Local legislators were in Washington Saturday to give updates regarding issues such as solar energy infrastructure, private school vouchers, and a possible vehicle weight increase on county roads.

 

Democratic Senators Kevin Kinney and Rich Taylor, as well as Republican Representatives Jarad Klein and Joe Mitchell were in attendance. One of the marquee topics was discussion of legislature that would increase infrastructure fees for those who use solar energy. All four legislators said they’d oppose the bill and said that it would harm the solar industry in Washington County, which is a leader in the state in solar power according to the Iowa Environmental Council. Mitchell stated the bill would only benefit the electric companies, “As far as I’m concerned, it just looks like a money grab from MidAmerican to me. I thoroughly think that Alliant and MidAmerican kind of have monopolies anyways in our state. I’m not in the business of trying to get them more money.”

Several constituents, including members of the Washington County Board of Supervisors came out to voice their concerns over a bill that would increase the weight limit of vehicles on county roads. Senate File 184 would allow certain vehicles with a permit from the county or DOT to transport forestry materials on county roads that weigh up to 130,000 pounds.

A member of the public was concerned with private school vouchers. Senator Taylor addressed his concerns of using state money on private schools, “Vouchers, bad idea. They seem okay on the surface, but the bill that I saw would cut our funding per student by $2,000 roughly. And our public schools then couldn’t survive on that funding. I see a lot of room in vouchers for people to take the money and not send their kids to school. There’s just too many bad situations that could come with the vouchers.”

Representative Klein says he’s confident legislation regarding private school vouchers will not get out of the House. This was the final legislative briefing in Washington for the 2019 session.