Iowa Senate Democrats

Fighting for a Better Deal for Iowans.

  • Statement on election of new Senate Republican Leaders 

    Iowa Senate News Release
    For Immediate Release:  March 14, 2018 

     

    Statement from Senate Democratic Leader Janet Petersen 

    “Congratulations to Senator Whitver and Senator Schneider on being selected the new leaders of the Senate Republicans.

    “In the wake of Senator Dix’s resignation, Senators Whitver and Schneider have an obligation to finally get it right and change a culture at the Iowa Capitol that is currently putting lobbyists, special interests, and political arrogance ahead of the interests of Iowa families.

    “Senators Whitver and Schneider should finally take responsibility for the sexual harassment, discrimination and retaliation against former Senate Republican staffer Kirsten Anderson by Republican Senators and staff. After footing the bill for a $1.75 million settlement in Kirsten Anderson’s lawsuit against Senate Republicans, Iowa taxpayers deserve nothing less.

    “Iowa taxpayers’ dollars should have never been used as a slush fund to cover the cost of sexual harassment by Senate Republicans. Senators Whitver and Schneider should turn over all campaign funds raised by Senator Dix to begin to cover the costs of the illegal behavior by their caucus.”

    -end-

  • Statement on resignation of Senate Republican Leader 

    Iowa Senate News Release
    For Immediate Release:  March 12, 2018 

    Statement from Senate Democratic Leader Janet Petersen
    on resignation of Senate Republican Leader 

    “With Senator Dix’s resignation, Republican Senators have an opportunity to finally get it right and change a culture at the Iowa Capitol that puts lobbyists, special interests, and political arrogance ahead of the interests of Iowa families.

    “Republican Senators have an obligation to elect a new leader who will take responsibility for the sexual harassment, discrimination and retaliation against former Senate Republican staffer Kirsten Anderson by Republican Senators and staff. After footing the bill for a $1.75 million settlement in Kirsten Anderson’s lawsuit against Senate Republicans, Iowa taxpayers deserve nothing less.

    “It is shameful that the only person fired in this whole scandal was the victim. No Republican Senators or staff were punished for their wrongdoing in this case. And many staffers have reported that they are still afraid to report harassment at the Capitol.

    “There is a reckoning in our country on the issue of harassment in the workplace. The new Senate Republican leader should be someone who will hold Republican Senators and staff accountable for their actions in the Kirsten Anderson case and take steps immediately to address this issue.”

    -end –

  • Statement on Senate Republican Leader Bill Dix

    Iowa Senate News Release
    For Immediate Release:  March 12, 2018 

    Statement from Senate Democratic Leader Janet Petersen on Senate Republican Leader Bill Dix

    “The video posted on Iowa Starting Line is a serious matter for Senate Republican Leader Bill Dix to discuss with his family, his fellow Senate Republicans and Governor Reynolds.

    “Because this involves Senator Dix and a lobbyist, there will be questions about the impact of this relationship on legislation.

    “This incident follows Senator Dix’s failure to take any responsibility for the $1.75 million settlement that resulted from the sexual harassment, discrimination and retaliation against former Senate Republican staffer Kirsten Anderson by Republican Senators and staff.”

    -end-

  • Statehouse Republicans ‘still have a giant budget mess on their hands’

    Iowa Senate News Release
    For Immediate Release: March 9, 2018

      

    Statement by Senator Joe Bolkcom on updated revenue estimates

    “You can’t put lipstick on a pig. No matter how Statehouse Republicans try to spin it, they still have a giant budget mess on their hands.

    “Here’s the truth:

    • Governor Reynolds and legislative Republicans have NO agreement on how to balance the current year’s budget.
    • Governor Reynolds and legislative Republicans have NO plan for balancing next year’s budget.
    • Statehouse Republicans have put $144 million on the state’s credit card in an attempt to balance FY17 budget.
    • Governor Reynolds and legislative Republicans are moving a bloated tax plan that gives most of the benefits to millionaires and big corporations.
    • Governor Reynolds and legislative Republicans are laying the groundwork to break a promise to Iowans that will result in higher property taxes.

    “What’s to blame? An agenda by Governor Reynolds and legislative Republicans that includes grossly under-funding our local schools; turning Iowa’s respected, state-run Medicaid safety net into a national disaster; weakening the rights of workers and driving down wages; and showering out-of-state corporations with an all-you-can-eat buffet of tax cuts and tax credits.

    “Senate Democrats still stand ready to work with legislative Republicans and the Governor on a mid-course correction that will restore fiscal stability to our state budget by investing in our schools and job-creation initiatives, and taking a serious look at out-of-control spending on tax credits.”

    -end-

  • Statement on deferred confirmation vote for DHS Director

    Iowa Senate News Release
    For Immediate Release:  March 7, 2018

    Senate Democratic Leader Janet Petersen on deferred confirmation vote for DHS Director

    “We made a reasonable request today to delay the confirmation vote on Jerry Foxhoven until we can fully assess his leadership at the Iowa Department of Human Services.

    “First, there’s no need to rush this important decision. The deadline to deal with confirmations isn’t until April 15.

    “Second, there are too many unresolved problems with the privatization of Medicaid services by the Reynolds Administration. This is particularly concerning because Governor Reynolds promised in her Condition of the State address this year that Jerry Foxhoven and other new members of her team would:

    • Resolve issues for caregivers ‘in a timely manner and ensure on-time payments.’
    • Reach patients in ‘new and innovative ways to individualize their care.’
    • ‘Make it right.’

    “There’s no evidence today that she has kept those promises or has a plan for addressing the concerns of Medicaid recipients, health care providers and Iowa taxpayers.

    “In addition, Senate Democrats have concerns related to:

    • Plans to turn the Iowa State Training School for Boys in Eldora into a correctional facility.
    • Foxhoven failing to raise red flags about the impact of mid-year budget cuts on critical services provided by the Department of Human Services.
    • Doubts about the state’s ability to ensure the health and safety of vulnerable Iowa children.”

    -end-

     

  • Senator Petersen’s prepared remarks on SF 2281

    Iowa Senate News Release
    For Immediate Release:  February 28, 2018

     

    Senator Petersen’s prepared remarks on SF 2281,
    extreme abortion restrictions

    I believe every Iowa woman in our state should have the FREEDOM to care for her body without government intervening.

    I believe every Iowa woman should have the FREEDOM to decide if and when she wants to be a parent.

    Unfortunately, that is becoming nearly impossible with Republicans in control of the Iowa Senate.

    It has been a rough two years for Iowa women with Republicans in power.

    Last year, every Republican in the Iowa Senate sponsored and voted for a bill that nearly destroyed Iowa’s Family Planning Network.

    Republicans forced Iowa women to find new health care providers.

    Republicans banned many of the state’s most highly qualified providers from participating in their GOP Family Planning program.

    Republican senators banned Iowa women from seeking medical care from doctors, clinics and hospitals while they continue to go to them or send their own family members to them as part of their health insurance plan that Iowa taxpayer’s cover.

    Republican Senators and staff were found guilty of creating a toxic work environment for former communications director Kirsten Anderson, which resulted in a $1.75 million settlement innocent taxpayers paid.

    On top of that – Republican senators charged taxpayers millions of dollars more for their GOP Family Planning bill that provides less care to fewer women.

    So now, Senate Republicans are back for more – forcing motherhood on Iowa women.

    This bill is dangerous.

    This bill is unconstitutional.

    This bill devalues Iowa women.

    This bill impacts every girl and every woman in our state from the time they get their period to the time they take their last breath.

    This bill puts a 6-week ban on abortion.

    The only exception to this medical ban is if a woman’s life is at stake.

    THE ONLY EXCEPTION IS TO PREVENT DEATH.

    There are no other provisions in IOWA CODE that say an Iowan cannot access medical care UNLESS it is to prevent death –

    Iowans in prison have more medical rights than Iowa women and girls would have under this bill.

    Even a corpse in Iowa would have more rights than women and girls are given under this legislation.

    Even livestock in Iowa have more health care rights than this bill gives to Iowa women and girls.

    It is hard to believe we are even having this debate on a piece of legislation that devalues the bodies and decision-making skills of Iowa women and girls.

    Imagine if we included men in the Republican’s new definition of MEDICAL EMERGENCY, saying the fate of male reproductive organs didn’t matter unless you were dying.

    This bill tells Iowa women and girls that forced pregnancy is more important than their health and well-being.

    This bill puts forced pregnancy ahead of helping women and girls take care of their bodies.

    This bill doesn’t just impact women, it impacts girls.

    There are no age restrictions in this legislation.

    There is no exception for a 9-year-old Iowa girl who is the victim of rape.

    Under the Republican bill – you would force a child rape victim to have a baby no matter how young she is.

    That is unfathomable.

    Senate Republicans refused to take up legislation to give victims of child sexual abuse more time to go after their perpetrators for civil damages – a bill that could have prevented serial perpetrators from raping more children.

    Yet, in this bill Senate Republicans have no problem going after Iowa doctors – by threatening to put them in prison – for terminating a pregnancy if they believe is in the best interest of the child.

    Why do Senate Republicans have it out for Iowa doctors?

    Apparently the only doctors Senate Republicans trust are COMPANY DOCTORS that keep workers from accessing decent workers compensation for injuries on the job.

    Going after doctors who provide women’s health care is shameful.

    What doctor would want to practice in a state that threatens to put them in prison for doing what is in the best interest of her patient????

    This bill is a direct attack on women’s health care across our state.

    If this bill were to become law, our state may lose its only residency program for OB/GYNs at the University of Iowa – a highly successful program where one-third of the OBG residency graduates remain in Iowa to practice.

    Even if it is able to keep its residency program, it will be a logistical nightmare to ensure our future doctors get the training they need to graduate.

    If there are no places to train future doctors in Iowa on how to safely do an abortion procedure – where will the UI send its residents?

    They will have to go out of state.

    That brings extra costs, extra time and extra headaches for residents.

    What will that equate to for our state?

    It will mean fewer OB/GYN students choosing University of Iowa as a place where they would like to attend medical school.

    It will mean fewer OB/GYNs choosing to practice in Iowa.

    Iowa is already ranked next to last in the nation for OBG physicians per capita with 2/3 of Iowa counties not having a single OBG physician.

    (Iowa is only ahead of Arkansas)

    When you lose doctors in rural Iowa, maternal health care outcomes suffer.

    Iowa is already dangerously low in our number of OB/GYNs.

    I don’t think any of us want our state to be known as a place with poor birth outcomes, more high-risk pregnancies and unhealthy births that result in long-term health issues.

    Our state should be the safest place in the country to have a baby – not the most dangerous place to have a baby.

    A study published last September in the journal of Health Affairs found that 1 in 10 rural counties had lost their OB-GYN wards in the past 10 years.

    Iowa women and girls deserve access to the best medical care possible.

    Iowa woman and girls deserve the ability to take care of their bodies without politicians interfering with their decisions.

    We are already seeing dangerous results of the GOP Family Planning bill that is costing taxpayers millions of dollars more – and resulting in less care for women and less access to family planning.

    This bill – which is unconstitutional – will once again charge Iowa taxpayers with a huge bill.  You’ve already charged them more than $3 million with last year’s GOP Family Planning Bill and $1.75 million to cover the costs of the Senate Republican sexual harassment lawsuit.  And now you are at it again with this bill, which will tie up our underfunded and understaffed court system and cost Iowa taxpayers millions of dollars.

    This bill will not make our state a safe place to have a baby.  In fact, it will do the opposite.

    This bill won’t just impact the Iowa women and girls who are forced into motherhood – it will affect all women and girls needing access to OB/GYNs and safe, accessible reproductive health care services in Iowa.

    This bill is dangerous.  This bill is unconstitutional.

    Tell Iowa women and girls that you believe in them.

    Tell Iowa women and girls you care about their ability to take care of their own bodies.

    Tell Iowa women and girls you don’t believe it is right to inject your power into the most private decision-making moments of their lives.

    Please VOTE NO.

    Your political power doesn’t belong inside an Iowa girl’s uterus or the uterus any Iowa woman.

    – end –

  • Democrats denounce secret meeting on Medicaid problems

    News Release
    For Immediate Release: February 21, 2018

     

    DES MOINES — Four key Democratic state legislators today denounced plans by officials with Governor Kim Reynolds’s Administration to have a closed-door meeting to discuss the failed Medicaid privatization experiment.

    The four legislators – Senators Amanda Ragan and Liz Mathis and Representatives Lisa Heddens and Beth Wessel-Kroeschell – were reacting to plans by Iowa Medicaid Director Michael Randol to hold a closed-door meeting with Medicaid providers on Thursday, February 22.

    The stated purpose of the meeting is to identify and discuss payment issues that Iowa health care providers are having with privatized Medicaid.

    Here’s a joint statement from the four Democratic legislators:

    “This meeting should be open to the public because problems with Medicaid affect all Iowa taxpayers, more than 600,000 Medicaid members and healthcare providers across the state.

    “Hundreds of hospitals, nursing homes and other Iowa healthcare providers face financial jeopardy because of Medicaid privatization. This issue affects Iowans in every county.

    “If there’s going to be a bipartisan solution to this problem, more – not fewer – Iowans should be at the table for the discussion.”

     Requests by legislators to attend the meeting have been denied.

    The four legislators also renewed their concerns about a proposal by the Reynolds Administration to eliminate much of the oversight for the privatized Medicaid program.

    Sen. Ragan and Rep. Heddens are ranking members of their respective Health and Human Services Appropriations subcommittees, and Sen. Mathis and Rep. Beth Wessel-Kroeschell are ranking members of their respective Human Resources committees.

    -end-

  • Senate Democrat responds to Senate GOP tax plan

    Iowa Senate News Release
    For Immediate Release:  February 21, 2018

     

    DES MOINES — Senator Pam Jochum of Dubuque, the lead Democrat in the Iowa Senate on tax issues, responded to a tax plan released today by Senate Republicans.

    Although the proposal from the Senate Republicans leaves many unanswered questions, Jochum provided this initial response:

    “The tax plan offered by Senate Republicans today must be viewed in light of disastrous tax-cut plans approved in Kansas and Oklahoma, which have resulted in massive cuts to education, public safety and other vital services. In fact, Kansas abandoned failed trickle-down tax cuts and Oklahoma’s Republican Governor is actually proposing higher taxes to dig her state out a fiscal mess.”

    Today, Jochum renewed her offer to work in a bipartisan manner on a tax plan that meets these principles:

    • Tax reform must be fair. Iowa’s tax system has a number of tax brackets in an attempt make the income tax system progressive so that those with lower incomes pay at lower rates. However, according to the Iowa Policy Project, when all state and local taxes are accounted for, Iowa’s lowest income earners pay the largest portion of their income in taxes. Changes to Iowa’s tax system should address this situation and not make this problem worse.

     

    • Tax reform must make Iowa’s tax code more transparent so Iowa can show its true competitiveness to the nation. Iowa’s tax code has become a confusing collection of credits, deductions and exemptions that has left the state with high tax rates that do not accurately reflect the cost of living and doing business in Iowa. Our tax rates appear to be among the highest in the nation — but according to the Tax Foundation, the amount paid by Iowans through our tax system ranks Iowa in the middle of the pack.

     

    • Tax reform needs to take into account our current budget situation. We just completed a legislative session where funding was slashed for nearly every part of state government, and there is no sign the situation will be improving next year. We must not repeat the mistakes of Kansas, which passed massive tax cuts that have resulted in a continual budget crisis where schools are underfunded and has forced the state to balance the budget by stealing from road funds and raising other taxes.

     

    • Tax reform needs to examine corporate tax credits. We have cut state funding for vital state programs that serve some of our youngest and most vulnerable Iowans. So far corporate tax credits have been exempt from these cuts. We must determine if these corporate tax credits a good return on the investment and benefit Iowans, not just those few businesses.

     

    – end –

  • Senate Democrat responds to Governor’s new tax plan

    Iowa Senate News Release
    For Immediate Release:  February 13, 2018

     

    DES MOINES — Senator Pam Jochum of Dubuque, the lead Democrat in the Iowa Senate on tax issues, responded to Governor Kim Reynolds’s tax plan.

    Although the news release from the Governor’s office leaves many unanswered questions, Jochum raised two red flags about the plan:

    • “This plan does not touch corporate tax credits, which is the fastest-growing part of the state budget. That’s a big, big mistake and it’s unfair to working families.”
    • “Any tax cut plan for Iowa must be viewed in light of disastrous tax-cut plans approved in Kansas and Oklahoma, which have resulted in massive cuts to education, public safety, health care and other vital services. In fact, Kansas abandoned failed trickle-down tax cuts and Oklahoma’s Republican Governor is actually proposing higher taxes to dig her state out a fiscal mess in the wake of massive tax cuts.”

    Last June, Jochum wrote a letter to Reynolds, offering to work with the Governor on a bipartisan tax plan.

    “During your inaugural speech, you signaled that you planned to build on your experiences in the Iowa Senate and how you want to work together to make Iowa a better place. After a session marked by extreme legislation pushed through in a partisan manner, that will be a welcome change,” Jochum wrote to the Governor.

    Even though the Governor never responded to the letter or reached out to Senate Democrats for their ideas, Jochum renewed her offer today to work in a bipartisan manner on a tax plan that meets these principles:

    1. Tax reform must be fair. Iowa’s tax system has a number of tax brackets in an attempt make the income tax system progressive so that those with lower incomes pay at lower rates. However, according to the Iowa Policy Project, when all state and local taxes are accounted for, Iowa’s lowest income earners pay the largest portion of their income in taxes. Changes to Iowa’s tax system should address this situation and not make this problem worse.
    2. Tax reform must make Iowa’s tax code more transparent so Iowa can show its true competitiveness to the nation. Iowa’s tax code has become a confusing collection of credits, deductions and exemptions that has left the state with high tax rates that do not accurately reflect the cost of living and doing business in Iowa. Our tax rates appear to be among the highest in the nation — but according to the Tax Foundation, the amount paid by Iowans through our tax system ranks Iowa in the middle of the pack.
    3. Tax reform needs to take into account our current budget situation. We just completed a legislative session where funding was slashed for nearly every part of state government, and there is no sign the situation will be improving next year. We must not repeat the mistakes of Kansas, which passed massive tax cuts that have resulted in a continual budget crisis where schools are underfunded and has forced the state to balance the budget by stealing from road funds and raising other taxes.
    4. Tax reform needs to examine corporate tax credits. We have cut state funding for vital state programs that serve some of our youngest and most vulnerable Iowans. So far corporate tax credits have been exempt from these cuts. We must determine if these corporate tax credits a good return on the investment and benefit Iowans, not just those few businesses.

    – End –

  • Republican Senators reject proposal to ensure students don’t pay price for harassment judgment

    Iowa Senate News Release
    For Immediate Release:  February 8, 2018


    DES MOINES – All 29 Republican State Senators today rejected a proposal to ensure that community college students aren’t on the hook for a sexual harassment judgment against Republican Senators and staff.

    Senator Herman Quirmbach of Ames offered an amendment today to a budget bill (Senate File 2117) that would have reduced the size of mid-year budget cuts proposed by Senate Republicans and restored $1.75 million to the state’s community colleges.

    The $1.75 million mirrors the amount of a settlement reached last year between Iowa Senate Republican leaders and Kirsten Anderson, a former Senate Republican staffer who was sexually harassed over a period of years at the Capitol. Instead of taking her seriously, Senate Republican Leader Bill Dix of Shell Rock fired Anderson seven hours after she filed a harassment complaint with Republican leaders.

    “We’ve heard from many Iowans who are not happy about paying the $1.75 million settlement,” Quirmbach said. “Today, I gave Republican Senators a choice. If they believed that that Iowa community college students should NOT pay for the bad behavior of the Senate Republican caucus, they could have voted YES! Instead, all 29 Republican Senators voted to keep community college students on the hook for the $1.75 million settlement against Senate Republicans.

    “Community college students and other taxpayers expect more from their leaders.”

    – end –