We just finished week four. We are now a fourth of the way through the legislative session, time is flying by. We are two weeks away from the first funnel. I will talk about funnels in next week’s newsletter. For my new readers, I need to bring you up to date on my operation back home.
As you know the Iowa Legislature is intended to be a part time job. We get paid $25,000 a year. Some of you have joked with me that we get a big retirement package. That is not true, we get IPERS just like all other state employees. IPERS is based on your salary for your highest-paid years. With your maximum salary being $25,000. You are not going to get a big retirement package. But it is better than nothing.
So, unless you are retired you must have a job back home to make a living. Mine is farming. I farm in Calhoun County and have a two-hundred-head ewe lambing operation. I am sharing this with you because I need to thank some people that make it possible for me to be here. The first is Joe Collins, he is my main support person on the farm. The second two are Kayla and John Skramstad. Kayla oversees feeding the sheep in the morning and at night. She is still in high school, so she does these chores before and after school with the help of her dad. Also, David Souder who has already helped this winter doing chores when Joe got sick. And Tom Stumpf who is always on standby when we have an emergency on the farm. Without the help of these people and other friends and neighbors that I can always call on, there is no way I could leave my farm and feel confident everything would be ok.
Thank you everyone!
AEAs
So yesterday January 31, HF 542 the Governors AEA Bill did not make it out of a House Education Sub Committee. After that occurred the House Republicans met, and it was decided to not move the bill forward as it is written or amended. We have decided at this point we will develop our own bill dealing with AEAs taking into consideration all the information we have gleaned from your constituents over the past several weeks. As most of you know the beginning teacher pay raise was part of the AEA Bill. It appears that the Governor is unwilling to separate the two. So, at this point I would say that if the AEA division is not going to move froward then there is a good chance the teacher pay division will not move as well. I will keep you posted as things change here.
Minor Driving Privileges
Last fall, a six-member interim committee on minor driving privileges convened to meet with experts from inside state government and the insurance industry. And over two meetings, several changes were discussed as the panel worked their way towards a bipartisan agreement.
The committee’s recommendations change the school permit and the farm work permit into essentially one permit – the special minor’s driving license. Under this, a student, who not 16 years old but has completed driver’s education, could get a permit that would allow them to drive in certain circumstances:
- To and from school;
- To and from extracurricular activities they are participating in;
- To and from their work;
- And to and from a service station.
I will keep you informed as this bill moves through the legislature.
