System fixes

By Rep. Jon Dunwell

Broken or inefficient systems create waste and messes. I applaud Governor Reynolds and her work to streamline government. It’s yielding results, saving money and creating user efficiencies. Continuing that work through Iowa DOGE is a natural never-ending next step. We as a legislature need to follow the Governor’s example and tackle some of our BIG system issues and not just pass feel good patch fixes. Let me suggest some areas.

Property Taxes. We need a simple, transparent system that puts constituents in direct communication (and negotiation) with their local elected officials. As I have written before, I will continue to advocate for Truth in Taxation that gets the state out of the middle, gets rid of complicated formulas, recognizes the differing needs of communities, and empowers the voter with timely information to interact with their city, school, and county elected officials around property taxes.

School Funding. The House, Senate, and Governor do not agree on some aspects of school funding as reflected in our different State Supplemental Aid proposals. What we do agree upon is the challenges with our funding formula and the categorical spending limitations we place on local school boards. Needed money remains hung up in the system. I suggest the combination of three ideas I’ve heard from others. 1) Next year, let’s vote on a 2- or 3-year SSA funding increase equal to CPI or 3% (whichever is less). 2) Let’s work on coming up with a new funding formula and spending plan that better recognizes the varying needs of our schools. 3) Let’s provide DOGE resources and dollars school districts can access to bring greater efficiency to their systems.

Carbon Capture Pipelines. I’m weary of this issue. Not because of its lack of importance but because we need to do system work and not just attack a particular project. Let’s do the hard work of reexamining our eminent domain laws and the functioning of the Iowa Utilities Commission.

What excites me most about where we are is our leadership. We have a governor who regularly demonstrates a willingness to tackle hard and complex issues. This year it’s energy policy. And I know we have that leadership in the House with Speaker Grassley and Majority Leader Windschitl They have clearly demonstrated that over the last few sessions. Our work on systems will never end. Afterall, you demand it, and it involves your money.

Let’s keep the conversation going.