Education, Smoking Spark Forum Discussion
By Jon Ericson, Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, Iowa
Feb. 16–CEDAR FALLS — SILO and smoking generated the most heat among topics discussed at a Friday night public forum with area state legislators.
Both issues, the former a move to make the one-cent option sales tax for schools a statewide tax and the latter a proposal to ban smoking in almost all public places, will advance to debate on the floor of the statehouse this week.
Rep. Tami Weincek, R-Waterloo, said she and her colleagues have been inundated with opinions on the smoking ban.
“I’m sure everyone else is in the same boat, I received many, many e-mails on this and they’re all over the board,” Weincek said.
Rep. Deborah Berry, D-Waterloo, surveyed her constituents and, like Weincek, found opinions divided.
Opinions among the 70 people who attended the public forum at the AEA 267 building were less diverse.
Legislators heard from a young woman who was diagnosed with asthma at 22 after working in a smoky establishment for several years, a woman whose doctor husband told her smokers account for about half his practice and a woman who said research shows a smoking ban has no economic impact.
Black Hawk County Health Department director Tom O’Rourke said he realizes compromises will probably have to be made to get the bill passed. The version on the floor exempts casinos and special events at private veterans halls from the ban.
“The bill that is on the floor is not the best, but I believe it is something we can live with,” O’Rourke said.
Rep. Doris Kelley, D-Waterloo, said compromise is the only way this bill will get passed.
“I know a lot of people want us to pass it with no exemptions. I don’t think that’s possible considering there are already 11 amendments attached to this bill,” Kelley said.
The SILO bill, which stands for school infrastructure local option tax, would send one-cent local option sales tax money to the state, rather than counties. The money would then be distributed back to local school districts for building projects.
Under the bill, the state would distribute the projected $400 million and distribute it based on an enrollment formula. Rural legislators have backed it because it would reduce regional differences in payment levels for schools.
Bev Smith, associate superintendent for human resources and equity for Waterloo schools, said the district backs the SILO bill.
“I’d encourage you to support the statewide penny, we have projects at our high schools and middle schools that we can’t do with out that money,” Smith said.
Cedar Falls superintendent David Stoakes also voiced support for the bill, but urged lawmakers to use caution to ensure the money gets back to the schools and that the schools’ sales tax revenues are protected.
Sen. Jeff Danielson, D-Cedar Falls, will support the bill.
“It’s fair, it’s good politics, it’s good public finance and we need to do it and move on,” Danielson said.
Contact Jon Ericson at (319) 291-1461 or jonathan.ericson@wcfcourier.com
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