Bacon Beacon
STATE REPRESENTATIVE ROB BACON Forty-Eighth District Statehouse: (515) 281-3221 e-mail:
[email protected]
House of Representatives State of Iowa Eighty-Fifth General Assembly
COMMITTEES Human Resources, Vice Chair Natural Resources State Government Veterans Affairs
STATEHOUSE
APPROPRIATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE
Week Eight
Health and Human Services
Des Moines, Iowa 50319
Debate and receiving bills from the Senate have kept us busy this week at the Statehouse. This week I would like to highlight the importance of effective spending and the responsibility we as legislators have to the people of Iowa. The Legislative Services Agency is a non-partisan agency in Iowa that works in various aspects of the legislature, including providing us with data to help us make the decisions we are here to make.
FY 2008-FY 2015 General Fund Budget (in millions)
8000 7500 7000 6500 6000 5500 5000
FY 2008 FY 2009 FY 2010 FY 2011 FY 2012 FY 2013 FY 2014 FY 2015 Expenditure Limit
Ongoing Revenue
Actual Spending
Source: Legislative Services Agency
This chart helps us understand and implement an extremely important practice of not spending more than we take in. This is a principal that I ran on four years ago. When I came to the Statehouse it was evident that getting spending under control would be one of the biggest priorities facing us. The previous fiscal mess that resulted in former Governor Culver’s 10% across the board cut had an extremely hard impact on many areas of our state, including critical areas like education. Using common sense practices, like not spending more than we take in simply makes sense. During my time at the Capitol, I have worked very hard with my colleagues to get spending back on track. In the chart above you can see that our spending is now in line with our revenue. This type of budgeting helps protect us from being in a compromising situation where Iowan’s unfairly find themselves the victim. More than ever, Iowa finds itself as a place to plant roots for new and innovative companies like Facebook, Google, and other tech/start-up related groups. These companies bring along with them investment and jobs for Iowans. Cutting-edge jobs in Iowa that are setting standards in industries throughout the nation and globe, help put Iowa on the map. As we have reached the half-way point for this legislative session, I will continue to work hard for our district and make common-sense decisions. Setting standards is something Iowa is known for and we hope that our colleagues In Washington will begin making decisions based on common sense practices that keep Americans in mind. As always, feel free to contact me at
[email protected].
