The 2006 Legislative session ended on May 4, at 12:30 AM. Before the session began, I mailed a survey to the constituents of the 29th House District. I received over 1,000 responses, which helped guide my decisions. I am very appreciative to those of you who took the time to respond, and I would like to compare your responses to the actual accomplishments of the Legislature.

Over 70% of the respondents advised me to raise teacher salaries in order to attract and retain quality teachers, to expand investments in early childhood education, to raise the tobacco excise tax to encourage wellness, and to raise the minimum wage in order to reduce poverty and improve the economy. 62% of you believe that the state should create a re-insurance pool to help small businesses, schools and non-profit agencies with their health care costs.

I can report that we accomplished many of the wishes of the people in the 29th House District, making this a successful session for Iowans in spite of some notable disappointments.

In order to keep our best and brightest teachers, a three year, $35 million a year pledge was made to raising teacher salaries in Iowa from our current position of 41st in the nation. This $105 million promise is the largest commitment made to education in the history of Iowa. Along with increasing salaries for teachers, a new state high school graduation core curriculum standard has been established, requiring four years of English and language arts, as well as three years of math, science and social studies.

We will be providing $15 million in new money for early childhood health, care, and education. $5 million of that appropriation will be directed to families of children from birth to age 3, through the local Community Empowerment areas. This money is to be used for home visitation for newborn infants and for parenting education and family support services for families with young children. $10 million will be used to provide pre-school scholarships for 3 to 5 year old children. Families with income below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level (approximately $40,000 for a family of four) will be eligible for these scholarships, and the local Community Empowerment groups will be responsible for identifying these 3 and 4 year old children and for assisting their parents in finding quality pre-school experiences for their child.

That’s the good news. On the other hand, I was extremely disappointed that my attempts to increase the tobacco excise tax were thwarted yet again, as they have been for the past four years. I offered amendments three times during this year’s session, and each time the Speaker of the House refused to allow debate on an increase in a tobacco tax, in opposition to the wishes of the majority of Iowans. Based on the data, more people are coming to the realization that raising the price of tobacco products, together with restricting smoking in public areas, would lead to a reduction in the use of this very addictive legal drug.

The second disappointment of the session was regarding health insurance coverage. Over 300,000 Iowans have no health insurance of any kind, despite the fact that in nine out of ten cases, someone in the household is employed. I believe that if we can make insurance affordable for small employers, we could help close this gap. That is why I supported the creation of health care insurance pools for small business so they can negotiate lower health insurance costs. Although bipartisan legislation was drafted, special interest groups and the majority party leadership sabotaged the agreement.

The third disappointment was the failure to pass an increase in the minimum wage. When a person works hard and demonstrates personal responsibility, they should receive a fair wage. Iowans working 40 hours a week at the minimum wage make just over $10,000 per year and have not received a raise in 12 years. This is not right. I supported raising Iowa’s minimum wage so all Iowans are paid a decent wage.

In spite of the disappointments, I feel positive about the accomplishments of the recent session. Now, I look forward to spending time in my home and community. You can contact me by writing me at P O Box 128, Mount Vernon, IA 52314, calling me at 319/895-6043 or e-mail me at ro.foege@legis.state.ia.us.

Ro

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