Despite several questions on the AEA from those in attendance, State Rep. Mike Sexton, R-Rockwell City, said he really isn’t getting many questions on the issue when he sees voters while out and about in daily life.

“Not really, in my district, I don’t get a lot of questions on it,” Sexton said in response to a follow-up question following the forum.

Sexton said he hopes that people will give the changes a chance to work.

“What I’ve been telling folks is, ‘Give it a year, see what happens. Let the dust settle.’ Typically, in my legislative experience, you have this big huge uproar and then when people actually see what the bill does, nobody talks about it anymore,” Sexton said.

To audience questions that framed the changes as “dismantling the AEAs,” legislators replied, “We did not dismantle the AEA.”

Joining Sexton at Saturday’s forum were Rep. Ann Meyer, R-Fort Dodge, and Sen. Tim Kraayenbrink, R-Fort Dodge.

“Oversight for the AEA was returned to the Department of Education,” Meyer said, describing the most important change she saw in the bill.

Kraayenbrink was quick to agree with that assessment.

“When the AEA was created, the Department of Education was in charge of oversight. That kind of morphed into something else over the years,” he said. “We’re going back to the way it was created.”

Increases to teacher salaries were also a topic on Saturday and legislators sought to emphasize that the money to improve teacher pay is separate from regular school funding. The question asked how schools will be able to afford to pay teachers more.

“This is a separate pile of money from what we use to fund schools,” Meyer said.

Kraayenbrink said he was baffled by a suggestion that schools would be underfunded. By contrast, the increase in teacher pay that will eventually take it to $50,000 annually for new teachers will put pressure on schools to perform.

“It’s important that we see results from the pay increase,” Kraayenbrink said.

Tax changes

After years of work on the issue, the Legislature did approve a flat income tax rate of 3.8 percent. There was concern that the move may benefit relatively few people, but legislators were not convinced of that viewpoint.

Kraayenbrink had a suggestion for those concerned that it would not generate enough income.

“Just send in whatever you are paying now,” he said.

If people want to pay more, they are free to do so, just note it on the tax return.

For Kraayenbrink, it was his hope that the state would stay at the 3.8 percent rate for the foreseeable future. The rate is a significant decrease from the current top rate of 5.7 percent.

Concerns were also raised about the long-term impact on sales taxes. While the flat income tax rate would require more effort to change, the sales tax would be far less complicated.

“My concern with the bill is that does not address sales tax as part of it,” Sexton said.

While a two-thirds majority will be needed to increase the flat income tax, only a simple majority will be needed to increase the sales tax, according to Sexton.

The relative ease to increase sales taxes over income tax could lead to more dependence on sales tax income as a revenue source in the future.

Maternal health

One audience member asked about a reported decline in maternal health rates coinciding with abortion restrictions signed into law in recent years. Meyer was quick to take note that it would be impossible to link the new laws with any change in maternal health.

“The abortion laws have not changed in Iowa,” Meyer said. “Every law that we pass goes directly to the courts.”

None of the pro-life measures signed by Reynolds and approved by the Legislature have been allowed to go into effect yet, according to legislators at Saturday’s forum.

By contrast, Meyer pointed to legislation that was approved in this session to improve maternal health.

“We extended postpartum care for Medicaid recipients from two months to 12 months,” Meyer said.

She noted that the extended coverage will give health care providers more time to catch potential problems for new moms, which will in turn benefit the babies in their care.

In response to the question linking new laws with maternal health, Kraayenbrink said, “This is one of those situations that bothers me, to begin a question with a false statement,” given that those laws are not in place. Maternal health, he added, is actually a bipartisan concern.

“We need to find out why we have the maternal death rates we do, but no one — Republican or Democrat — wants a child to pass away,” he said.

Speed cameras

Legislators were asked to comment and explain changes approved for speed cameras in Iowa. The changes, according to Meyer, will really only affect cameras on state highways.

Jurisdictions that place speed cameras on primary roads, or state highways, will have to show verification that the cameras are necessary to reduce speed and/or improve accident safety rates.

The new changes approved by the legislature do not affect cameras placed on city streets, so the cameras in Fort Dodge, which are used to fund police officers, will not be impacted.

In adjacent Hamilton County, the City of Webster City recently placed speed cameras on Iowa Highway 17 and U.S. Highway 20, both highways that fall under the regulations.

Meyer also noted that communities with populations under 8,000 would not be allowed to place speed cameras.

Convention of the States

A growing number of states are calling for a Convention of the States, and more support for that effort is being seen in Iowa.

Sexton was the first to weigh in on this issue and noted that he was long reluctant to support a call for a Convention of the States. However, growing budget deficits by Congress have swayed his support in favor of the proposal.

“I voted for it,” Sexton said. “Those of us who voted for it already know that Washington is Kraayenbrink is another supporter of the measure.

“I’m for it, but I’ve never voted on it,” he said.

Kraayenbrink acknowledged that the primary concern against a Convention of the States is that it could turn into a “runaway convention,” that would drift from a strong focus on balancing the budget to far-reaching social issues that have not been part of the original intent. However, he said the way a convention would work is that a sole “no” vote would kill any measure.

“It only takes one person to say no,” he said.

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