Mid Western states such as Iowa have been some what shielded from the recession, but have not been invincible. State Representative Larry Marek of Riverside says one item he was glad to see pass in the legislature was a bonding plan. Marek says federal stimulus money will help them leverage the more than 700-million dollars in bonds. One thing that disappoints Marek is the lack of funding for county secondary roads. He says the answer to the problem was a fuel tax, which was taken off of the table by the governor.