This is the week that many bills will live or die. On March 3, House files must be out of House committees and placed on the debate calendar. If they are not, the bills can not be considered this session. The same holds true for Senate files. With the exception of appropriation bills and tax bills, this is the first “funnel” or winnowing process that the Iowa Legislature uses to make sure that the session will end on time. Because of this deadline, things have been very hectic at the Capitol.

Johnson and Linn County legislators met with Governor Vilsack to discuss funding for the construction of a new State Hygienic Laboratory near Coralville. The Governor is supportive of state funding for this project which will be a great addition to our high-tech corridor and will bring up to date the testing and research capacities of this important service for our state.

Senator Dvorsky and I arranged for a meeting with several larger county mental health/disability leaders and key legislators to discuss the financial strain counties are feeling meeting the mental health and disability services needs of local citizens. Craig Wood and Elaine Sweet, Directors of Linn County and Johnson County Mental Health/Development Disabilities Services, spoke about the financial shortfall their respective counties expect next year in providing needed services. Linn County has already announced cuts in services to people with disabilities for the coming year. Several possible solutions were discussed, and I hope we will find some solutions to the counties concerns.

Also last week at the Iowa Capitol, I joined Senator Joe Bolkcom and Rep. Todd Taylor as we announced a plan to stop corporations from increasing their profits by shifting employee health care costs onto state-funded programs like Medicaid and HAWK-I, the largest state-funded health care programs. There have been troubling reports that a significant number of workers at the state’s largest employers are forced to use state assistance to receive health care. We need to move beyond incomplete data, gather the facts, and take appropriate action if big corporations are actually collecting millions of dollars in a hidden health care subsidy by shifting their employees’ health care costs on to state taxpayers.

This proposed measure would only affect businesses with 8,000 employees or more. The bill, Senate File 2246, requires recipients of Medicaid and HAWK-I services to disclose who they work for and whether they work full or part time. The total number of Iowans on Medicaid and HAWK-I by employer would be provided to the Legislature each year.

As the ranking Democrat member of the House Health & Human Services Appropriations Committee I have a responsibility to make sure our most vulnerable citizens have health care through Medicaid. Our Medicaid program cost is expected to jump another $150 million this year because thousands of Iowans don’t have access to quality, affordable health care. We can’t afford to spend our limited state resources on individuals who should have health insurance through their employer.

The number of Americans without health insurance continues to climb—from 41 million in 2000 to 45 million in 2004. At the same time, the number of firms that offer health coverage to workers dropped from 69 percent in 2000 to just 60 percent in 2005. In Iowa, there were over 250,000 adults without health insurance, an increase of 37 percent over 2002. I believe that corporations making millions in profits need to be responsible and provide reasonable health insurance for their employees. It is a matter of fairness.

Between all these meetings focused on protecting and preserving the life and health of our citizens, we debated in the Judiciary Committee a bill that would institute the death penalty in Iowa. I voted against the bill because I believe it is morally wrong to kill. Heinous crimes cause us to react with outrage and to desire some kind of revenge, but state policy should be rational, and not a reaction to our basest instincts. State sanctioned killing lessens our value of life and moves us toward a more barbaric society rather than moving us toward a more civil society. Iowa’s life sentence without parole for the most serious crimes, sometimes referred to as “life without hope,” is a rational and civil way to keep our communities safe.

I appreciate hearing from you. You can write me at the State Capitol, Des Moines, IA 50319; call me at 515/281-7328 or e-mail me at ro.foege@legis.state.ia.us.

Ro

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