In March of 2008 Democrats in the Iowa House attempted a dramatic expansion of Iowa’s collective bargaining law. Here is the original website update posted by House Republicans in the wake of that debate. In contrast to the way that debate three years ago was handled, Republicans in 2011 are using a more transparent approach to HF 525 which reforms Iowa’s collective bargaining law. Click on the link to see the full post.

floor debate 3-19-08

(DES MOINES)—Speaker Pro Tem Jeff Kaufmann (R-Wilton) delivered opening remarks to the Iowa House of Representatives today. The following are his remarks, as prepared for delivery:

Thank you Representatives Chambers, Grassley, and Swaim. You are friends and colleagues and I will do my best to not let you down. And my appreciation to all of my fellow legislators; I have the greatest respect for all of you.

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(DES MOINES)—House Majority Leader Linda Upmeyer (R-Garner) delivered opening remarks to the Iowa House of Representatives today. The following are her remarks, as prepared for delivery:

Thank you Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, Ladies and Gentlemen of the House, and guests, welcome to the 84th General Assembly.

As we assemble here today, I am reminded of my first day as a freshman legislator. Read more »

(DES MOINES)—Speaker of the House Kraig Paulsen (R-Hiawatha) delivered opening remarks to the Iowa House of Representatives today. The following are his remarks, as prepared for delivery:

I want to welcome family and friends to the Iowa House of Representatives, this is the people’s house and it is important we never lose sight of that fact. I also want to extend my congratulations to all of the members; the people of Iowa and in particular the people in your individual House districts have placed their trust in you by electing you to serve as their voice in Des Moines. It is a privilege and a responsibility that I know all of you will take seriously.

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As the House adjourned the 2nd session of the 83rd General Assembly, the House Republican Research Staff put together an end of session wrap-up of notable bills in all committees.

2010 End of Session Wrap-up

House Republican Leader Kraig Paulsen (R-Hiawatha) delivered closing remarks to the Iowa House of Representatives today. The following are his remarks, as prepared for delivery:

Thank you Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, ladies and gentleman of the House,

As we close another General Assembly, I want to begin by thanking the members of the Republican caucus. Thank you for your service, for your thoughtfulness in lawmaking and for your trust and friendship. It’s an honor to serve as your leader. Thanks to this year’s leadership team: Rod Roberts, Jeff Kaufmann, Steve Lukan, Matt Windschitl, Dave Deyoe, Erik Helland and Renee Schulte. Your efforts leading our caucus, on behalf of Iowans, are very much appreciated. A special thank you to the Republican Whip, Linda Upmeyer. You’re always willing to take on new challenges and your excellent leadership and commitment to House Republicans and the State of Iowa are much appreciated.

There are numerous staff members who make this building operate. Thank you for all for your hard work. Specifically, I want to thank the House Republican staff: Noreen, Jeff, Josie, Lew, Lon, Brad, Ann, Matt, Tony, Kristi and Jason. I continue to be impressed at how hard you work to keep us informed and focused. You are the best caucus staff in the building. Thanks to our page, Daxton Oberreuter– you helped our office run smoothly, we appreciated your work this year and wish you luck next year at UNI.

Representatives May, Rants, Roberts, Sorenson, Struyk, and Tymeson, the House Republican caucus is better for your service. Thank you to all House retirees. The state of Iowa is a better place because of your service and we all wish you the best of luck.

Thank you also to Speaker Murphy and Leader McCarthy. You committed to include Republicans in the process and in the ways you could, you followed through on your promise. I appreciated that. You heard us out on our proposal to reorganize government. While Republicans think the final bill did not go far enough to find savings, we believe Iowans were better served because both parties were included in the process and worked together towards a common goal. In the end, we were left with a bill that was a step in the right direction.

At the start of the session I said that House Republicans would focus on three things. 1– Creating an environment which welcomes employers and encourages them to invest in our workforce. 2– Passing an affordable and responsible budget and 3– Standing up to the creeping federal intrusion into the lives of Iowans.

Unfortunately, 111,000 Iowans remain out of work and instead of working with employers, this body saddled them with more regulation and targeted them with property tax increases. Instead, we spent time on cowl lamps and lead wheel weights. This body even took the time to debate and spend money on heated sidewalks.

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Senate File 2088 “Government Reorganization” was passed 98-0 by the House this past Monday after countless amendments and two days of debate. The bill passed by the House is significantly different than the one passed by the Senate; making their reconciliation complicated. The version passed by the House is estimated to save $70.6 million to the state’s general fund and $55.7 million to other funds in Fiscal Year 2011.

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This afternoon House Republicans attempted to pull the following bills from committee and have them placed on the House calendar so they would not die in the funnel week.

The motion to pull them out failed on a party-line vote with Republicans voting for the motion and Democrats voting against.

HF 2262 – Claims sovereignty by the state of Iowa under the Tenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

HF 2214 – Defends Iowans right to purchase or not to purchase private health care insurance. Additionally the Legislature cannot require Iowans to participate in any health care plan, or impose a penalty/fine for not participating.

HF 2057 – Under current law, a sheriff has no right to require an individual acquiring a permit to carry to provide a list of weapons they own and their serial numbers. However, this is exactly what is occurring in one county in the State. Before this becomes the standard in other counties, HF 2057 stops this practice and protects the constitutional rights of Iowans.

HF 2218 – Narrowly construes the rule making authority for state agencies.

HF 2219 – Extends the period of time for a regulatory analysis of an administrative rule from 32 to 70 days.

House Republican Leader Kraig Paulsen (R-Hiawatha) delivered opening remarks to the Iowa House of Representatives today. The following are his remarks, as prepared for delivery:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, ladies and gentlemen of the House, family and friends:

First I want to start by welcoming Representative Royd Chambers back to the House. Thank you for your service, Royd, we’re very happy to have you home.

Obviously we have a difficult year ahead of us. But rather than look at this as a problem I hope this body will choose to see opportunity. Opportunity for a stronger Iowa, opportunity to create an efficient and open state government. An opportunity to give the state back to the people.

Last year we heard a lot of blame being passed out. House Republicans don’t think this is helpful. Wasn’t it President Truman who said, “the buck stops here?” Instead of blaming our state’s troubles on someone else, House Republicans have taken action and are ready to take action again this year.

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House Republican Leader Kraig Paulsen (R-Hiawatha) delivered closing remarks to the Iowa House of Representatives today. The following are his remarks, as prepared for delivery:

Thank you Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, ladies and gentleman of the House,

First I would like to thank my caucus. It is indeed a great honor to stand for you and represent you. We are 43 strong and we made a difference – be proud of your efforts and successes. Next year we will stand with 44 members as we welcome our friend Rep. Royd Chambers back from serving our country in the Middle East. We look forward to serving with him in this chamber again. Thank you to my leadership team: Rod, Jodi, Jeff, and Steve for your input and efforts. And a special thank you to the Republican Whip, Linda Upmeyer for your inexhaustible energy and focus.

I would also like to thank each of you who take the time away from your families and your lives at home to come to Des Moines and serve the people of the great state of Iowa. Our task is often difficult and grueling, so I think each one of you deserves thanks for giving so much of your time and energy.

The staff of this building who work hard to keep bills moving, get amendments drafted, and make sure things are up and running each day. Thank you. Specifically, I would like to thank my staff. Thank you Jeff, Josie, Noreen, Lew, Lon, Brad, Ann, Kelly, Jason, Matt and Tony. We like to say, and it continues to be true, that we have the most informed staff in the building.

Mr. Speaker – Mr. Majority Leader, I also want to thank you. Obviously we have some profound differences on policy, but that did not prevent us from working together when possible for the betterment of Iowans. You committed to me that House Republicans would have opportunities to engage and affect legislation and you followed through on that commitment. I thank you for that.

Most notably we began working this session effectively to respond to last year’s disaster through the newly formed Rebuild Iowa Committee – while we can debate whether we did enough in the right areas – Iowa will be better because we worked together.

Republicans and Democrats worked together to write a disaster relief package after listening to the concerns of Iowans. Of that, we should all be proud.

Unfortunately, much of the cooperation ended there.

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