(Le Mars) — State lawmakers return to Des Moines on Monday to begin the 86th General Assembly, and 5th District Republican State Representative Chuck Soderberg of Le Mars expects the budget to consume the vast majority of the legislature’s time.
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Soderberg says estimates for the Iowa budget is to see an additional $200 million above what was spent last year. However, he says, that doesn’t necessarily mean the state has extra funds.
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Attention has been focused on Iowa’s deteroriating infrastructure system including repairing the highways, roads, and bridges. One proposal is to raise the fuel tax, since gasoline prices have come down. However, Soderberg doesn’t believe there is enough support in both chambers for an increase in the fuel tax.
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Soderberg has again been appointed to chair the House Appropriations Committee. Soderberg says he has a goal to present a balanced budget that will remain within the state’s budget principles.
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Soderberg says establishing good budget principles five years ago, has helped the state’s financial position today.
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Soderberg indicated he has not pre-filed or authored any bills for consideration. However, he says he has a personal goal to restructure the personal income tax program.
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One bill from last year’s session that was not able to gain enough support to become law was the “Silver Alert” Bill. The “Silver Alert” bill would be similar to the existing “Amber Alert” but instead of it being issued for a missing child, the “Silver Alert” bill would be issued when a senior citizen is missing. A family in Moville was particularly interested in seeing the “Silver Alert” bill being passed, since a senior citizen relative, who has dimentia, has been missing since August of 2013. Soderberg says he supports the bill and would like to see it passed.
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