The numbers are in and…

The three-member State Revenue Estimating Council met early this afternoon. Their estimate of state tax collections in fiscal year 2010 was reduced by about $900,000.   (Fiscal year 2010 began July 1, 2009 and concludes June 30, 2010.)  Their estimate of state tax collections in fiscal year 2011 increased by over $30 million.  (For you insiders, it’s up $33.1 million from the December, 2009 estimate.)  Here’s a pdf if you like to read lots of numbers.

“I hope we’re wrong, but we wanted to err on the conservative side,” Legislative Services Agency director Holly Lyons said to conclude the meeting. 

These estimates are used by lawmakers to build the state budget plan.  UPDATE:  Lawmakers and the governor have issued statements.  Read them below, in the order they were received by yours truly.

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Changes in state tax credits

Democrats in the legislature plan to make some changes in state tax credits.  Details here in Radio Iowa story.

There will be no change, however, in what had been among the most controversial proposals:  imposing new restrictions on the state tax credit companies like Rockwell Collins, Pioneer and John Deere claim for “research activities.”  Democrats are proposing changes in what’s known as the “supplemental research activities credit” but those credits are awarded by the Department of Economic Development to research-oriented companies that promise to create new jobs.  Democrats didn’t have the votes to significantly change the research activities credit that is part of the tax code, despite the desire on the part of some Democrats to end the practice of the state cutting checks to some of the companies that claim the research activities credit.  If you’ve not been following this debate closely, companies sometimes have a research activities credit that is worth more than the amount of overall taxes they owe the state.  Therefore, the Iowa Department of Revenue writes a check to the company equal to total taxes owed minus the companies research activities credit.  That last part would look cooler and perhaps be more understandable if I was writing on a chalkboard and wrote:

State tax liability – research activities credit = check for our biz

Democrats do propose a new ”cap” on Department of Economic Development tax credits, lowering that cap from $185 million to $120 million.  Senator Joe Bolkcom (D-Iowa City), the chairman of the Senate Ways & Means (tax policy) Committee, put it this way in a news conference earlier today:  “I think we felt that everybody needs to share in the pain of this downturn, not just teachers and not just health care providers and prison workers and state employees but that this part of spending, which is kind of over here and out of our site, needs to step up.”

Iowa Public Information Board

The Iowa Senate has passsed HF777, a bill that creates an Iowa Public Information Board to help Iowans pursue complaints about access to public records or government meetings, without having to hire an attorney.  Senate Majority Leader  Mike Gronstal (D-Council Bluffs says legislators have tried to “find a way to create a body to help ordinary citizens gain access public records.”

The bill passed on a 35 to 13 vote.  Senator Matt McCoy (D-Des Moines) sat at his desk in the senate, but did not vote for or againt the legislation.  A few moments ago, he described that as a sort of “protest.” 

“I am so torn because my local government officials tell me it is almost impossible to live under the law and not break the law innocently,” McCoy said.  McCoy also suggested the legislature hasn’t done enough to ensure its own operations are conducted in public and not behind closed doors.  He cited the increased frequency of what are called “caucuses.”  Caucuses are meetings in which members of one political party stop the action of a public meeting (or public debate) and go into a private meeting.

The next stop for HF777 is the Iowa House which must consider changes senators made in the legislation.

Tempers flare in gun debate

UPDATE at 5:30 p.m.:  Debate is over.  Read the Radio Iowa story. Below is a mid-afternoon blog post about the debate.

At this hour the Iowa House is in the midst of a debate about guns.  Representative Matt Windschitl, a Republican from Missouri Valley, is a former Marine and he is also a trained gunsmith.  He works in the family business in Missouri Valley, the Double Barrell Shooters Supply.

Windschitl has offered a new plan as an alternative to a bill that would take guns away from people who’ve been convicted of dometic violence.  Instead, Windschitl proposes a state tax credit for domestic abuse victims who buy a new gun.  And he also wants to create a new state fund that would provide self-defense training to domestic abuse victims, including the technique of shooting “to wound” rather than shooting to kill.  That new state fund would be financed by a new $500  fine assessed to those who are convicted of domestic assault.

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Former Mason City rep endorses Roberts

Bill Schickel, a former state representative from Mason City who is manning The Bean Walker website, announced this evening that he is resigning as secretary of the Republican Party of Iowa in order to formally endorse Rod Roberts, one of three Republicans seeking the GOP’s 2010 gubernatorial nomination.  This means eight former or current House members have endorsed Roberts in the past two weeks.  The time frame is significant as former House Speaker Chris Rants — a long-time leader of House Republicans — had been running for governor himself until February 18 when he dropped out of the race.  The eight current or former House members were likely unwilling or reluctant to publicly endorse Roberts with Rants in the race.

Read the news release about Schickel’s endorsement after the jump:

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Santorum addresses attack on his pro-life record

Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum was the keynote speaker at an Iowa Christian Alliance event this evening and much of his 32-minute speech was spent talking about his pro-life record as a member of the U.S. House and then the U.S. Senate.  As Santorum told the crowd, he felt compelled to talk about it because of some “robocalls” which were made into Iowa preceding his visit, accusing him of being a “pro-life fraud.”

AUDIO: Santorum’s speech

“It wasn’t what I was planning on talking about, but I have to do a little aside because I understand that there have been some robocalls being made to people, talking about my pro-life convictions,” Santorum said about two minutes into his speech.

At the 16 minute mark of the speech, Santorum was addressing the specific criticism of his decision to endorse Senator Arlen Specter’s reelection bid in 2004.  “That was against the advice of my wife.  You would think after 20 years I would know better, but I was wrong in retrospect.  Now, the odd thing is I actually did it was for the pro-life cause…The reason I did was because he gave us a promise as chairman of the judiciary committee….to support two Supreme Court picks that the president was going to have after 2004 — Justice Roberts and Justice Alito.  Good intentions, not always a good result.”

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Iowa Christian Alliance event features Santorum, three GOP candidates for governor

The Iowa Christian Alliance is hosting an event this evening at a church in Windsor Heights and what follows is a live blog of the festivities.  Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum is the keynote speaker.  Ralph Reed, formerly of the Christian Coalition, is the emcee.  Neither were able to fly into the Des Moines Airport due to fog.  Both landed at airports nearby and are driving as I type to get here.  Santorum’s flight to Des Moines was cancelled, so he flew into Cedar Rapids, hopped in a car and is due to arrive at about 6:15.  Reed was forced to fly to Minneapolis and drive the four-plus hours to Des Moines.  His arrival is pegged at 6:45 p.m.

A few moments ago a “young man” sidled up to the press table where four reporters and three laptops are positioned and left a neon yellow flier which hits Santorum for being “opposed to Right to Work.”  The flier suggests Santorum has something “in common” with five “big labor chronies” who are also pictured on the flier — the five would be President Barack Obama, U.S. Senator Tom Harkin, State Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, Governor Chet Culver and Iowa House Speaker Pat Murphy.  There’s a “paid for by the National Right to Work Committee” line on the back of the flier in fine print, below these words in large, bold print: “On July 10, 1996, Rick Santorum joined liberal politicians like Ted Kennedy and Tom Harkin in voting against S. 1788 (National Right to Work Act) on the floor of the U.S. Senate.  Please ask Senator Santorum to pledge to support Right to Work and to never support forced unionism again.”

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Former senate president lobbying for harness racers

Jeff Lamberti, a Republican from Ankeny, was a former member of the Iowa House and Senate who served for a time as president of the Iowa Senate.  He also ran for Iowa’s third district congressional seat in 2006.  Congressman Leonard Boswell, a Democrat from Des Moines, won 52 percent of the vote contrasted with Lamberti’s 46 percent that year.  Lamberti recently appeared at an Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission meeting, speaking on the horse racing issue.

Read the news release from the harness racing industry after the jump:

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Santorum targeted by robocalls in Iowa

The Politico’s Jonathan Martin has the story, headlined “Iowa calls target Santorum.”  Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum is speaking this evening at an Iowa Christian Alliance event in the Des Moines suburb of Windsor Heights.  The “robocall” questions Santorum’s bona fides on the abortion issue.

Buck Culver steals the limelight

The state’s “First Dog” made a public appearance late this morning.  First Lady Mari Culver; her children, John and Claire; and the family dog, Buck Culver, walked into the Animal Rescue League of Iowa shortly after 11 and the dog was swarmed with well-wishers.  The dog wasn’t shy about greeting people in the crowd either.  “He’s a hugger,” Mari Culver explained to people when the dog would put his paws on someone’s legs — or when he put his paws on Governor Chet Culver’s shoulders when the governor walked in the room.

The event at which the entire “first family” appeared?  It was a bill signing for legislation that establishes new regulations for dog kennels in Iowa and what better way to ‘illustrate” the story than to have your picture taken with a dog.  Buck is not quite a year old — “still a puppy” according Mrs. Culver.  The dog was a 2009 birthday gift from the Culver kids to their dad.  Buck decided to participate more fully in today’s event by putting his paws up on the table where the governor was seated to sign the bill into law.

Governor Culver is seated.  First Lady Mari Culver is seated, too, on the far right of the frame — almost entirely blocked in this picture by the photographer kneeling in front.  John Culver, a second grader, is standing next to his mother and his sister Claire, a third grader, is standing next to him.  The other child in the photograph — the one closest to the govenror — is the son of State Senator Matt McCoy.  Eight legislators are standing along the wall, behind Culver and crew.

Dogs can help politicians.  There was, of course, the infamous “Checkers” — the Nixon family pet who was the star of a significant speech in which Nixon said Checkers was the only gift he’d ever received from political donors.  Herbert Hoover had a trained guard dog named King Tut.  Millie, the pet dog of former First Lady Barbara Bush, “helped” Mrs. Bush write a book titled Millie’s Book:  as Dictated to Barbara Bush.

You may recall Buddy, the “first dog” of the Clinton White House who was often seen on a leash being held by the president as the first family walked to the helicopter to leave the White House during the months in which the nation was consumed by the Lewinsky scandal.