(Des Moines, Iowa) – Iowa District 20 Republican Representative Ray Sorensen, from Greenfield, today (Monday), issued a report to his constituents summarizing last week’s – Week 12 – legislative activity and what’s ahead for this week. Soresensen they are promptly diving in on the 13th, and are “…whittling through the remaining budgets and bills and hope to finish up this General Assembly sometime this month.” He said “A couple of bill ideas are hanging around, including ESAs (Education Savings Accounts) and the Bottle Bill. They are ideas that have been around for a while and have taken many forms. The Senate has passed a version of both bills off their floor. This means we take them up as is, and amend if deemed necessary, or we pass our versions of those bills for them to take up, or we defer and pass neither.”

Ray Sorensen said he held legislative forums last Saturday, and commented on the lack of civil discourse. “Can I say (and I include myself in this) it would be great if we worked on having civil discussions about policies and politics with folks we disagree with.” He said that “Seems to be a lost art. We’ve locked ourselves in our echo chambers and become immediately offended and angered when presented with an opposing view.” His guess, he said, “Is that we’ve attached our identities to political parties and issues. Your recourse with politicians is your voice and your vote, but tell me what does yelling, losing your temper, and hurling insults do?”

Sorensen said he knew ESAs would continue to be a big issue and that he’s lobbied extensively on both sides of the issue from folks across the state. “I had one legis forum date left” he said, “and thought I’d shake it up and bring in someone to my forums in favor of the ESA bill to stir up some extended and deeper discussion on it. Walt Rogers, who was the former Education Committee Chairman, and who has been, and still is a proponent of the ESA proposal, gave a presentation as to the intent of the bill, who benefits, how the numbers shake out, etc. I think great points where made all around.” The “One thing that stuck with [him], is digging further to figure out the discrepancy in what the actual cost per pupil is, as neither side gave way on that point.”

“The current bottle deposit and redemption system in Iowa has developed problems since its inception. One primary issue is the lack of redemption centers and viable and convenient options for redeeming cans and bottles. Parties on all sides of the issue are ignoring the law without any consequences. The Senate has passed a version of the bottle bill, and currently we are waiting to pass the House version.” Representative Sorensen said he “will keep you up to date on where we end up.”

“This [past] week,” he said, “we passed our education budget proposal on the House floor that appropriates $1,004,141,874 in General Fund dollars. We proposed a new innovative funding approach for Iowa’s Regent Universities to help address Iowa’s workforce crisis. The bill provides $12 million for scholarships for students preparing to fill high-need jobs. The students in their junior and senior years of qualifying programs will receive scholarships of $5,000 per year. This money is on top of the Regent’s usual general fund appropriation.”

Sorensen said also, “The State and Regent Universities will be better partners in addressing the state’s workforce needs as this new funding will incentivize the regents to recruit more students to the jobs we need here in Iowa.” Representative Ray Sorensen can be reached at Ray.Sorensen@legis.Iowa.gov.