News from the State House

by State Representative Patti Ruff

One of the top priorities for lawmakers this year is expanding access to broadband and WI-FI for homes, schools, and businesses in under-served and un-served areas, especially in rural Iowa.
On a strong bi-partisan vote, the House passed a broadband bill this week that provides a ten year property tax exemption for companies that install broadband in identified targeted service areas.  The goal is to remove barriers for companies regarding expansion, including the cost of laying the fiberoptics that will provide the broadband service.
A targeted service area is defined to be an area that doesn’t have a communication service provider that offers or facilitates broadband service at or above 25 megabits per second of download speed and 3 megabits per second of upload speed. In order to receive the property tax exemption, a communications company must identify the number of the homes, farms, schools, and businesses in the targeted service area that will be getting access to the broadband service.
The reason for providing this information is to make sure that these entities in areas that aren’t offered this level of service do get offered valuable broadband service that will withstand time. The bill also helps connect schools to broadband by including the acquisition or installation of information technology infrastructure as eligible school infrastructure expenses. The bill, House File 641, passed the House on a vote of 90-5 and was sent over to the Senate for consideration.
With no end in sight to the school funding crisis, Iowa Superintendents said this week at least 298 teachers will receive pink slips this month and another 405 school positions will go unfilled next year. With about half of superintendents reporting so far, 2/3 of those school districts will also be forced to raise property taxes next year.
Besides raising class size with fewer teachers and raising property taxes, superintendents said they will also be cutting back other opportunities for students because of the budget uncertainty. Art, sports, wood shop, agriculture programs, consumer science, library services, STEM and Talented and Gifted are just a few of the programs being considered by school districts for elimination.  
The information was compiled through a survey of Iowa superintendents. Iowans can learn about the impact of the school funding crisis in their own school district by going to www.iowahouse.org/GOPpinkslip/.
Wednesday there was a grassroots lobbying effort by school officials, teachers, parents, and students pushing for action on school funding. I heard from many of you in the district on why funding our schools above the 1.25% is so important. I also met with students from I-35 school district. They came to the Capitol and lobbied legislators and met with leadership in both chambers on what appropriate funding means to them.
Iowa’s unemployment rate fell to 4.0 percent in March, marking the lowest unemployment rate the state has seen since May 2008. The unemployment dropped from 4.1 percent in February and is down from 4.4 percent one year ago. Nationally, the unemployment rate stands at 5.5 percent. Iowa’s unemployment rate is the ninth lowest in the nation.
The number of unemployed Iowans fell to 67,800 down from 70,300 in February. Iowa’s education and health services sectors added the most jobs in March with 2,300 jobs. The gains were due to expansion in private education and health care. Trade and transportation added 2,100 jobs, with additional slight gains in professional and businesses services.
 This year is the 40th anniversary of the fall of Saigon, Vietnam, which effectively ended the Vietnam War on April 30, 1975. More than 865 Iowans were killed in the conflict and five Iowa service members earned the Medal of Honor, our nation’s highest military award for heroism.  Two ceremonies are scheduled to honor and remember sacrifices of the soldiers who served in the Vietnam War.
The Iowa Gold Star Military Museum, at Camp Dodge in Johnston, will host a ribbon cutting ceremony dedicating its new Vietnam War exhibit on Thursday, April 30, beginning at 10 a.m. Members of the public and media are invited to attend this event.
This new Vietnam War interactive exhibit includes a helicopter display, a utility truck, and other artifacts. A scrollable list of Iowans who were killed in the Vietnam War is available, as are television monitors featuring stories from the Vietnam War, and a full-scale diorama and mural.
In addition, the Iowa Department of Veterans Affairs will host the 2015 Vietnam Veterans Recognition Day Remembrance Ceremony on Thursday, May 7, 2015. The ceremony will begin at 11 a.m. at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial located south of the Iowa State Capitol building in Des Moines.