Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, April 29, 2010
Contact: Rep. Kent Sorenson (515) 250-7555
Sorenson Highlights Immigration Legislation
(INDIANOLA) – Today Rep. Kent Sorenson (R-Indianola) highlighted the work he did during the 2010 Legislative session on the issue of illegal immigration.
Among other bills, Sorenson crafted HF 2345 which is the Iowa version of the Oklahoma immigration law. Under this legislation, the Attorney General would be required to establish a Memorandum of Understanding with the Federal Government to insure that unauthorized aliens discovered by Iowa law enforcement officials are quickly and safely transferred into federal custody. It also requires public employers to use e-verify to verify the lawful presence of new employees.
HF 2263 was another piece of Sorenson legislation which was proposed this year. Under this bill, the Department of Human Services would be required to verify the social security numbers of those who applied for their services.
“Recent legislation passed by the state of Arizona highlights the need for reform in the state of Iowa,” said Sorenson. “It’s time to get tough on illegal immigration and these two pieces of legislation would have been a step in the right direction.”
Democrats killed both pieces of legislation during the subcommittee process.
“I will continue to work to create positive solutions the illegal immigration problem facing the state of Iowa,” said Sorenson.
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Time to be responsible
The 2010 legislative session has come and gone. Coming into the session the Legislature faced a 1.1 billion dollar budget shortfall. As the session came to a close and we began debating the budget bills it was clear that despite the modest savings made through the government reorganization bill, the Democrats who are in the majority were going to be relying a great deal on one-time money and raiding the cash reserve fund to cure their appetite for spending.
What does that really mean? To the average Iowa family, this might be what the state budget looks like on a family budget scale (courtesy of House Appropriations Ranking Member Rep. Scott Raecker <http://www.raeckerbacker.com/> ).
“For 2010, a family planned their budget for the year and identified that they have $64,000 in expenses. They then looked at the amount of money they would take in and saw they only had $53,000 to spend. The shortfall was $11,000. Rather than look at ways to cut expenses to meet the revenue, the family took a financial gift from an uncle (Uncle Sam) to balance the family budget not worrying about where they would make up the difference this year or next.
“Mid-year, it was clear that there was not enough revenue to cover expenses so the family made some mid-year budget cuts and decided not to pay for some commitments that had previously been made.
“Now the family is planning their budget for 2011 and even after the mid-year expense savings from the previous year, they still have $62,000 in expenses and only $53,000 in revenue to balance the budget except this year Uncle Sam does not have the same financial windfall so they decide to find efficiencies and reorganize the family expenses to save money and take the rest from their savings account. After weeks of talking about expense savings, they come up with their best effort to reduce expenses and they save $700 from their $62,000 in spending. They then decide to take the money in their savings account to balance the budget and will worry about next year when it comes.
“The other thing they do to balance the budget is for about $2,000 in expenses they will have someone else (aka: the property taxpayer) pay for them.”
The state has committed to spend $6.2 billion next year, yet we only have $5.3 billion in on-going revenue. The state is spending one-time money from the federal government as if it came from a great uncle. To balance the budget, the Legislature and governor reorganized government to save $70 million and plans to deplete the state savings account for the rest.
Unfortunately, the commitments that were made to fund Iowa’s K-12 education system will not be fully funded by state dollars so local districts are left to cut teachers and programs – and raise property taxes.
The state budget can be very complex, but in reality the principle is simple. The state should not spend more than it takes in. Just like Iowa families and businesses, we must be responsible in meeting our needs with our available resources. Balancing the budget isn’t good enough if it’s on the back of the taxpayer. The 2010 Legislative Session has left a legacy of liability and burden for Iowans that reaches farther than just one year.
See the Des Moines Register take on this at:
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20100405/NEWS10/4050314/1007/NEWS05
/Big-revenue-gap-awaits-lawmakers-next-session <http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20100405/NEWS10/4050314/1007/NEWS05>
A Long Way To Go on The Budget
State Budget: A Long Way to Go
The budget remains our primary focus during this session. It’s no secret that Governor Culver’s FY2011 budget spends more than it takes in, with expenditures exceeding revenue by as much as $1.3 Billion. Iowa has a statutory spending limitation of 99% of revenue, but the Governor is proposing expenditures of 111% of revenue. That won’t work in your family or mine, and it’s not going to work in the state’s finances either. One unacceptable result of this deficit is a likely hike in property taxes, but that’s not all. The Governor plans to tap Iowa’s Cash Reserve Fund to the tune of over $200 million, leaving the state in a more precarious financial position. I did not vote for the FY2010 budget and I will not vote for the FY2011 budget if it spends more than we take in.
House Republicans proposed numerous spending reductions for the FY2010 budget (see partial list below), but House majority democrats shot every one of these proposals down.
| End Benefits to Illegal Immigrant Adults |
$92,300,000 |
| Shift Voluntary Preschool Responsibilities to Empowerment |
$45,000,000 |
| See Vehicle Fleet, Outsource Vehicle Leasing (one time) |
$34,000,000 |
| Eliminate “phantom” employees – funded, unfilled FTE positions |
$25,000,000 |
| Combine State Information Technology and Email Systems |
$20,000,000 |
| Reduce Funding for Library Acquisitions at Regents by 50% |
$13,500,000 |
| No DNR Land Acquisitions for FY2010 |
$5,000,000 |
| Eliminate Taxpayer Funded Lobbyists |
$4,000,000 |
| Freeze non-critical out-of-state travel |
$1,500,000 |
| Eliminate Washington DC Internship (seek private funding) |
$90,000 |
| Eliminate Charger Flights by Members of the DOT Commission |
$17,000 |
Although House Democrats claim they are making $260 million in spending reductions, the spending data they distributed this week clearly shows their current budget still spends as much as the previous year. House Republicans will be offering numerous cost savings ideas again this year, but we’re going to need a virtual public outcry to get democrats to make the necessary spending cutbacks.
Potential Medicaid Crisis Looming
Legislative Democrats plan to underfund Medicaid by $347 million in FY2011, using cash reserves to make up $187 million of the shortfall, and relying on Congress to extend the Medicaid matching rate for another $95 million – provided Congress votes for the extension. However, if these projections don’t occur, the General Fund contribution for Medicaid will amount to only half of the state’s need. Fast forward to FY2012, and Medicaid could need over half a billion in additional General Fund dollars.
In Your Community
We will have our Forum on Saturday, March 20th from 9:00-10:00 a.m. It will be held at the Administration Bldg., 2nd floor, Indianola.
As always, thank you for giving me the opportunity to represent our district in the House of Representatives. That responsibility means a lot to me, and I am working hard to ensure your voice is heard.
Update From The House
Straight Talk from Rep. Kent Sorenson
February 19, 2010
Budget Crisis Update
Governor Culver’s budget proposal is out of balance. “Expenditures exceed revenues by as much as $400 million,” says state auditor Vaudt. Unfortunately, we haven’t had the opportunity to debate the budget bill on the floor yet, but you can rest assured that I won’t be voting for a budget that spends more than we take in and I won’t be voting for an increase in your taxes. I will keep you up to date as we debate the various parts of the budget for FY 2011
Government Reorganization Bill Debate Underway
We began debate on the Government Reorganization Bill today and will be considering over 35 proposed amendments, many of which offer additional cost saving ideas. In last week’s newsletter I told you about a bill I sponsored (HF2263) that would save over $100 million by requiring the Iowa Department of Human Services to validate social security numbers before providing services. Were you aware that Iowa spends millions of taxpayer dollars on services provided to illegal immigrants? We will be offering this bill as an amendment to the reorganization bill this week. This amendment alone has the potential to nearly double the savings in the Government Reorganization Bill.
Elimination of the Federal Tax Deduction Again being Considered
Federal deductibility gives taxpayers the ability to deduct 100% of their Federal tax payments on their Iowa income tax returns. However, after last year’s outpouring from concerned citizens trying to stop this bill, the House Ways and Means committee has taken it up again for consideration. The matter was assigned to subcommittee in late January, just two weeks after the National Taxpayers Union released a poll stating that 77% of Iowans support keeping federal deductibility and believe it is in their best financial interest. Along with other House Republicans, I will work to ensure this bill does not go forward.
Forum with Rep. Kent Sorenson and State Auditor, David Vaudt – Saturday, February 20th
You are invited to attend this month’s forum in Indianola at the Administration Building, 301 North Buxton, 2nd floor. The forum will be held between 9:00-10:30 a.m. State Auditor, David Vaudt will be discussing the state budget. His presentation is very informative and interesting. If you have any questions regarding the forum, please contact Susan at 515-202-3733.
As always, thank you for giving me the opportunity to represent our district in the House of Representatives. That responsibility means a lot to me, and I am working hard to ensure your voice is heard.
Respectfully,
Rep. Kent Sorenson
Kent.sorenson@legis.state.ia.us
515-962-2192
How to Save $100 Million
February 6, 2010
We are four weeks into this legislative session. The majority of our time has been spent dealing with the budget crisis that has been created by irresponsible spending and bad budget decisions. During Gov. Culver’s term, the gap between state spending and revenue has skyrocketed. In FY2009, the spending gap was $400 million, which increased to $800 million in FY2010. Fiscal Services is now estimating a $1.1 billion spending gap for FY2011.
One of the ways that the majority party has chosen to deal with this gap is to sponsor HF2001, which allows Iowa school districts to shift up to $380 million in employee benefit costs from the general fund to property taxes. If passed, HF2001 could result in up to $380 million in additional property taxes for Iowans – so much for “not raising your taxes.” (Governor Culver’s words)
Another way that the majority party plans to deal with the budget mess is to create yet another new operating structure of state government. Democratic leaders of the State Government Reorganization committee claim that there are “scores of millions of dollars to be saved.” However, last week we learned that the current recommended changes yield $1.7 million in FY2010, $28.9 million in the second year and $66.7 million in FY2012, which is far short of the earlier prediction of $200 million in savings from the chairs of the State Government Reorganization Committee, or the Governor’s prediction of $341 million.
If you were to go into a DHS Office, you would see signs declaring that social security numbers are not verified. Every year the people of Iowa spend millions of taxpayer dollars on services that are used by illegal immigrants. I have drafted a bill that requires the DHS to validate the social security number of all applicants before services are granted. The department would need to incorporate the verification requirement into all application processes in the most cost-effective manner. This action would save our state close to $100 million dollars per year.
As I write this newsletter, I am struck by the enormity of the job that lies ahead, particularly with Governor Culver and the Democratic party in control of the legislature. I would ask that all of you stay informed and involved in the business of your government and make your voice heard.
Representative Kent Sorenson
Kent.sorenson@legis.state.ia.us
515-962-2192