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Kaufmann said state legislators scrutinizing $500M ‘giveaways’
by Gregory R. Norfleet · News · February 15, 2018
State Rep. Bobby Kaufmann said legislators found $500 million in the Iowa budget due for scrutiny, opening up the possibility of shifting some of it to other areas, like public education.
Visiting West Branch on Saturday, the Wilton Republican said elected officials identified a list of “tax credits and tax giveaways that have been on autopilot for the better part of a decade.”
Gov. Kim Reynolds wants to put that money toward “strategic investments” in public universities, he said. But first, the legislature will create a committee and invite private businesses and other enterprises that receive these funds or credits to make a case on whether they should continue.
“I’ve volunteered to be on that committee,” Kaufmann told a 10-person audience in the West Branch Fire Department meeting room.
Resident Clarence Crew suggested government should penalize companies that benefit from government contracts and then move out of the country to avoid paying taxes.
Kaufmann agreed, saying “there ought to be hell to pay” if companies benefit from tax credits or deductions then leave the United States.
“That’s like going back on a deal,” he said. “It’s unconscionable.”
Kaufmann said he would like to attach wording that would require such companies “to pay every single dime back,” or to “close loopholes” to prevent such moves.
One woman seated in a wheelchair asked Kaufmann to support making grants available of say, $500 or so, to the disabled — she was particularly interested in multiple sclerosis patients — or the elderly for home improvements, like ramps, that would allow them to remain at home longer. That, she said, would reduce the strain on Medicaid by keeping patients out of nursing homes or other care facilities, which are more expensive.
Kaufmann pointed to The Village Community in West Branch where families teamed up, bought a former winery facility and turned it into a home to support their grown children with intellectual disabilities.
He said the families formed partnerships — with the West Branch Police Department and Hoover Foundation, for example — to allow their children to do things like water downtown planters, clean Appreciation Park or hand out flowers at festivals. They found that this increase in human interaction also increased their “health and happiness” while decreasing their need for certain medications, saving money for Medicaid.
“It’s the same argument in your case,” Kaufmann said. “It’s a no-brainer. Proactive health investments … produce a cost savings.”
Other points:
• Kaufmann said he is pushing for a bill that would allow ambulance services to receive 100 percent reimbursement for transporting Medicaid patients. Such trips can cost $250 to $650, and ambulance services may only recover about 20 percent of that.
• Kaufmann called himself a “passionate defender of universities,” noting that University of Iowa is the largest employer in the area. He criticized a senate proposal that would “take a chainsaw” to funding.
• Kaufmann said he is opposed to the “fetal heartbeat” legislation that would restrict abortions and noted that “the bill has no chance of going anywhere.”
• Kaufmann said he supports extending the 1-cent Secure an Advanced Vision for Education (SAVE) tax that provides infrastructure funding for schools. He also said it looks like state aid to K-12 schools will go up 1 percent. Kaufmann gave examples of several times when the state gave larger increases than it could afford and the governor, following state law, had make mid-year across-the-board cuts.
• Crew publicly praised Kaufmann for listening “to both sides of the aisle.” “You do a whale of a job,” he added, even if he may not always agree with Kaufmann’s votes.
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