Iowa business leaders repeatedly point out that Iowa has a shortage of skilled workers. And Forbes says our state ranks 40th when it comes to a ready labor supply.

If we can identify skilled worker shortages and help Iowans fill them, we’ll go a long way toward growing the Iowa economy and putting more Iowans back to work. This week, the Iowa Senate approved Senate File 2024, which invests $20 million in workforce training to do just that.

Take Iowa agricultural manufacturers. They’re doing pretty well right now, but they could do better if they had an additional 500 skilled welders. There’s a similar shortage among information technology workers. These types of skilled worker shortages make it difficult for Iowa businesses to increase sales and pump more money into the Iowa economy.

Making employee-owned businesses at home in Iowa is the goal of a new bill approved by the Senate Economic Growth Committee.

The bill, Senate Study Bill 3014, provides incentives for businesses to develop their own Employee Stock Ownership Plans. These plans are qualified retirement plans for employees under the Internal Revenue Code.

Encouraging employee stock ownership can help keep businesses in Iowa communities. Business owners who may wish to retire or move on to a new line of work can more easily sell their business to employees rather than an out-of-state buyer. Everybody wins because the business, the employees and the wealth stay in the local community.

I’ve heard from local business owners and economic developers that access to capital is difficult during the lingering recession.

That’s why the Senate Economic Growth Committee voted this week to expand eligibility for Iowa’s Save Our Small Business Loan Program. Last year, the Legislature set aside $5 million for these low-interest loans that help small businesses create jobs. The loans range from $2,500 to $50,000 and are available to businesses with 35 or fewer employees.

This follows the Committee’s approval last week of a measure to help more communities redevelop their commercial and industrial areas. These efforts are part of our “Iowa Works” initiative that invests in jobs, education and small business efforts to grow Iowa’s economy.

The Senate recently passed House File 45, previously approved by the Iowa House. We made significant changes to the bill to better focus on helping small businesses and protecting educational opportunity.

We rejected an attempt by the House to eliminate our state’s successful public-private preschool partnership. Closing preschools would only hurt middle-class families already struggling in today’s tough economy.

We also restored funding for our community colleges, which train workers for available jobs and help local businesses get the skilled employees they need.

The Senate took steps this week toward a more responsible and fair approach to taxes. Our plan will help Iowa families and promote job creation by Iowa small businesses.

This approach is different from Governor Branstad’s plan in several important ways. His tax proposals do not help the small businesses that create most of the jobs in Iowa. Instead, the Branstad tax cut gives 80 percent of the money to large out-of-state corporations.

Our Senate plan “couples” with various federal provisions. These changes will help all Iowans.

When more Iowa small businesses are doing well, more Iowans will be working again. That’s the basis of a new Senate proposal to help our state continue to recover from the lingering national recession.

We’ve listened to local small business leaders. Based on what they’ve told us, we’ve put together a “Small Business Works” proposal that will lower employee health insurance costs, allow easier access to credit and cut red tape for Iowa’s small businesses. In addition, communities will have more resources to revitalize their business districts.

A recently launched Web site is helping Iowa small businesses get the resources they need to grow.

The new Iowa Small Business Assistance Gateway - iowa.gov/business - provides information on how to start and manage a small business, licensing, permits and other regulatory assistance, and technical and financial assistance.