o, the Republican-controlled Iowa House did something unusual and welcome this past week. Naturally, GOP lawmakers may move soon to undo their good deed.
On Wednesday afternoon, the House debated a bill I’ve written about previously, Senate File 455. It prohibits cities and counties from approving ordinances requiring builders to replace topsoil on finished construction sites. Local governments also can’t require developers to soak up more stormwater on sites than the flow rate that existed before construction.
It’s a bad bill — bad for cities trying to control flash flooding, for homeowners who must deal with dysfunctional compacted clay yards and for efforts to improve water quality. Topsoil filters and slows runoff. You’d think in Iowa we would have more reverence for good, black dirt.
The bill passed the Senate last year. Passage looked likely in the House. Well, until it didn’t.
When the dust settled, the bill failed 49-44. It’s highly unusual for legislative leaders to bring a bill to the floor without having the votes lined up for passage.
As much as I’d like to think the bill was a victim of its lousiness, it really was a victim of circumstance. Four Republican representatives were absent. So, as voting commenced, the bill got stuck at 49 for and 43 against, leaving it two votes short of the 51 needed for passage. Soon, some Republicans started changing their votes to no. In the end, 16 Republicans joined Democrats in defeating the bill.
Did Republicans suddenly come to their senses? Not exactly. Some GOP no votes were from lawmakers seeking to save the bill. A lawmaker on the winning side can file a motion to reconsider and bring the bill back to life again.
And that’s just what House Majority Lead Matt Windschitl did. He voted no, then filed a motion to reconsider. That gives him time to get GOP ducks in a row and pass the stinking thing.
Floor debate gave little indication of the drama to follow.
The bill’s floor manager, Rep. Jon Dunwell, R-Newton, offered an amendment that would allow local governments to make requirements in excess of minimum standards if local leaders agree to pay for the cost of meeting those more stringent rules. So, developers would hand taxpayers the bill for doing the right and responsible thing. Sounds swell.
“It’s a winner for the homeowner. It’s a winner for all of us,” Dunwell said.
Don’t you believe it, said the bill’s opponents.
“It’s pretty clear to me that the winners here are the developers, and the losers are the taxpayers,” said Rep. Austin Baeth, D-Des Moines, whose wife just happens to be a civil engineer specializing in stormwater management.
Baeth called it dangerous for the state to inflict a minimum standard for stormwater management in the face of flash floods that threaten lives and property and with extreme weather conditions becoming more frequent due to climate change.
Dunwell insists the real intent of the bill is to help a would-be homeowner “struggling to buy a new home.” His bow tie seemed to droop as he told this tale of woe.
Ask the homeowner if they still feel like a winner after they must fork over money for chemicals and constant watering to keep their lawn alive. Or catch them when they’re hauling in dirt from someplace else to make a garden or flower beds. And how about those stunted, half-dead trees in their yards with roots impeded by solid clay, which soaks up water about as well as concrete.
But that doesn’t happen until the developers are gone and the checks are cashed.
This is all such a perfect microcosm of why we can’t have nice things when it comes to the environment in Iowa.
The state had a topsoil replacement rule. But Gov. Terry Branstad created a “stakeholder group” packed with his earthmoving and real estate pals to “review” the rule. They met behind closed doors and recommended scrapping it.
Then useful cronies on the Environmental Protection Commission (cue the laugh track) gave the recommendation their stamp of approval.
But cities and counties still have the authority to approve rules that exceed the state minimum. That is, until the Legislature does its dirty work. The bill was originally the brainchild of Sen. Scott Webster, R-Bettendorf, who is a homebuilder and a past president of the Iowa Homebuilders Association. You can’t make this stuff up.
Maybe we’ll get lucky, and House Republicans won’t find the votes. Hope springs eternal.
Otherwise, it’s just another chapter in which money, campaign donations and connections result in government actions that benefit the few and harm the many. The environment has always been up for sale in Iowa. Do you feel like a winner?
(319) 398-8262; todd.dorman@thegazette.com
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On Wednesday afternoon, the House debated a bill I’ve written about previously, Senate File 455. It prohibits cities and counties from approving ordinances requiring builders to replace topsoil on finished construction sites. Local governments also can’t require developers to soak up more stormwater on sites than the flow rate that existed before construction.
It’s a bad bill — bad for cities trying to control flash flooding, for homeowners who must deal with dysfunctional compacted clay yards and for efforts to improve water quality. Topsoil filters and slows runoff. You’d think in Iowa we would have more reverence for good, black dirt.
The bill passed the Senate last year. Passage looked likely in the House. Well, until it didn’t.
When the dust settled, the bill failed 49-44. It’s highly unusual for legislative leaders to bring a bill to the floor without having the votes lined up for passage.
As much as I’d like to think the bill was a victim of its lousiness, it really was a victim of circumstance. Four Republican representatives were absent. So, as voting commenced, the bill got stuck at 49 for and 43 against, leaving it two votes short of the 51 needed for passage. Soon, some Republicans started changing their votes to no. In the end, 16 Republicans joined Democrats in defeating the bill.
Did Republicans suddenly come to their senses? Not exactly. Some GOP no votes were from lawmakers seeking to save the bill. A lawmaker on the winning side can file a motion to reconsider and bring the bill back to life again.
And that’s just what House Majority Lead Matt Windschitl did. He voted no, then filed a motion to reconsider. That gives him time to get GOP ducks in a row and pass the stinking thing.
Floor debate gave little indication of the drama to follow.
The bill’s floor manager, Rep. Jon Dunwell, R-Newton, offered an amendment that would allow local governments to make requirements in excess of minimum standards if local leaders agree to pay for the cost of meeting those more stringent rules. So, developers would hand taxpayers the bill for doing the right and responsible thing. Sounds swell.
“It’s a winner for the homeowner. It’s a winner for all of us,” Dunwell said.
Don’t you believe it, said the bill’s opponents.
“It’s pretty clear to me that the winners here are the developers, and the losers are the taxpayers,” said Rep. Austin Baeth, D-Des Moines, whose wife just happens to be a civil engineer specializing in stormwater management.
Baeth called it dangerous for the state to inflict a minimum standard for stormwater management in the face of flash floods that threaten lives and property and with extreme weather conditions becoming more frequent due to climate change.
Dunwell insists the real intent of the bill is to help a would-be homeowner “struggling to buy a new home.” His bow tie seemed to droop as he told this tale of woe.
Ask the homeowner if they still feel like a winner after they must fork over money for chemicals and constant watering to keep their lawn alive. Or catch them when they’re hauling in dirt from someplace else to make a garden or flower beds. And how about those stunted, half-dead trees in their yards with roots impeded by solid clay, which soaks up water about as well as concrete.
But that doesn’t happen until the developers are gone and the checks are cashed.
This is all such a perfect microcosm of why we can’t have nice things when it comes to the environment in Iowa.
The state had a topsoil replacement rule. But Gov. Terry Branstad created a “stakeholder group” packed with his earthmoving and real estate pals to “review” the rule. They met behind closed doors and recommended scrapping it.
Then useful cronies on the Environmental Protection Commission (cue the laugh track) gave the recommendation their stamp of approval.
But cities and counties still have the authority to approve rules that exceed the state minimum. That is, until the Legislature does its dirty work. The bill was originally the brainchild of Sen. Scott Webster, R-Bettendorf, who is a homebuilder and a past president of the Iowa Homebuilders Association. You can’t make this stuff up.
Maybe we’ll get lucky, and House Republicans won’t find the votes. Hope springs eternal.
Otherwise, it’s just another chapter in which money, campaign donations and connections result in government actions that benefit the few and harm the many. The environment has always been up for sale in Iowa. Do you feel like a winner?
(319) 398-8262; todd.dorman@thegazette.com
Opinion: Despite temporary victory, Iowa’s environment remains for sale
Former Cedar Rapids Stormwater Commission member Stacie Johnson snapped this photo at a local housing development. Although much of the …
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