Since the start of Iowa’s 2019 General Assembly in January, local legislators have been fielding questions about bills that could potentially lead to loss of local control. Iowa House Representative for the 12th District, Brian Best, reviewed Senate File 184 after hearing that the Carroll County Board of Supervisors had concerns with a proposal allowing state permits for vehicles over established weight limits to travel at will.
He adds he cannot support asking counties to fix their own bridges and then allow overweight vehicles to drive over them. That, he says, is just not a good idea. Best is sponsoring a bill that would create more local control for management of Emergency Medical Services (EMS). Currently, EMS is not considered an essential service, like fire and police departments. Falling under the public safety umbrella will provide supervisors the ability to levy or allocate dollars for those services.
Some EMS departments are losing hundreds of thousands of dollars every year. As citizens, however, we pay taxes and expect a response in the event of a medical emergency. These, Best says, are some of the most important things we pay those taxes to support. The fireworks bill has come back around to state legislation. After two years of saying it was up to cities and counties to set limitations on the sale and use of fireworks, a revocation has been proposed for those decisions to be made at the state level instead. Best says he has a little bit of a problem with his own vote a couple of sessions ago.
Best would not support the bill that is out there right now. When it comes to claims that the fireworks and weight permitting bills are catering to special interests, Best says he is not aware of the thought process behind them. However, he adds, it is safe to say someone is going to benefit from this, and it likely won’t be local residents. It is not good grassroots policy to be sure.
