Capitol Letters: One tax rate for all Iowans

The 13th week of the legislative session involved a lot of debate by the whole Senate on important legislation and issues. We are working our way through bills that have been amended by the House and Senate, finding agreement on the budget for the year, and confirming several appointees by the governor.

Senate File 2401 is one of the bills we debated to help support farmers and the agriculture industry in our state. Senate File 2401 adjusts the floor and ceiling for the Grain Indemnity Fund to $12 million and $5 million and extends coverage to credit sale contracts.

Last year, the Grain Indemnity Fund ran out of money due to several circumstances and the fee had to be reinstated. This bill updates these numbers to better reflect today’s economy and hopefully prevent additional fees on farmers in the future.

On Tuesday the Senate passed HF 2487. It is an update to the law surrounding teacher-student relationships and adds a definition and prohibition against adults grooming students.

HF 2653 also passed in response to the tragedy in Perry earlier this year. This bill allows Perry schools to offer retention bonuses to help retain their employees for the upcoming school year.

Gov. Kim Reynolds signed two important bills into law sent to her by the legislature. The first was the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which was signed into law on Tuesday. Senate File 2096, the bill eliminating the gender balance restriction on public boards and commissions, was signed into law on Wednesday.

On Tuesday the Iowa Senate passed Senate Joint Resolution 2004, a proposal to put a flat tax into the Iowa Constitution. The constitutional amendment would add a single tax rate into the constitution, ensuring one single rate for all Iowans and making it more difficult for a graduated tax rate to be put back into place.

Iowans know this constitutional amendment would protect them from unfair tax increases, keep the tax code simpler and limit irresponsible budgeting in future legislatures. While Senate Democrats continue their crusade to raise taxes, Senate Republicans have been focused on protecting taxpayers by passing historic measure after historic measure focused on tax relief for Iowa families.

The Senate passed SF 2412 to help control the cost of herbicide for farmers. A few years ago, trial lawyers took aim at RoundUp, a commonly used herbicide on many farms across the state. Trial lawyers found a willing judge and jury in California to award a multi-billion-dollar judgement against the maker of that product, claiming the label the company used did not adequately warn the users of the product of the risks of using it.

SF 2412 simply states manufacturers cannot be sued for the required EPA label they put on their agricultural products. Despite the false rhetoric, nothing in this bill prevents a person from suing if a product is found to cause cancer. It just states a manufacturer cannot be sued if they label their product as required under federal law and regulated by the EPA. In Iowa, the legislature is routinely battling out-of-state attacks on production agriculture.

On Saturday, I had the privilege of representing Cherokee County as a delegate at the Republican District Convention. We voted on state central committee members and adopted a platform. I was also honored to be elected as a national delegate to represent Iowa’s 4th Congressional District and the great state of Iowa at the Republican National Convention later this summer.