The legislature’s top Republican today said the governor may have followed the “spirit” but “perhaps not” the letter of the law when balancing last year’s state budget. Governor Kim Reynolds answered “yes” today when asked if she had followed the “letter of the law.”  “I feel that we operated within the intent of the law,” Reynolds said this morning. “The statute is outdated.”

This fall, Reynolds used 13-million dollars from the state’s Economic Emergency Fund to erase a deficit and close the books on the last state budget. A Democrat in the legislature filed a lawsuit this week, arguing the governor’s move was illegal and she should have called legislators back into special session this fall to fix the budget. House Democratic Leader Mark Smith of Marshalltown did not file the lawsuit, but he says Reynolds put legislators of both parties “in a box” by acting on her own.

“The governor should not be above the law here,” Smith says. House Speaker Linda Upmeyer of Clear Lake, the top Republican in the legislature, says the House and Senate will consider updating the law about withdrawals from the state’s economic emergency fund.

“I do believe that Governor Reynolds was entirely complying with the spirit of the law,” Upmeyer says. “…It was, perhaps, not the letter of the law, so we will be happy to change that.” Legislative leaders and Governor Reynolds spoke today (Thursday) during a forum organized by the Associated Press. Reynolds called the lawsuit “election year grandstanding.”

“The statute is outdated and the legislature has the opportunity to come in and update it and I would think that’s what they want to do instead of filing a costly lawsuit,” Reynolds says. The 2018 state legislative session begins on Monday. Governor Reynolds will provide details on some of her policy proposals Tuesday when she delivers the annual “Condition of the State” address to legislators.

(Radio Iowa)