FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, February 04, 2010
Contact: Josie Albrecht (515) 419-1038

Democrats File Bill to Gut Iowa’s Right to Work Law

(DES MOINES)—Today in the House Labor committee, Democrats assigned a bill which would gut Iowa’s right to work law. House Study Bill 702 an attempt by House Democrats to take away Iowans’ choice to join a union.

Iowa’s right to work law guarantees that no person can be compelled, as a condition of employment, to join, not join or pay any fees to a labor union. Iowa’s right to work law has been in place since 1947. This bill is a direct attack on hard-working Iowans’ liberties.

“It is simply wrong to tell someone they must give their hard-earned dollars to an organization they have chosen not to be a member of,” said House Republican Leader Kraig Paulsen (R-Hiawatha). “A union is not forced to represent non-members. They choose forced monopoly bargaining and now they want to force payment for providing those unwanted services.”

Under the Democrats’ plan, public employees who are non-union would be forced to pay a fee to the union as a condition of their employment, thus completely gutting Iowa’s right to work law.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Contact: Josie Albrecht (515) 419-1038

Paulsen Releases Statement on Governor’s Budget Proposal

(DES MOINES)—Today House Republican Leader Kraig Paulsen (R-Hiawatha) released the following statement on Gov. Chet Culver’s recent budget proposal:

“The governor’s budget spends more money than it takes in and will increase the burden on property taxpayers. Once again, decisions in Des Moines are going to drive up property taxes across the state. It’s irresponsible and will be costly for Iowans.

“House Republicans will dive into budgets, ask tough questions, and identify savings and government waste while being responsible with taxpayers’ money.”

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As we went through the second week of the 2010 legislative session, House Republicans reached across the aisle to work with House Democrats to implement our jobs plan.

80,000 Iowans were out of work at the beginning of 2009.  Currently, we’re approaching 115,000 Iowans out of work.  In 2009, runaway state government passed budget-busting ideas and bonded its way into debt all in the name of “job creation”, only to end up with even more Iowans out of work.  

Throwing taxpayer money at the problem didn’t work.

This year, Republicans have proposed a four-point plan for job growth.

• Create a favorable climate for job growth
• End the assault on employers
• Stop property tax increases headed for families and businesses
• Ensure tax credit reviews don’t result in tax increases

Last year, the Legislature convened an interim committee to find ways to save the state money.      Republicans want to put the same effort into finding ways to help Iowa’s employers by eliminating and modifying regulations.   Without spending a dollar, Iowa can create jobs by removing obstacles to job growth.  

Government regulations have created an atmosphere which has ground Iowa’s economic growth to a halt.  We propose hearings of the Economic Growth Committee to investigate regulations that block business expansion and preservation.   This deserves every bit as much time and energy as government reorganization or tax credit discussions. 

Another piece of our plan is ending the assault on employers.   Even the threat of increased taxes and government mandates keep employers from thriving and adding new jobs.   Democrats must withdraw the following bills:

• Ending Iowa’s Right to Work Law
• Open Scope Collective Bargaining
• Doctor Shopping
• Prevailing Wage

These bills not only fail to create jobs, the risk of their passage has already had a chilling effect on Iowa’s overall economy.  

Bad budgeting led to the recent across the board budget cut.  This haphazard budgeting results in increased property taxes on Iowa’s families and employers.   Governor Culver and Legislative Democrats must stop passing their budgeting shortfalls down to the local property taxpayer.  Each time property taxes go up, fewer jobs are created.   Government must stop spending more than the state collects and we need to cut back unsustainable spending plans Democrats have previously approved.

Finally, there has been a lot of talk about reviewing state tax credits.   Republicans are supportive of the review, but the beneficiaries of any “savings” must be the taxpayers through broad based tax relief, NOT state coffers.  

Iowans are dealing with job losses and employers are struggling to stay open, the last thing they need are higher tax bills.   When a tax credit is capped or eliminated, someone’s taxes are going up.   The only entity that benefits from higher taxes is government.   Raising taxes is not the answer to Iowa’s budget problems.

House Republicans recognize these are just a few ideas to help kick-start our job market.   Throughout the session and beyond, we will continue to develop new ideas for long term job creation in Iowa.  Iowa’s best days are ahead of us.  But we must have an environment that encourages employers to invest in our state and our workforce.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please contact me at my office, (515) 281-3521 or by email at kraig.paulsen@legis.state.ia.us

As you know, 2010 is an election year—I believe we have great opportunities to elect more pro-growth Republicans to your Iowa House of Representatives.   If you would like to  assist us with a financial contribution please visit:  http://victorydiy.com/secure/diy/shopping_cart_contrib.php?addtocart=29&site=1133&contrib

The first week of the 2010 legislative session is winding down.  The first few days were dominated by the typical speeches from legislative leaders, the governor and the chief justice. 

Below is the speech I gave on Monday. 

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, ladies and gentlemen of the House, family and friends:

First I want to start by welcoming Representative Royd Chambers back to the House.  Thank you for your service, Royd, we’re very happy to have you home. 

Obviously we have a difficult year ahead of us.  But rather than look at this as a problem I hope this body will choose to see opportunity.  Opportunity for a stronger Iowa, opportunity to create an efficient and open state government.  An opportunity to give the state back to the people. 

Last year we heard a lot of blame being passed out.  House Republicans don’t think this is helpful. Wasn’t it President Truman who said, “the buck stops here?”  Instead of blaming our state’s troubles on someone else, House Republicans have taken action and are ready to take action again this year.

Make no mistake though, just like I said last year … if blame is continued to be misplaced, as Republicans believe it has in the past, I will continue to talk about the pork of the last three years – the 2,600 new state employees – the 17+% spending increases. Mr. Speaker, Republicans prefer to move on; I hope Democrats feel the same.

Last year in my opening day speech I called for increased truth and transparency in state government, vowed to stand up against tax increases, and pointed out the importance of reducing the cost of government.  As we worked through the year, Republicans crafted legislation to do just that.  While most of it was not supported at the time, these ideas are now being revered as a good plan.

Today, those three goals have not changed.  House Republicans will continue our efforts in those areas and add a few more to the list.

During the interim we went back to our home districts, met with our constituents and developed several bold solutions for the state of Iowa.  The only party to put forth an agenda, we focused on empowering families, reducing budgets, and strengthening education and healthcare, just to name a few.  We will put our plan into action with legislation that will hopefully be given a better reception than our efforts last year.

We will also focus on creating an environment which is welcoming to employers and encourages them to invest in our workforce, passing an affordable and responsible budget and standing up to the creeping federal intrusion into the lives of Iowans.

When we convened last year, 80,000 Iowans were out of work. When we adjourned that number had jumped to over 100,000.  Now it is somewhere around 115,000 Iowans out of work.  House Republicans will offer concrete and realistic ideas to put Iowans back to work. 

We’ve repeatedly been saying we must reduce spending and we must be fiscally conservative with Iowans’ tax dollars.  While bloated budgets, increased spending and growing debt is now the norm—let me be very clear about where we stand—House Republicans will not support any budget that spends more money than it takes in.  Balancing the budget is not good enough if it’s on the backs of the property taxpayer.

The taxpayer deserves a seat at the table and House Republicans will make sure that happens.

Republicans believe state government disregarded Iowans’ concerns last year.  Pushing bills through at all hours of the night with little debate, removing citizens from the very building they pay for, budgets created behind closed doors, and we failed to permit them to have the final say on how marriage should be defined in Iowa. 

Abraham Lincoln once said, “Public sentiment is everything.  With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it nothing can succeed.” 

Mr. Speaker, it’s time to listen to the will of the people.  House Republicans believe it’s time to return state government back to the hands of Iowans, allowing their voices to be heard…they deserve a seat at the table that they pay for.  

Mr. Speaker, House Republicans stand ready to move Iowa forward.  Mr. Speaker House Republicans are ready to go to work.  Thank you.

Next week the House will start the formal committee process of working on a state government reorganization bill.  We anticipate this legislation will be bipartisan and far-reaching to really bring real reform to state government.  Rest assured, House Republicans are committed to moving towards a more efficient, cost-effective and open state government.

As always, please feel free to contact me with your questions or comments.  You can email me at kraig.paulsen@legis.state.ia.us or call my office at 515-281-3521. Visit our staff website at www.iowahouserepublicans.com for constant updates and information.