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Culver, Legislature made big moves in session's first half

(Mason City Globe Gazette)DES MOINES - The first two months of the legislative session have been the best of times for Democrats and the worst of times for Republicans.

Democrats control the Legislature and the executive branch for the first time since 1965, while Republicans feel like mere bystanders.

Newly elected Gov. Chet Culver has signed bills raising the minimum wage, requiring schools to adopt anti-bullying policies, and legalizing embryonic stem-cell research - proposals that had been stymied for years by Republican legislative leaders.

Now that the session is just past its midpoint, the Lee Enterprises Des Moines Bureau is taking a step back to assess what's been done, what's likely to come, and how it stacks up to history.

"What I remind people of all the time is that the voters have spoken here," said Culver in an interview. "I ran on a platform that I think reflected pretty clearly Iowans' values and priorities. In a very disciplined way, I've taken that campaign message that I ran on and got elected on and put it in front of the Legislature."

The session has been marked by long days, late nights and near-constant frustration from Republicans.

"The governor has benefited from having a Democratic majority that has thus far been able to lock up its members and march to pass" all of his agenda, said House Minority Leader Christopher Rants, R-Sioux City.

Before lawmakers go home in late April or early May, Culver wants to see them pass a $1-per-pack increase in the cigarette tax, a package of pay raises for teachers, an expansion of the health insurance program for low-income Iowans, and a major boost in assistance for renewable energy research.

The cigarette tax and teacher-pay plan already have passed the Iowa Senate and may come up in the House as soon as this week. Other items on the agenda likely will come up sometime after that.

One item on the Culver agenda that probably won't pass is a proposal to allow county governments to have a say in where livestock confinements are placed. This so-called local control proposal is opposed by the Iowa Farm Bureau and shows no sign of passing either house of the Legislature.

Culver said he doesn't plan to overstep the mandate given to him by voters. As an example, he lists a proposal to modify the Road Use Trust Fund, which may involve raising the gas tax. He said he doesn't mind if the Legislature wants to talk about it, but he doesn't plan to expend any energy to make it happen.

"I'm not interested in surprising the voters at all and I don't think the voters expect me to surprise them with add-ons," he said.

SUBHEAD: Compromise and giddiness

Outside the Statehouse, the groups that helped elect Democrats are reserving judgment until the session is over.

"They can't possibly get done all the stuff they're talking about. But at this point, they seem to be moving in the right direction," said Mark Smith, president of the Iowa Federation of Labor AFL-CIO.

Unions celebrated when Culver signed the minimum-wage increase on Jan. 25, raising the wage from $5.15 to $7.25 by next January.

But union leaders have had to swallow some tough compromises. The Legislature declined to include an automatic cost-of-living adjustment in the minimum wage, because moderate Democrats opposed it.

The biggest compromise might be in the "fair share" plan, which would allow unions to charge a fee to nonunion workers who are in a union shop. The Senate passed a version of the bill last week that only applies to government workers, not workers at businesses.

Rants, the House minority leader, contends that Democrats didn't campaign for fair share or several other proposals he sees as anti-business.

"Frankly, the business community in this state is waking up to the fact that there are no pro-business Democrats. That's a mythical creature, like a jackalope or a snipe," he said.

Teachers have gotten special attention this year, as Culver and the Legislature are trying to get Iowa teacher pay up to 25th in the nation. The Senate passed a bill last week that would give teachers a big raise.

Linda Nelson, president of the Iowa State Education Association, a teachers' union, said the Legislature is on track to have a "landmark" session, but the job isn't finished yet.

"When (teachers) come to the realization of what this governor and General Assembly have accomplished, they will be giddy," Nelson said.

Advocacy groups for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) Iowans applauded when Culver signed the anti-bullying bill last week. The bill bans all bullying, including a specific prohibition on bullying students because of their sexual orientation.

The next item on the GLBT agenda is a proposal to change the civil rights code to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation in employment, housing and education. An Iowa Senate committee recommended the bill last week and Culver has said he will sign it if it reaches his desk.

SUBHEAD: Few shades of '65

The last time Democrats had this much power, Lyndon Johnson was president, and Harold Hughes was governor. However, the moment in the sun was brief, lasting from the 1964 election until voters gave the Iowa House back to Republicans in 1966.

Senate President Jack Kibbie, D-Emmetsburg, is the only current member of the Legislature who served in the 1965 session. In just that year, legislators overhauled the method of selecting judges, laid the foundation of the community college system, reorganized public school districts and repealed the death penalty.

Kibbie said the 1965 session was animated by pent-up demand for change, combined with the hard-charging attitude of Hughes and the relative inexperience of newly elected Democratic legislators.

He sees different dynamics today. Democrats have had more power lately under the leadership of former Gov. Tom Vilsack, who served from 1999 until this January. Also, legislative leaders are more experienced and less likely to try to change everything all at once.

"I think this session will be great, but it won't be like the 1965 session," Kibbie said.

He thinks the greatest opportunities for landmark legislation are in health care, election law, and environmental regulation. On all those issues, it's unclear what will get accomplished this year.

Culver said he's thinking of the session in terms of the issues he campaigned on, not how historians may judge him or how this year's actions may play out in the 2008 campaign.

"I hope the voters are satisfied with what we ultimately accomplish, that we uphold our end of the bargain with the people that elected us. I think, so far, they are pleased with what they've seen," he said.