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Senate takes another step to tackle tough economy

Written by Matt McCoy | 12 March 2009

The overriding issue of the 2009 session is responding to the deepening national recession and its impact on middle-class Iowa families.

More Iowa families are losing jobs, Iowa small businesses are seeing sales drop, and homeowners are facing foreclosure.  

Our job in the Legislature is to help Iowans through these tough times, to optimistically build toward a prosperous future through job creation, and to keep the commitments we’ve made on economic growth, health care, education, energy independence and disaster recovery.

This week, I led the Senate approved $175 million bonding plan that will:

  • Create good-paying jobs for workers in construction and related businesses that will expand or improve Iowa’s prisons, community-based correction facilities, the Iowa Veterans Home and other state-owned buildings.  

  • Ensure the safety of our communities and neighborhoods by expanding and fixing up our prisons and community-based corrections facilities.  

  • Protect the safety of Iowans in their workplaces. 

  • Ensure that the Iowa Veterans Home in Marshalltown becomes a state-of-the-art facility for Iowans who have honorably served our country in the armed services.

The evidence is clear, these stimulus initiatives will help our state recover sooner from the national recession. It is projected that this stimulus bill will create nearly 5,000 jobs across Iowa.

Every $1 million invested in infrastructure supports 28.5 full-time, year-round-equivalent jobs, according to a recent study by the National Association of Industrial & Office Properties. Plus, during the construction phase, new projects employ workers who spend their paychecks in the local economy.

IPERS officials discuss state of retirement benefits

Written by Matt McCoy | 11 March 2009

The Government Oversight Committee recently heard from officials with the Iowa Public Employees’ Retirement System (IPERS) who testified that Iowans’ public pensions are not in danger.
 
The reassuring words from IPERS officials come despite the freezing of $339 million invested with a brokerage firm currently under investigation for securities fraud.
 
IPERS Chief Executive Officer Donna Mueller and Chief Investment Officer Karl Koch explained that the frozen funds represent only 2 percent of IPERS’ assets and will not impact pension benefits. IPERS has retained legal council, and they are optimistic that much of the funds will be recouped. Approximately $29 million was returned to IPERS after the fraudulent firm was shut down by the National Futures Association. 
 
Mueller and Koch assured the Oversight Committee that IPERS will take all steps necessary to learn from its mistakes. As regulators uncover an increasing number of fraudulent investment schemes around the country, investors must be vigilant in vetting the firms with whom they do business, they said.
 
The IPERS officers said the greater threat to IPERS is the deepening global economic recession, which has eroded the fund’s earnings. Down the road, it may become necessary to restructure the fund, but benefits already earned would not be affected, they said.

Iowa nurses deserve better

Written by Matt McCoy | 11 March 2009

Did you know that Iowa ranks 50th in average nurse pay? Our nursing shortage is one of the worst in the nation, and it’s going to get worse. 
 
Iowa’s nurses are essential to quality health care. That’s why I’m working with my colleagues to give Iowa nurses hope that conditions will improve.   
 
The Government Oversight Committee has criticized some Iowa hospitals for failing to abide by an agreement to use an increase in Medicaid money to bolster nursing salaries.
 
We have lots of great hospitals, but many failed to live up to the agreement made last spring, under which the state provided an extra one percent in Medicaid money, based on a promise by affected Iowa hospitals that the additional dollars would be used to provide pay bonuses to Iowa nurses above and beyond pay increases already negotiated or planned.
 
Despite this setback, I will continue to work on efforts to make salaries more competitive for Iowa nurses so that our hospitals and other health care facilities can provide quality, affordable health care for all Iowans.

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