SMOKING BAN. Major pieces of legislation are making their way through the process as the session moves to the final weeks of the session. Early last week, the House and Senate sent the Governor, House File 2212, a bill creating a statewide smoking ban. The Governor plans to sign the bill into law this week.

This historic legislation will make smoking illegal almost everywhere in Iowa, protecting most workers and citizens from the dangers of second-hand smoke. Second-hand smoke contains 63 chemicals that cause cancer, asthma and other respiratory diseases. It kills 440 non-smokers in Iowa every year. Without the ban, the nearly 115,000 food service workers in Iowa have a 50% greater chance of dying from lung cancer than the general population, because of their exposure to second-hand smoke.

Dr. Christopher Squier, Chair of the Iowa Tobacco Use and Prevention Commission, of which I am a member, told me that the Smoke Free Air Act will have a smoking reduction impact equivalent to raising the price of a pack of cigarettes by $3. This legislation, together with the increased resources we put into prevention and cessation, added to the increase of the tax on a pack of cigarettes by $1 last year, will further improve the health status of many Iowans.

The bill bans smoking in bars, restaurants, and public outdoor arenas. It exempts the gaming floor of casinos, farm tractors, and designated areas of the Iowa Veterans Home. I voted in favor of this compromise. Until this vote, I have been a “NO” vote, because I believe that a statewide ban on smoking should have no exemptions. In the end, I decided it was better to not let perfection stand in the way of the good this bill provides.

SCHOOL INFRASTRUCTURE. Over ten years ago, the Legislature approved legislation allowing voters to pass a local option sales tax to be used for school infrastructure and property tax relief. It soon became clear that there were inequities in this law. Retail rich counties, such as Linn and Johnson, raised a great deal of money, not only from residents in their own county, but also from all Iowa residents who shop in the bigger cities. Conversely, property poor districts raised very little money.

To correct this problem, the Legislature created a statewide pool that would distribute money out on a per pupil basis. However, some counties, including Linn and Johnson, had passed their local option sales taxes and could not be included in the pool until their current taxes expired. Now that these taxes are close to expiring, there was concern that those of us in the larger counties would not renew the local option sales taxes, leaving many counties with no infrastructure money and leaving the statewide pool with modest resources.

House File 2663, passed this week in the House and now headed to the Senate, is written to solve this problem and create statewide equity. By 2014, all the money raised will go into the pool. It will then be distributed back out on a more equitable per pupil basis. This will end the current inequity where some school districts receive over $1,396 per pupil while other districts receive only $575. In addition, this legislation creates a special fund that will provide more than $207 million in property tax relief over the next six years.

REAP. The Resource Enhancement and Protection Program, authored in 1991 by our State Representative at the time, David Osterberg, is receiving another increase this year, bringing it to $16 million. This is the highest ever allocation for REAP, the state’s premier environment and natural resource program. REAP provides money for projects that enhance our natural, cultural, and recreational resources, including environmental education, soil and water enhancement, parks, trails, museums, and roadside beautification.

By the end of this legislative session, which is coming in the next couple of weeks, we will have a balanced and fiscally responsible budget. There will be a modest spending increase that is less than the expected growth in revenues.

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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