The State Police Officers Council (SPOC) has agreed that its 640 members will take five furlough days during the remaining 7 months of FY2010, a move that will create approximately $847,435 in savings.

The state would also suspend contributions to a deferred compensation retirement plan, according to the agreement. The governor’s office estimates this provision will create approximately $226,232 in savings.

The agreement mirrors one reached by the state and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 61 last week that saved 479 jobs.

By agreeing to these measures, SPOC members will be safe from layoffs during the current fiscal year, which ends July 30, 2010.

Next week , the SPOC Board will submit the agreement to union members for a full vote. An announcement on the outcome of the vote is expected close to the AFSCME vote on Nov. 25.

“I want to thank the leadership at SPOC for joining with us to protect essential public safety jobs,” Culver said in a statement. “This understanding will help to keep Iowans safe while meeting our obligation to balance the state budget.  I am very pleased by the agreement and I encourage the membership to vote yes on this measure.”

Last month, Culver ordered a 10 percent across-the-board cut to the state’s budget. Initial budget cut proposals called for more than 800 layoffs. Culver announced that unions representing employees from the Department of Public Safety and Department of Corrections would have to open up their contracts in order to avoid layoffs. Two of the three unions have now come to understandings with the state government, with the third, Iowa United Professionals (IUP), deciding to accept 55 layoffs.

IUP represents 3,000 members, including social workers and corrections counselors.

Though each Iowan seems to have his or her own ideas for how money should be cut from the budget, few blame the Democrats for overspending on their key priorities over the past few years.

In all, majorities support Democrats’ expansion of health insurance coverage for children, spending on public schools, repairing roads and bridges, raising teacher pay, and developing renewable energy. A plurality supports expanded free preschool.

On most budget items, pluralities of Iowans agree with the idea of cutting everything by an equal amount, except when it comes to health insurance for low-income residents and the Iowa State Patrol, which majorities say should be spared from cuts. This seems to conform to Gov. Chet Culver’s decision to make an across-the-board budget cut now and use the beginning of the legislative session next year to restore some funding for key priorities.

That said, Iowans have mixed feelings about the decisions that have been made to cut the state budget. Though only 19 percent of respondents said they were “Very Confident” or “Mostly Confident” about the budget-cutting decisions, 44 percent were “Just Somewhat Confident.” 35 percent were not confident.

(Incidentally, it seems strange that this question had three positive responses and just one negative response. These responses may fit people’s opinions best, but they also can also be confusing to interpret. The Register story itself seems to add up “Somewhat Confident” and “Not Confident” to demonstrate a disapproving majority, but “Somewhat Confident” doesn’t sound very disapproving to me. It was the closest thing to a middle ground that pollsters offered, and it implies slight approval, not disapproval.)

You can read the Register’s write-up of the poll here.

Culver’s job approval rating, at 40 percent, has hit the lowest point since taking office and has dropped 20-percentage-points since January. In a head-to-head matchup with several potential GOP challengers, Culver loses to Branstad 57 percent to 33 percent. An October poll conducted by Research 2000 had Branstad beating Culver 48 percent to 43 percent.

In the October poll, Culver bested other Republicans by at least 20 points. But in the latest Register poll, Vander Plaats beats him 45 percent to 37 percent.

The governor doesn’t reach 50 percent against any Republican opponent, but does defeat state Rep. Chris Rants and Cedar Rapids businessman Christian Fong.

The council was authorized in 2007, and the four non-voting members from the legislature serve two-year terms, appointed by the head of each party’s caucus in each chamber. They, along with 23 voting members appointed by Gov. Chet Culver, are responsible for issuing recommendations to help Iowa combat the challenges of climate change.

Watts’s position on the council is noteworthy because he has been an outspoken critic of measures to combat climate change for years. During the 2008 legislative session, for instance, he helped to distribute a book to every member of the legislature that claimed that global warming was natural and irreversible, denying evidence that humans have an impact on climate change. Last February, Watts signed on to a letter written by the American Environmental Coalition, a conservative group founded by evangelicals that calls global warming a “hoax.”

The 479 positions include front line correctional officers, parole probation officers and other support positions.

Culver called on AFSCME and two other unions that represent employees of the Department of Corrections and the Department of Public Safety to reopen their contracts in an attempt to avoid deep job cuts. AFSCME Iowa Council 61 President Danny Homan said Monday the union did everything it could to save the jobs of its members.

The changes to the contract, which will be voted on by union members no later than Nov. 25, include:

1. Each of the approximately 20,000 state employees who are covered by the AFSCME Master Agreement will be required to take five mandatory unpaid days during the remaining 7 months of FY2010 which ends June 30, 2010. This provision will create approximately $22 million in savings, the governor’s office contends.
2. The deferred compensation program for state employees will undergo temporary changes to suspend the state’s contribution through June 30, 2010. The employees’ contribution to the deferred compensation program will remain as currently allowed under the AFSCME Master Agreement. This provision will create approximately $4 million in savings.
3. No AFSCME Iowa Council 61 executive branch state employee will be laid off between the date of approval and the end of the current fiscal year.
4. Non-union employees who are laid off will not be permitted to displace employees who are union members.

“I want to thank the leadership at AFSCME for joining with us to save these essential public service jobs,” Culver said in a statement. “This understanding will help preserve vital services for Iowans while meeting our obligation to balance the state budget.  This is a positive step forward and I encourage the membership to vote yes on this measure.”

Last month, Culver finalized 34 departmental budget cut plans, which will result in 180 layoffs and the elimination of 229 open positions.

There has been no mention of contract negotiations with the other two unions that represent state corrections and public safety departments employees: the State Police Officers Council, which represents about 650 sworn officers and game wardens, and the Iowa United Professions which represents 3,000 members, including social workers and corrections counselors.

Ed Failor Jr., president of Iowans for Tax Relief, said the privatization of Iowa’s prisons would result in many positive benefits, from making communities safer to minimizing inefficiencies. But the biggest benefit would be cost savings, he said.

“Iowa taxpayers would save tens of millions of dollars from the sale and operation of private prisons,” Failor said. “The current budget situation requires lawmakers to make real changes to state government, and selling the state prison system is part of the solution to moving Iowa forward.”

Failor points to Arizona, where lawmakers project privatizing prisons could save their state more than $100 million in the corrections budget, and calls on Iowa to consider a similar move.

“Today, there are over 9,000 inmates in Iowa prisons, and the average annual cost per prisoner is approximately $30,000,” Failor said. “Iowa taxpayers spend over $265 million on state prisons, and the average cost per prisoner increases each year.”

Privatizing state functions is an idea getting serious consideration around the country, as state’s grapple with an historic economic downturn that has decimated their budgets. In Iowa, Gov. Chet Culver recently announced a 10-percent cut to the state budget in order to overcome a more than $400 million deficit.

Not everyone is sold on the benefits of privatizing prisons.

A U.S. Department of Justice study found that the cost-savings promised by private prisons “have simply not materialized.”The study concluded that rather than the projected 20-percent savings, the average saving from privatization was only about 1 percent, and most of that was achieved through lower labor costs.

Opponents of privatization also express worry that the quest for higher profits will result in lower staff levels and training at private facilities and could lead to increases in incidences of violence and escapes.

A federal study by the Bureau of Justice Statistics found Iowa ranked second-lowest nationally in per-capita spending on corrections. The state spent $121 per person, lower than every state but North Dakota, which spends $116 per person. The national average was $210.

In June, Culver’s deputy chief of staff, Phil Roeder, told The Iowa Independent that 100 percent transparency was one of the most important aspects to the program’s success. Bill Allison, a senior fellow with the non-profit government transparency watchdog the Sunlight Foundation, said at the time that the key for Iowa is to ensure there is one spot where citizens can go to follow the money, and that money can be tracked easily with searches by ZIP code or county, a goal that appears to be met by the new website.

Information can be sorted by county, project type, keywords and administering agencies. Information provided on each approved project includes the recipient of the I-JOBS funds, the name and location of the project, the amount of funding, the total cost of the project, and the expected completion date.

The information can be viewed in a list or on an interactive map.

“I-JOBS is for all of Iowa, and this new online tool shows where funds are being committed and how they are supporting local projects,” Culver said in a statement.

Research by the Iowa City-based public policy research and analysis organization found that the state can garner $3.70 in increased tax revenue for every dollar invested in helping a low-income adult get an associates degree and $2.40 for every dollar invested in a bachelor’s degree.

The group points to a projected shortage of skilled labor combined with the rising cost to families for postsecondary education as proper motivation to invest in the state’s workforce.

“When low-income adults have access to increased education and training, their lifetime earnings increase substantially, generating tax revenue for the state that more than offsets the cost of investing in this access,” said Lily French, research associate and outreach coordinator for Iowa Policy Project, later adding: “An investment in workforce skills would prepare Iowans for the future and contribute to rebuilding our economy.”

The ad will air in the Des Moines and Cedar Rapids markets as well as some cable around the state. It is titled “Stronger Than Ever” and focuses on the governor’s response to last year’s flooding and to the state’s economic downturn.

“The new ad … puts the economic situation and recent budget decisions in context,” Culver campaign manager Andrew Roos said in a press release announcing the ad. “With the worst natural disaster in Iowa history, and the deepest economic downturn since the 1930s, Iowa has faced real challenges. Culver has taken these challenges head-on, managed the state responsibly and made smart investments that will help Iowa emerge from this storm stronger than ever.”

In the ad, Culver sounds like he’s running a politically conservative campaign, focusing on cutting spending and cutting his own salary, as well as emphasizing his decision against raising taxes.

Culver launched his first TV ad in mid October, focusing solely on his economic record.

The suit, filed Oct. 28 and scheduled to go before Polk County District Court Monday, was filed by a group of filmmaking companies that had received initial approval from the state to receive tax credits from the state.  After several instances of misconduct were discovered regarding the film tax credit program, Gov. Chet Culver suspended it until an investigation can be completed.

The filmmakers — Daedalus Film AG, C-Films France Sas, Clean Out Productions, Clean Out Film Services Inc. and Iowa Eye Entertainment — demand in their lawsuit that the tax credits be provided as promised so the projects can proceed. The state contends that the projects are among 109 that received initial approval but were not under contract to receive funding. Therefore, because there was no contract, the state is not required to provide funding. Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller said that may not be true.

The companies provide letters from IDED that confirm credit award amounts, which they used in their decision to film in Iowa.

“The public interest in the state honoring its legal obligations and allowing production to move forward in Iowa, so as to provide jobs, support the local economy and restore confidence in Iowa’s tax credit programs, supports granting the injunction,” the lawsuit says.

The attorney general’s office, which is representing the state in the civil legal action, had no comment on the lawsuit.