Two bills to help protect middle-class Iowans and their pocketbooks passed the Senate on February 2.

Senate File 2075 protects Iowans from unreasonable increases in insurance costs. The bill prevents insurance companies from increasing your rates just because your family has been hit by a military deployment, job loss, death or serious illness, identity theft or natural disaster. These events can lower your credit score, which insurance companies then use to hike your rates.

I voted to require insurers to tell you when your rates are being raised due to a lower credit score. You’ll then have a chance to reverse the rate increase by proving you suffered an extraordinary life event beyond your control. If necessary, you’ll be able to file an appeal with the Iowa Insurance Consumer Advocate.

Senate File 2108 helps protect Iowans from shady car repair shops that perform services without authorization. Iowans deserve to know up front how much repairs will cost before a service is performed.

Under current law, if a repair shop makes expensive repairs without permission, they can keep your car until the dispute is resolved. New legislation will allow the Attorney General to conduct an immediate investigation and let you get your car back while the dispute is resolved.

The national recession has put the spotlight on doing more with less.

This session, the Iowa Legislature is doing just that. In fact, we’re well on our way to approving a state budget that spends less than in 2007—without raising taxes.

That’s great news for middle-class Iowans who are tightening their belts in the midst of this national recession. They deserve to know that state government is also cutting spending.

We took a big step on February 1 with a bipartisan vote in the Senate to adopt a sweeping plan to reorganize state government. Senate File 2088 will make state government leaner, more accountable to the public and better able to serve taxpayers.

The non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Service estimates that these reforms could save the state as much as $118 million. This is in addition to the nearly $60 million in annual savings approved in an early retirement bill that passed the Senate last week.

A government reorganization committee was created during the 2009 session. It met over the summer and unanimously approved recommendations reflected in the legislation approved by the Senate.

The legislation will cut spending and make state government services more efficient by:

• Taking advantage of advances in technology.
• Using the state’s significant purchasing power to get a better deal for taxpayers.
• Requiring departments and agencies to coordinate and, in some cases, combine to save the state money.

Thank you to the many Iowans who offered their input for making state government more responsive and accountable. While we’ve taken a big step forward, I’ll continue to push for more reform. So keep your suggestions coming!

SF 2088 now goes to the Iowa House for its consideration.

If you’d like to review the bill, go to http://tiny.cc/sf2088.