Iowa Senate Democrats

Category: News releases

  • Priorities, top committee assignments for 2021

    Iowa Senate Democratic Leader Zach Wahls of Coralville today announced Senators who will lead the Democrats’ efforts on the various committees.

    “As we prepare for the 2021 legislative session, Iowa Senate Democrats are focused on rebuilding our broken economy, protecting Iowans from the COVID-19 pandemic, and expanding efforts to improve the quality of life in all 99 counties,” Wahls said. “We will support bipartisan efforts to expand affordable housing in rural and small towns, ensure that all Iowans have access to high-speed broadband, and improve access to affordable health care.”

    Wahls appointed these Democrats to lead Senate Committees:

    Standing Committees

    Agriculture: Sen. Kevin Kinney of rural Oxford

    Appropriations: Sen. Joe Bolkcom of Iowa City

    Commerce: Sen. Jim Lykam of Davenport

    Education: Sen. Herman Quirmbach of Ames

    Ethics: Sen. Pam Jochum of Dubuque

    Government Oversight: Sen. Claire Celsi of West Des Moines

    Human Resources: Sen. Liz Mathis of Hiawatha

    Judiciary: Sen. Kevin Kinney of Oxford

    Labor & Business Relations: Sen. Nate Boulton of Des Moines

    Local Government: Sen. Jackie Smith of Sioux City

    Natural Resources & Env.: Sen. Trone Garriott of Windsor Heights

    Rules & Administration: Sen. Zach Wahls of Coralville

    State Government: Sen. Tony Bisignano of Des Moines

    Transportation: Sen. Eric Giddens of Cedar Falls

    Veterans Affairs: Sen. Eric Giddens of Cedar Falls

    Ways & Means: Sen. Pam Jochum of Dubuque

    Appropriations Subcommittees

    Administration & Regulation: Sen. Claire Celsi of West Des Moines

    Agriculture & Natural Resources: Sen. Rob Hogg of Cedar Rapids

    Economic Development: Sen. Bill Dotzler of Waterloo

    Education: Sen. Jackie Smith of Sioux City

    Health & Human Services: Sen. Amanda Ragan of Mason City

    Justice Systems: Sen. Todd Taylor of Cedar Rapids

    Transportation, Capitals: Sen. Janet Petersen of Des Moines

    Administrative Rules Review Committee (ARRC): Sen. Pam Jochum of Dubuque

    -End-

  • Unemployment rate much higher than Reynolds Administration estimate

    A statement by Senator Herman C. Quirmbach, D-Ames:

    “Today’s press release from the Reynolds Administration on Iowa unemployment dramatically underrepresents the actual situation in Iowa.  While the release claims Iowa unemployment is 3.6%, a more accurate unemployment number is 10.3%.  

    “Iowa Workforce Development (IWD) reported this October that the number of ‘unemployed’ Iowans was 58,500.  However, IWD only counts people who have lost their jobs as ‘unemployed’ if they are still looking for work.  Not counted by IWD are another 121,500 Iowans out of a job over the last 12 months who have given up trying to find a job.  Added together, the actual number of Iowans who are unemployed relative to a year ago is 180,000, three times the 58,500 Iowans currently reported by IWD.

    “When we include all the Iowans out of a job over the last year, Iowa’s actual unemployment rate is 10.3%, and the actual number of Iowans who have lost their jobs is approximately 180,000.

    “The picture is equally bleak looking at the employment side.  Compared to a year ago, there were 130,800 fewer jobs in Iowa this October.  That’s 130,800 fewer paychecks to pay the rent or mortgage, to put food on the table, to pay medical bills, or to pay for heat this winter.  Christmas is going to be thin this year for those 130,800 Iowa families.

    —  30 —

    Senator Quirmbach holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Princeton and taught as an economics professor at ISU for 29 years.

  • Trone Garriott elected in Senate District 22

    For more information: Sarah Trone Garriott: 515-6619679

    Sarah Trone Garriott’s election to the Iowa State Senate has been confirmed by the completion of a recount.

    “Scott Cirksena called me this afternoon to congratulate me on the race. I appreciate that he reached out personally, and I look forward to working with him as Mayor of Clive and a constituent in my district.” 

    “There’s a lot of work ahead of us to ensure Iowa steps up the fight against the COVID pandemic and helps get the Iowa economy back on track,” said Trone Garriott.  “I will work with everyone at the Iowa Statehouse so that all Iowa children, no matter where they live, get a great education.  We must make sure every person who lives in Iowa has a voice and the opportunity to build a better life here.”

    “I’m thankful to the people of Senate District 22 for putting their trust in me. I promise to continue listening and learning from my constituents and take their concerns to the Statehouse,” said Trone Garriott.  “I also want to thank the many volunteers who made my campaign possible. A competitive 3-way primary prepared me for the general election, and I thank my Democratic challengers Tricia Gavin and Michael Libbie for their strong campaigns.”

    “The county auditors and election workers in Dallas and Polk Counties deserve praise for their outstanding work on this election,” Trone Garriott said.  “Iowans can be proud of our state’s efficient, nonpartisan approach to elections.”

    Sarah Trone Garriott is the Coordinator of Interfaith Engagement for the Des Moines Area Religious Council, the area’s largest food pantry network. A Lutheran minister, she has worked as a hospital chaplain and assisted survivors of domestic violence as an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer.  Trone Garriott and her husband Will have two children and live in Windsor Heights.

    Trone Garriott will represent Senate District 22.  It includes Clive, Waukee, Windsor Heights and portions of West Des Moines.

    — End —

  • Wahls elected Senate Democratic Leader

    Zach Wahls to lead Iowa Senate Democrats

    Democratic members of the Iowa Senate elected Sen. Zach Wahls of Coralville today to serve as the new Democratic Leader of the Iowa Senate.

    Senator Wahls released this statement: 

    “I am honored to have been elected by my colleagues to serve as the Iowa Senate’s Democratic Leader. As the Senator representing Cedar, Johnson, and Muscatine counties, my district spans urban, suburban, small town, and rural Iowa. I see firsthand the growing gap between the wealthiest few and the majority of Iowans across our state. A rising cost of living with stagnant wages meant that too many Iowa families were struggling — and that was before the coronavirus pandemic gripped our state.

    “Senate Democrats will be focused on defeating the coronavirus with decisive action supporting essential workers, protecting Iowa families, and assisting small businesses. The impact of this pandemic on Iowa’s economy, public health, and especially our senior citizens, cannot be overstated. We must get our state back on a path to complete economic recovery.

    “Finally, I wish to express my gratitude to Senator Janet Petersen for her leadership and look forward to working with her to ensure a smooth transition as I assume the responsibilities of serving as the Democratic Leader. Her passion for Iowa families, mothers, and babies will remain a key priority for our caucus when the Legislature reconvenes in January.” 

    Wahls was elected to the Iowa Senate in 2018. He represents Senate District 37, which includes Coralville, western Iowa City and Solon in Johnson County; all of Cedar County; and the city of Wilton in Muscatine County. Wahls currently serves as a Vice President at GreenState Credit Union. Wahls and his fiancée, Chloe Angyal, live in Coralville. 

    This afternoon, Senate Democrats also elected Amanda Ragan of Mason City as Democratic Whip and elected five Assistant Leaders for the 2021 session: Nate Boulton of Des Moines, Bill Dotzler of Waterloo, Pam Jochum of Dubuque, Herman Quirmbach of Ames, and Jackie Smith of Sioux City.

    Senator-elect Sarah Trone Garriott of Windsor Heights also joined the virtual caucus.

    The 2021 Legislative Session starts on Monday, January 11. 

    # # #

  • Statement on Governor’s latest COVID steps

    Statement from Senate Democratic Leader Janet Petersen 

    “Governor Reynolds’ latest steps to fight COVID are like buying a smoke detector after your house is blazing out of control. 

    “Iowa has one of the highest positivity rates in the nation, making more schools unsafe to hold in-person classes. Hospitals are above capacity for COVID and non-COVID patients. Iowans are finding it difficult to impossible to get tested for COVID. And the death count is spiking. 

    “For eight months, Governor Reynolds has unilaterally led a COVID strategy,  damaging the Iowa economy and leaving business owners and workers at her mercy. If the Governor had listened from day one to health care experts – including the White House Coronavirus Task Force – more Iowans would be alive today and the Iowa economy would be rebounding.”

    -end-

  • The Truth about Iowa Unemployment

    Statement by Senator Herman C. Quirmbach, D-Ames:

    “The headline today from the Reynolds administration of 4.7% unemployment in Iowa wildly underrepresents the dire current unemployment situation in Iowa.  A truer unemployment number would be 12.3%.

    “What the Iowa Workforce Development press release says up top is that there were 76,600 unemployed Iowans this September.  That is up from 48,700 unemployed in September a year ago.  That is a 57. 3% increase in the number of unemployed in just 12 months.  That would be bad enough, but the full story is much worse.

    “Only in the fine print at the bottom of the news release do you get the full picture.  In addition to the 76,600 unemployed workers, there are another 138,400 Iowans who have left the labor force in the last 12 months.  If all those people were also still looking for jobs, the unemployment rate would be 12.3%.

    “Here’s how people quitting looking skews the unemployment number.  The way unemployment is calculated is a little strange.  If you lost your job and are looking for a new one, you are counted as unemployed.  However, if you lost your job and have gotten so discouraged about your prospects that you have given up even looking, you are no longer counted as unemployed.  Indeed, you aren’t even counted as being in the labor force!  You’re called a ‘discouraged worker’ and become invisible to IWD when it computes the unemployment rate.

    “During the year, there is always some degree of churn in the labor force.  Older folks retire.  Young folks get out of school and look for a first job.  New parents leave and then reenter the labor force around the period when their kids are young.  People move in and out of the state.

    “But a loss of 138,400 workers is not normal churn.  That’s a loss of nearly 8% of the workforce—not quite 1 of every 12 workers—in just 12 months!  If job prospects were better, most of them would still be at least looking.

    “The Iowa economy will not recover until we crush the coronavirus.  And that won’t happen until we get serious about masks, widespread testing, and contact tracing.   Instead Governor Reynolds obstinately refuses to follow the White House Coronavirus Task Force recommendation to mandate masks.  With COVID-19 cases surging—nearly 7,700 in the last week, per the New York Times—contact tracing is unmanageable, even if Iowa were seriously trying, which we are not. 

    “Until the Reynolds administration is willing to commit to a serious effort to end the pandemic, Iowa businesses, Iowa consumers, and Iowa workers will continue to suffer.  No amount of rosy press releases and misleading claims will do the trick.”

    -end-

    Senator Quirmbach holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Princeton and taught as an economics professor at ISU for 29 years.

  • Statement on Governor’s misuse of federal COVID funds

    Statement by Senator Claire Celsi on findings by State Auditor and U.S. Treasury Department’s Inspector General on misuse of federal COVID relief funds by Governor Reynolds

    Sen. Claire Celsi is Ranking Member of the Senate Administration and Regulation Subcommittee

    “I am disappointed that Governor Reynolds used taxpayer money intended for COVID-19 related uses for non-pandemic expenditures. 

    ”These findings, discovered during Auditor Rob Sands’ review and confirmed by the Treasury Department’s Inspector General, prove that Governor Reynolds misused more than $20 million of federal funds the state received to fund COVID-19 relief measures that are desperately needed in our state.

    “Instead of directing more money to testing and contact tracing, paid sick leave for essential workers, food assistance, childcare subsidies, additional money for rent assistance, unemployment insurance, utility assistance, providing PPE to healthcare workers and educators, and to help schools prepare for the winter season — and myriad of other uses —  Governor Reynolds is using the CARES Act money as a means to fund pet projects and make Iowa’s budget appear flush with excess funds.

    “The U.S. Treasury had explicit rules on how this money could be used, and upon examination, it appears those rules were ignored.

    “A few months ago, I asked State Auditor Rob Sand to investigate the use of COVID-19 relief money to fund Workday, an IT project that was already underway before the pandemic.

    “Normally, the Senate Oversight Committee would investigate this type of action, but Auditor Sands’ independent investigation is the only option we have at this time. I fully support his critical examination of this misappropriation of taxpayer dollars.

    “I urge Department of Management Director Roderer and Governor Reynolds to immediately rectify this situation and use the COVID-19 funding for COVID-19 expenses, not as a supplement to our normal Iowa general fund budget.”

    -end-

  • Investigation needed into misuse of federal COVID funds

    Iowa Senate News Release
    September 16, 2020

    Key Democratic Legislators call for investigations into misuse of federal COVID funds

    Key Democratic legislators are calling for investigations into reports that Governor Reynolds diverted nearly $450,000 to pay her staff instead of using the funds for COVID-19 relief efforts. 

    “At a time when the number of jobless Iowans is through the roof and many Iowa businesses are hurting because of the pandemic, Iowa taxpayers should have confidence that federal COVID relief funds are being used only to help them,” said Sen. Joe Bolkcom, Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

    “Instead of using funds that are desperately needed to provide relief to hard-working Iowans and closed or struggling businesses hurt by the pandemic, the Governor is diverting the relief funding for other purposes.  That’s not right.”

    A report by Bleeding Heartland uncovered public documents showing that Reynolds directed that $448,449 in funding received through the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act were used to cover salaries and benefits for staff already working in her office.

    The diversion is even more puzzling because the Legislature approved and the Governor signed legislation to appropriate more than $4.6 million to cover the cost of running the Governor’s office – including salaries and benefits – over the past two years. 

    “We need to find out what the Governor did with the extra money. The intent of the federal aid was not to allow the Governor to set up a slush fund,” Bolkcom said. “We also need to find out if this diversion is continuing.”

    For the past six months, none of the documents released to the public and legislators contained any information about this diversion of funds.

    “Instead of transparency by the Governor and her staff, they are hiding the ball from Iowa taxpayers,” Bolkcom said.

    Democratic Senators called for a three-pronged effort to investigate this misuse of public funds:

    • First, Senator Claire Celsi of West Des Moines, Ranking Member of the Administration and Regulation Budget Subcommittee, will request that the State Auditor immediately investigate the diversion of funds. The Subcommittee appropriated $2,303,954 for the Governor’s office during Fiscal Year 2020 (July 1, 2019, through June 30, 2020) and $2,315,344 for Fiscal Year 2021 (July 1, 2020, through June 30, 2021).
    • Second, Senator Tony Bisignano,  Ranking Member of the Government Oversight Committee, will request that the Oversight Committee convene to allow Republican and Democratic lawmakers to question the Governor, the Director of the Department of Management and other key officials with knowledge of this diversion.
    • Third, federal officials in U.S. General Accountability Office (GAO) will be contacted to investigate whether paying existing staff is an appropriate use of COVID relief funds.

    END

  • “The time for half-hearted public relations gestures is over.”

    State Senator Herman Quirmbach
    News Release: August 27, 2020

    “Governor Reynolds’ proclamation today closed bars in six counties, including Story County. Her action is an appropriate response, in part, to the irresponsible mass student parties of the last several weeks.

    “However, it is also in part an admission of the failure of her earlier response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Reynolds’ refusal to listen to medical experts has contributed to the spread of COVID-19, leading to increasing death and disease and making it harder to restart both Iowa’s economy and Iowa’s schools on a sustainable basis.

    “Governor Reynolds opened the state too fast, failed to set a good example, and continues to prevent good decision-making by local authorities.

    “I call on Governor Reynolds to step up and meet the challenge of this moment. If we are to avoid further backward steps that will revisit the economic damage of this spring, she must at minimum immediately issue a statewide order for the use of masks in public.

    “If she lacks the courage to do so, then she should allow local authorities to make the tough decisions for their own communities and schools.

    “The time for half-hearted public relations gestures is over.”

    -end-

  • Senate GOP failed to support bipartisan effort to restore voting rights

    Statement by Senate Democratic Leader Janet Petersen
    August 5, 2020

    “With the General Election less than 100 days away and in the absence of leadership by Senate Republicans, an executive order was the best way to give a second chance to many Iowans who lost their voting rights when they went to prison.

    “However, this is a temporary solution. A permanent solution was blocked by Senate Republicans, who failed to amend the Iowa Constitution to allow more Iowans to vote. Sen. Brad Zaun, Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, waited until the 11th hour of the 2020 session to finally get it through the Judiciary Committee but there was no effort to bring it to a vote by the full Senate.

    “Like most Iowans, we cheered last year when the Iowa House – on a 95-2 vote – approved a key, bipartisan priority: restoring voting rights of felons. We agreed with the Governor when she said the bipartisan vote in the Iowa House was ‘a victory for Iowans who deserve a second chance.’

    “There’s no excuse for Senator Zaun and Senate Republicans dropping the ball on this.”

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