During the past four years, Republicans controlling the Iowa Legislature and governor’s office busted unions, created obstacles to voting, defunded women’s health clinics and passed abortion bans that got tied up in court.
Now that they’ve gotten those and other misguided priorities out of their systems, perhaps they could focus this year on one goal: improving the quality of life for average Iowans.
With that in mind, lawmakers should:
Finally fund the outdoors
It has been more than a decade since Iowa voters overwhelmingly supported amending the Iowa Constitution to create a trust fund dedicated to conservation and recreation. Lawmakers were supposed to follow up by increasing the sales tax a fraction of a penny to fund the trust.