Week one of the 2011 legislative session is in the books! It was a quick week and once again early childhood was in the hot seat!
HF 45 (formerly HSB 1) passed out of subcommittee on Tuesday and full Committee on Wednesday on a party line vote. ( If you recall, this bill eliminates the Statewide Voluntary Preschool Program in addition to providing significant cuts to other crucial programs for children and their families). Over 100 people attended the subcommittee meeting and testified against the bill. Unfortunately, the voices of those 100 people were not heard!
There are still opportunities to make our voices heard. There will be a public hearing on HF 45 on Tuesday, January 18th at 6:30 at the Capitol. You can sign up to speak for three minutes by contacting the Legislative Information Office at 515-281-5129 or you can submit written comments to lio@legis.state.ia.us. Also, Iowa House Democrats have launched a Save Preschool Website where you can leave comments in support of preschool.
You can also email your legislator and ask him/her to vote against HF 45. Find out who your legislator is by clicking here. (Use the find your legislator by city only - the find your legislator by address and city is currently not working on the Iowa General Assembly website).
Yet another opportunity to be heard is by attending your legislators public forum. These are held during legislative session on Fridays and/or Saturdays. These forums are designed for citizen involvement and legislators rely on you to attend. You have a chance to ask hard questions and hold them accountable. You can also thank them for working on issues that are important to you.
Iowa Senate Democrats Forum Schedule
Iowa House Republicans Forum Schedule (click on your legislators picture and click forum)
Iowa Senate Republicans Forum Schedule
I hope to make the process of finding when forums are held in your area a little easier but for now this is what we have to work with.
Also, this week, Governor Culver implemented current fiscal year "efficiency savings adjustments", aka budget cuts. DHS is hit pretty hard by these proposed cuts especially mental health services. Child care is also impacted. CCR&R and wrap-around grants will be reduced by $100,000 each and QRS reduced by $140,000. Child Care Assistance will be reduced by $348,000. FaDSS will also be reduced by $54,000. The legislature can use their authority to make supplemental appropriations to address these shortages.
This is a real quick update - I hope you find it useful. I will have a more complete legislative update next week!
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