Happenings in the House Week 5
This is the third super busy week for the legislature. The first funnel on February 16th is when House and Senate bills have to be through sub-committee and committee to survive. Tuesday, I ran a bill in Ways and Means Committee that allows the DNR flexibility in setting fees for cabin rentals in state parks. Today, I ran HF 2210 in sub-committee, which was concerning drainage districts and how they can be modified. Due to mitigating circumstances we decided to pull the bill rather than going forward with it and causing what might have been a difficult situation for farmers in south-western Iowa.The House revised its FY '18 budget this week. After careful consideration we were able to protect K-12 funding and Medicaid from receiving any cuts, and also softened cuts in may other areas that Iowans value. This budget plan is a common-sense approach to address our budget issues. We took the necessary measures to be more fiscally responsible, but softened cuts to Iowa's community colleges, court system, and Regent universities. Budget making is a difficult process, but is necessary to ensure the state's budget remains balanced.
The Palmer Amaranth Project (Professor and students from Simpson College, with help from BASF) gave us a presentation in Natural Resources today. It was a very interesting presentation on the danger that Iowa faces from Palmer Amaranth. With even light infestations in corn or soybeans, it will prevent farmers from being able to make a profit. Most of you have heard of Palmer Amaranth because it is totally resistant to Round-Up. The only time you can kill it is when it is about 4 in. tall. It is spread by migratory water fowl, song birds, equipment traffic from one area to another, and even people carrying it on their shoes.We all need to keep up on what is happening with this issue.
Amerigroup Iowa notified the Iowa DHS that the managed care organization (MCO) can begin to accept new Medicaid members. Starting March 1st, 10,000 members that were on the state fee-for service will be accepted by Amerigroup. New members will then be able to select United Healthcare or Amerigroup as their MCO starting May 1, 2018. This will restore the choice of MCOs for Medicaid members. I think one of things we need to work on, is trying to get some group policies designed that are outside of MCOs and the Affordable Care Act. Iowa used to have one of the best medical insurance programs in the nation until the passage of Obamacare wiped it out. Iowans responsible for their own health care have a serious problem (just as serious as medicaid patients) because of the current costs of individual policies.
It is a snowy end to a snowy week, who says we don't have old-fashioned winters any more?
Regards,
David E. Maxwell
State Representative
House District #76
Email:
Phone: 641-660-0792
Pictured above is Representative Maxwell and constituents from Iowa Realtors.
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