Stories

“I like to think that good legislation gets passed regardless of whether it is an election year or not,” said Marcia Nichols, political and legislative director for American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Iowa Council 61.

Despite some efforts to cast the long nights at the capitol this weekend as a sneaky way for Democratic leaders to push through their agenda, no major policy surprises emerged from the waning hours of the 2009 legislative session.

Though Democrats in Iowa had a heck of a time enacting ‘prevailing wage’ requirements for public works projects at the state level this year, a similar federal proposal has faced considerably less controversy.
In fact, it is a Republican, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, who is overseeing the expansion of the 1931 Davis-Bacon Act for President Barack [...]

A bill that would change the workers compensation system to permit employees injured on the job to choose the doctors who treat them will go before the public Tuesday.
A public hearing on the measure, known as the “Choice of Doctor Bill,” will take place from 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesday in the chamber of the [...]

Publicly, Iowa’s union leaders and their supporters believe the four measures currently listed at the top of organized labor’s priority list – choice of doctor, prevailing wage, open-scope bargaining and Fair Share – are still very much alive.

But privately, several state legislators concede that recent difficulties trying to pass prevailing wage legislation have hurt the chances of any other labor bills this session.

State Rep. Larry Marek, D-Riverside, told the crowd at a legislative forum in Iowa City that while he understands why prevailing wage is important for labor unions, his constituents wanted him to vote “no.”
According to John Deeth, who liveblogged the League of Women Voters forum Saturday for his Web site, several attendees brought up the [...]

Tension appears to be rising in the House Democratic caucus in the wake of the failed bid to pass prevailing wage legislation, as at least one lawmaker says he is getting the cold shoulder from his colleagues.

There’s an interesting discussion going on at the liberal blog Bleeding Heartland about the cause of failed prevailing wage vote, and some of the blame is  going to President Barack Obama.
In July, the Iowa Independent reported on the Obama campaign’s move to effectively replace the Iowa Democratic Party’s coordinated campaign with a campaign funded by [...]

On a 49-49 vote, House File 333, which would have required state-funded public works projects to pay a “prevailing wage” to workers, finally failed moments ago.  Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy switched to vote “no” for procedural reasons.
House Speaker Pat Murphy had left the voting machine open all weekend — which required him or a designee [...]

With the Iowa House deadlocked and Speaker Pat Murphy vowing to stay in his seat and keep the vote open through the weekend, Rep. Geri Huser is in a unique position.