big issue for them. They’re paying 100 percent value right now. Industrial, agricultural, commercial and residential owners all pay property taxes, but there is a discrepancy on how much commercial owners pay. One of the things done many years ago was to keep home owner taxes down, with commercial rates going up. Now commercial values are going up and their taxes are not commensurate with what everybody else is paying. I think everybody, Democrats and Republicans, understand this is something we need to fix.

Education reform:  Again, it’s the same on both sides, Democrats and Republicans, there are just different strategies for getting there. There are a lot of teachers in my family. I care about making sure education is great. I think the number one thing the governor is saying is we need to have great teachers and great principals in every building.

Jeff Danielson:

My priorities this session will be economic growth, education, health care, reinventing government, veterans and cutting commercial property taxes.

Economic growth: We need to focus not just on jobs, but quality jobs Iowans can be proud of and build a career on. Unemployment is too high and underemployment is a problem too. We should focus on worker training and making education more accessible and affordable.

Education reform: Focus on three things - outstanding teachers, outstanding students and outstanding research for how to improve. Teachers need to be supported with professional development and empowering them to take charge of the learning process. We can and should expect more from our students. It can't just be about tests, we need to get back to a goal of well-rounded education, preparing them to be successful in life, not just testing them. Finally, parents need to be more engaged and active in their child's learning.

I want to make sure the gets additional investment of $4 million per year for three years to help ease the burden of tuition for college students. They have been really pinched recently and this will go along to helping with tuition costs.

Health care: We need to continue to implement the Affordable Care Act and keep our commitment to making sure every Iowa child can see a doctor. This year we will look at creating a health care exchange, an on-line market where Iowans can shop for health care plans and the insurance companies have to compete for their business. I believe this competition will help control the costs of health care.

Reinventing government: I chair our efforts in the Senate to cuts costs and make Iowa's government more efficient. We will look at cutting red tape, streamlining departments and making state government more efficient. Since 2009 we've saved over $200 million on costs to the taxpayer and we are not done yet.

Veterans: I'm vice chair of Veterans Affairs, and we will restore the veterans education fund that was cut in half recently. I believe 100 percent of veterans who want to go back to school should get 100 percent tuition reimbursement for doing so. They've earned a right to get an education, and we should reward their service with something that can never be taken from them, a college degree and a chance at a better future.

Commercial property tax reform: I support cutting commercial property taxes by 40 percent without shifting taxes to residential or agricultural property. We should do it responsibly with a balanced budget plan that fully reimburses local governments so we don't shift problems to them.

Campaign finance reform: I intend to work on a campaign finance reform bill that calls for full transparency for all campaign spending within Iowa's borders. This includes all the shadowy special interest groups that have popped up after the Citizens United Supreme Court decision from last year. In conjunction, I hope to pass a resolution in support of a U.S. Constitutional Amendment to reverse corporate person-hood granted under Citizens United. Voters have a right to know who and how much is being spent in campaigns so they can inform their choices at the ballot box. An informed voter is the basic building block of democracy, and Iowa should set the example for the rest of the world as the first state in the nation choosing our president.