Legislative leaders hope for less partisan bickering

DES MOINES — Iowa legislative leaders forecast fewer partisanstorms and even periods of sunny bipartisanship on high-profileissues such as reforming mental health, education and commercialproperty taxes and, perhaps, a gas tax increase.

Reaching agreement on any one of those issues early in thesession that gets underway at 10 a.m. Jan. 9 could serve as a modelfor the entire session, leaders say.

“If we can come to terms on any one of those early on, thenthere is an opportunity to use that momentum to tackle othersignificant issues,” House Speaker Kraig Paulsen, R-Hiawatha,said.

His counterpart across the rotunda, Senate Majority Leader MikeGronstal, D-Council Bluffs, hopes the Legislature can tackle thoseheadline issues the same way the worked with Gov. Terry Branstad onhis Iowa Partnership for Economic Progress (IPEP) proposal.

“Instead of doing what they do in Washington — spending alltheir time with brinksmanship and making the other side look bad,”Gronstal said, Democrats worked with the governor to findagreement.

“We were skeptical, but we were happy to work with the governoron creating something that is a partnership between the publicsector and the private sector,” he said. “”That’s what this sessionneeds to be about: finding common ground.”

He believes already there is a “broad, deep” bipartisan supportfor redesigning the delivery of mental health services. Democratsand Republicans want to hear the governor’s plans for educationreform and both parties concur on the need to change the commercialproperty tax code to encourage business development and jobcreations.

Senate Minority Leader Jerry Behn, R-Boone, promises the SenateGOP caucus will have a “laser-like focus” on jobs and jobscreation.

A part of that, he agreed, will be commercial property taxreform. However, the battle lines are being drawn a SenateDemocratic plan and one approved by the GOP-controlled House lastyear.

“We’re speaking about broad-based relief, not pick winners andlosers,” he said. The Democratic plan, he said, doesn’t offer thestability that business people need to make long-range plans.

“You can either have the innovators working on this or theimitators,” Behn stated in comparing the plans. “We’re the innovatorson this.”

In the House, Rep. Tyler Olson, D-Cedar Rapids, stated the “ballis in the House Republicans’ court.”

“It’s up to them whether they want to invest in Iowa or makearbitrary decisions to cut,” Olson said. “If people are in the moodto deal, it could be a productive session,” he said.

That’s up to McCarthy, Paulsen said.

“That’s a minority party decision whether it wants to be a partof a solution or stand in the way,” Paulsen said. House Republicans”have made commitments to Iowans and we are going to follow onthem.”

“The texture of the session feels entirely different,” McCarthysaid.

A year ago, Republicans began the session with an agenda thatincluded ending universal preschool, impeaching Supreme Courtjustices, limiting access to abortion and other “divisive andpartisan” issues that “tear at our social fabric,” he said.

“This year, to the governor’s credit, he is doing it the rightway. He’s reached out to us all summer, all fall,” McCarthy saidabout Branstad, a Republican. “That gives us some optimism forbipartisanship.”

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