December 12, 2009
Culver puts lobbyists on notice for '10
Gov. Chet Culver vowed Friday to stand up to lobbyists' efforts to derail aspects of a government-streamlining proposal, as they have some of his priorities.
Here are three examples Culver cited during a conference call with Des Moines Register reporters and editors, and some background about the issues.
Prevailing wage: "I mean, who is against giving a carpenter two more dollars an hour to rebuild our state from the floods? Most Iowans think that makes sense. But the special interests stopped it."
In 2007, Democrats proposed requiring that contractors and subcontractors pay employees who work on public projects the same hourly wage and benefits as those paid on private projects.
Majority Democrats were unable to muster the votes to pass it that year or in the subsequent two legislative sessions.
The Iowa Association of Business and Industry aired advertisements in opposition to pro-union legislation this year, while the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees lobbied for it.
Bottle bill: "We came up with an idea to clean up our environment and raise the redemption amount on cans and bottles so we could not only keep trash out of the ditches across the state and keep Iowa beautiful but also fund REAP," Culver said. "And that also got taken down by the special interests."
REAP is Resource Enhancement and Protection, a program that pays for trails, land and cultural attractions.
Last year, Culver proposed doubling the 5-cent deposit on bottles and cans and allowing consumers to get only 8 cents of the higher deposit back when containers were returned. The state would have kept 2 cents, to be split between REAP and the stores handling the collections.
Grocers objected to the idea. But so did lawmakers in Culver's own party, who described it privately as a tax increase during an election year.
Combined corporate reporting: "We wanted to require corporations like Wal-Mart to pay their fair share with combined corporate reporting. But the special interests prevailed there," Culver said.
Culver was referring to his 2008 proposal to close a tax exemption that allowed out-of-state companies doing business here to avoid paying taxes on income in Iowa.
Business groups and large out-of-state employers such as Alcoa, which employs more than 2,000 people in Davenport, said the measure would make Iowa less competitive with other states vying for jobs.
As with the bottle bill, lawmakers complained that Culver had not vetted the proposal with them first, and that it also amounted to a politically unwise tax increase.
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20091212/NEWS09/912120335/1056/Culver-puts-lobbyists-on-notice-for-10
