Welcome to the first Minute with Mike of the first session of the 90th General Assembly. First of all, I want to thank the voters of the new House District 7 (Calhoun, Pocahontas, Sac and the western side of Webster) for this unbelievable opportunity to serve you in this beautiful building. Secondly, I want to thank my family, especially my wife, Becky. I could not do this job without unwavering support back home. As hard as this job is sometimes, it is twice as hard being the one left at home to keep things on track. I also want to thank those of you who have helped Becky and me with all of the parades and community events this past summer; I cannot express how grateful I am to have all of you in my life. I am always so humbled by the sense of community and support which has afforded me this privilege to serve as I walk up the Capitol steps on the first day of session. As a state representative I was elected to represent the whole of my district–including those who do not agree with me. Please do not let this stop you from reaching out to me on issues. Unlike Washington, DC, I believe it is my responsibility to listen to your points and opinions. We may not always agree, but I will work to understand the way you feel.

My goal with this newsletter is twofold–relaying specifics of how the legislature works as well as addressing some of the bills and issues we present in the legislature.

If you need more in-depth information on a specific subject or a bill, please email my clerk, Danielle, at mike.sexton@legis.iowa.gov. She can find the information you are looking for and get back to you.

The legislature is set up on a two year cycle that coincides with the elections in even number years. This is the first session of that cycle. We are starting the 90th General Assembly and it will run for 110 days. Next year will be the second session of the 90th General Assembly, and will run for 100 days. We get paid for the allocated days, but as most of you know sessions can run longer. If that happens we are here on our dime. This is the incentive for us to get work done and go home.

In the first year we re-elect leadership and also get new committee assignments, which we will have for the next two years. This year I decided not to seek re-election to the majority whip position. I instead decided I would throw my hat in for a committee chairmanship. The whip position is decided by election from my colleagues in the House. Whereas the committee chairmanships and committee assignments are decided by the Speaker. So, if you give up a leadership position you are not guaranteed to be a committee chairman. But I was very fortunate to be named as the chair of the House Agriculture Committee by Speaker Grassley. I’m very excited to move from a leadership position to a policy chair position. As you all know Iowa agriculture is very important to me. It is the heart of Iowa and I’m very proud to be a part of keeping Iowa agriculture moving forward.

These are my new committee assignments for the next two years.

Administrative Rules Review Committee (ARRC)

This committee is responsible for overseeing all of the rules that come from the state’s agencies

Agriculture

This one is pretty simple as the name implies. If it is a bill that deals with agriculture, it goes through this committee, from weight limits on vehicles used in farming to livestock regulations.

State Government Committee

When I was elected to the Senate, and now in the House, I have always served on the State Government Committee. It is a very busy committee. As you can imagine, it deals with all of the bills that touch State Government. Here are a few of the topics I’m overseeing this year in State Government:

• Election laws

• Banks and credit unions

• Campaign ethics

• Gambling

• Alcohol

• Licensing

Ways & Means

This committee is responsible for all taxing laws in the state. New taxes as well as any tax reductions. This is my first time on the Ways & Means Committee. There is a lot of talk about doing something for property taxes. A bill addressing this will come out of the Ways and Means Committee.

The November election was the first in the new House District 7. The new distinct is all of Calhoun, Pocahontas, Sac and the western side of Webster mostly consisting of the area west of U.S. Highway 169. The new district is basically the same area, but Humboldt County was removed and Sac County was added. So, I will have a new group of readers of Minute with Mike. I apologize as some of this may be a little redundant for those of you that I have represented for the past few years.

The first week mainly consists of speeches and the first committee meetings. Here’s an overview of the first week of session:

Tuesday evening- Gov. Reynolds gave the Condition of the State Speech

Wednesday – Acting Chief Justice Susan Christensen presented the Condition of the Judiciary Speech

Thursday – Maj. Gen. Benjamin Corell gave the Condition of the Iowa Guard Speech

In addition to the speeches, each of the committees met for an organizational meeting which consists of introductions and short speeches from the chairs and ranking members about their thoughts on what their respective committees can achieve over the course of the session. We then adopt the rules for the committee and are now ready to get to work the next week.

My new job as ag chair will involve which bills will make it to committee. Being the chair is a pretty powerful position, because all bills for the ag committee come to me first. I then decide if we will run them or if I will put them in a drawer where they will spend the rest of session.

State Rep. Mike Sexton, R-Rockwell City, represents Calhoun, Pocahontas and Sac counties plus western Webster County.