Wednesday was a difficult day for The American Independent News Network, which is the larger entity that operates The Iowa Independent. Our chief executive and founder announced two of our sister sites would close and their content would be moved to The American Independent.
A recently introduced bill could have far-reaching impact on the U.S. sugar industry, including American Crystal Sugar, a farmer-owned cooperative that locked out 1,300 Midwest workers on Aug. 1.
The chairman for Herman Cain’s Iowa effort says the campaign “relied more on the word of farmers than Washington regulators” in deciding to run an ad containing claims the Environmental Protection Agency says are false.
The Iowa Senate will remain under the control of a slim 26-25 Democratic majority when it reconvenes in January 2012.
In its busiest week of the legislative session, lawmakers at the Iowa Statehouse advanced dozens of bills through committee, sparing them from the so-called funnel-week deadline and keeping hopes – or fears – of their passage alive.
Below the fold: a video interview with Rep. Donovan Olson, D-Boone.
Democrats managed to kill a resolution that could have led to a ban of same-sex marriages in the state by refusing to vote on it in committee. A last ditch effort by House Minority Leader Christopher Rants, R-Sioux City, failed Tuesday when representatives voted down a motion, 50-6, to bring the issue to the House floor.
However, lawmakers resurrected an expanded bottle bill, a top priority for Gov. Chet Culver, and advanced legislation requiring workers to show a state-issued identification card when applying for a job and students to stay in school through the age of 17.
Rep. Donavon Olson, D-Boone, the floor manager of a new bottle bill, said his proposed legislation, which is being endorsed by the governor, would keep the deposit on cans and bottles at five cents but would divert two cents to redemption centers and would expand the definition to include juice, water and tea containers.
Olson said the new bill would eliminate about 20 percent of roadside trash in the state and would make redemption centers more economically viable.
House Speaker Pat Murphy, D-Dubuque, told reporters that the Democrats are pleased with their work so far. “We got out all the major bills we wanted to,” he told reporters on Thursday.
But Rants said he was baffled by the Democrats’ inability to produce a final budget showing expenditures and revenues and is surprised that the bottle bill and legislation requiring comprehensive reporting for businesses remains on the table.
Rants said Democrats also locked up legislation that would have required illegal immigrants to remain behind bars until they are deported. Republicans have called the current system, which allows immigrants to be released from jail after arrest, a “catch-and-release” program.
In addition to the bottle bill and the compulsory school attendance requirements, other bills that remain on the agenda include: the creation of a statewide database to track to sale of cold medicine used to produce methamphetamines; a program that would provide grants for fuel pumps that dispense ethanol; a $1 million fund to market statewide attractions; a bill requiring families to obtain health insurance for their children; a bill increasing vehicle registration fees and using the money for transportation infrastructure repair; and bills offering tuition and tax breaks for military veterans.
Legislation that died this week included bills that would have offered property owners additional protection from condemnation, required state and local government to take additional steps to prevent disclosure of social security numbers, prevent state agencies from using tax dollars to advocate for new laws, and prevent libraries from lending R-rated videos to children under the age of 17.
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