Promote an open governmental system that is representative, accountable, and responsive to all citizens and that protects individual liberties established under the Constitution.

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The League of Women Voters of Iowa believes:

Iowa General Assembly

The League of Women Voters of Iowa supports the present structure of the Iowa General Assembly (a bicameral legislature of 150 members [a 50-member Senate and a 100-member House of Representatives] and annual sessions of 110 days in odd-numbered years and 100 days in even-numbered years).

• The League opposes term limits for State Representatives and State Senators.
• The League believes certain changes in legislative processes could improve the system and the end product.

Local Government

Support for city and county home rule and for greater local flexibility and intergovernmental cooperation.

Structure, Function and Finance

Action to support:

• Implement home rule for Iowa cities, counties and joint city-county units of government (including local-option taxation authority);
• Minimize duplication of services;
• Increase area-wide and city-county planning;
• Strengthen inter-local cooperation;
• Increase flexibility of local units of government; and
• Defeat property tax limitation.

Area Education Agency (AEA)

The League of Women Voters of Iowa believes the state should provide equal opportunity for each child in Iowa to receive quality education. To this end, we support Area Education Agencies (AEAs) as service agencies to local school districts.

Action to Support:

• Media and education services and programs as needed and requested, plus the required special education services;
• Assistance to local school districts by AEAs for talented and gifted programs, preferably through a weighted funding formula;
• Inservice programs and services by AEAs that do not duplicate programs and services already available through other school corporations;
• Funding of AEAs through a combination of property taxes, state aid and grants, with a higher proportion of the budget funded by state aid rather than property taxes;
• Selection of AEA board members at district conventions of local school boards; and
• No regulatory or taxing powers assigned to AEAs.

If the legislature grants taxing authority to the AEAs, board members should be selected by district election, reside in the district represented, and be chosen by the electors of that district.

County Home Rule

Support of home rule for Iowa counties with constitutional and statutory measures providing for:

• Authorization for local governments to combine (county-county and city-county with voter determination of the county seat);
• Provisions for optional county and city-county charters;
• Bonding authority;
• Local-option tax authority subject to reverse referendum; and
• Provision that the power of a city should prevail in the event of a conflict between a county and a city.

Implementing legislation should include:

• A variety of methods for creating joint governments;
• Referendum procedures for approving, amending, and dissolving joint local governments;
• A variety of methods for initiating a charter procedure;
• Proportional representation and specified minimum size for charter commissions;
• Referendum procedures for adopting, amending and rescinding charters; and
• Periodic review.

PROPERTY TAX

The League believes local revenues should be less reliant on property tax and more reliant on state funds. Property tax should be decreased also by reduction in the number of local governmental units. Property tax relief should be granted to low-income elderly and other low-income owners and renters. Property tax exemptions should be removed from income-producing property of churches, profit-making nursing homes, veterans’ organizations, fraternal organizations and labor unions. Cities should be allowed to impose user fees or payments-in-lieu-of-taxes (PILOTS) on tax-exempt properties for services rendered to those properties. Cities should be allowed to charge county, state and federally owned properties for the city services provided to those properties.

EARMARKING

When consistent with other League criteria, earmarking of funds is an acceptable fiscal policy.

CORPORATE TAX

The League urges a tax treatment for business that would provide equity of imposition and enforcement between in-state and out-of-state corporations. Changes to achieve equity should reinforce the economic stability of the state and provide a favorable climate for business.

TAX INCENTIVES.

The League supports tax incentives for efforts and programs to slow the growth in energy consumption, to encourage development of renewable energy resources and to maximize energy conservation.

Fiscal Policy

Municipal Finance

The League of Women Voters of Iowa supports a wide range of local-option taxes as a means of broadening the sources of revenue available to Iowa cities including: retail sales tax (with the present legal exceptions), hotel/motel accommodations, food/beverage served at commercial establishments and cigarettes.

Local-option taxation should be subject to a reverse referendum by the voters.

he League opposes any increase in the $8.10/$1,000 maximum city property tax levy. While local-option taxation may make reductions possible in local property taxes, the League opposes any legislative requirement that a specified portion of the funds raised by local-option must be used to reduce property taxes.

he League supports an increase in the cities’ share of the Road Use Tax Fund as well as legislative study of means to further reduce municipal dependence on the property tax.

The League supports consideration of present inequities related to the taxation of business and industry, nonprofit organizations and agricultural land within city limits; increasing and stabilizing the aid from the Municipal Assistance Fund, and increasing the proportion of liquor profits returnable to cities.

School Finance

The League believes the state should provide equal opportunity for each child in Iowa to receive a quality education regardless of the property wealth of the local school district. To this end, the League supports a state-school funding program that provides a minimum spending level for every child in Iowa funded by a combination of state aid and local property taxes.

The League believes the school-funding formula should be designed to generate adequate revenue and to preserve the overall fairness of the state’s tax structure. The state should give substantial support to public schools with state aid but should not provide full funding.

The League supports:

• The funding of local school district budgets with a larger proportion of state aid and a smaller proportion of local property taxes;
• The use of various factors to calculate the budgets of local school districts; for instance, enrollment, average per-pupil costs, and unique needs or other special circumstances;
• The allocation of additional funds on a per-pupil basis to meet the needs of special education, gifted, and at-risk students;
• The option for local school districts to supplement their budgets within state-determined limits and to allocate funds in a locally-determined manner; and
• The use of fiscal incentives that encourage school district sharing of services to increase flexibility, educational opportunity, and overall economy.

The League opposes:

• Increased reliance on local property taxes to support the budgets of local school districts.

Justice

Promote fair treatment by guaranteeing the rights of all individuals.

The League of Women Voters of Iowa recognizes there is a difference of opinion as to the definition, cause and treatment of alcohol and other drug abuse and that success of treatment for addictions is limited, even with a willing client in a supportive environment.

Capital Punishment

The League of Women Voters of Iowa opposes capital punishment and its reinstatement in Iowa.

• There is no conclusive evidence that capital punishment is a deterrent. There does not seem to be a correlation between the murder rate and the death penalty in those states that have it.
• The death penalty has a disproportionate impact on minorities and the poor and is enforced with prejudice.
• The death penalty is irreversible, and innocent people are known to have been executed in the past.
• The costs of execution are higher than those of life imprisonment without parole.
• Life imprisonment without parole is a sufficiently harsh sentence.
• It is morally untenable for the state to take a life. Institutionalized killing is inhumane and contributes to a climate of violence.

In the event capital punishment becomes law in Iowa:

• There should be a minimum age of 21 at which an offender is subject to the death penalty.
• Insanity and mental retardation should be considered mitigating factors.
• Special provisions should be made for the appointment of competent counsel in capital cases.
• There should be no restrictions placed on access to the appeals process.
• Guarantees should be in place to counteract the effects of prejudice, to provide for automatic review of evidence and trial procedures, and to ensure the penalty is appropriate for the offense.

Juvenile Justice

The League of Women Voters of Iowa supports a multiple approach to juvenile delinquent behavior including emphasis on prevention programs, juvenile justice system procedures, and an increase in juvenile justice system treatment options, including restorative justice programs and principles.

League supports a community approach to the prevention of juvenile delinquent behavior by advocating the use of public and private resources to:

• Encourage the development of healthy and nurturing families.
• Assure safety for children in their communities.
• Facilitate the positive attachment of children to their families and their schools/education.
• Encourage children in the formation of positive peer relations.
• Reward children’s healthy lifestyle choices.

The League of Women Voters of Iowa supports a community response to juvenile delinquent behavior that advocates the use of public and private resources to:

• Establish and adequately fund a wide variety of treatment options to address children’s underlying or contributing problems such as alcoholism, drug addiction, suicidal tendencies, illiteracy, etc.
• Encourage coordination among treatment agencies.
• Incorporate restorative justice principles whenever possible.

LWVIA supports a juvenile court system that incorporates the following principles:

• Retains juveniles charged with status offenses, but in a category separate from delinquency;
• Maintains the confidentiality of Child in Need of Assistance petitions and status offense records;
• Includes a requirement for special training for policy and court personnel in handling juvenile matters;
• Permits the establishment of family courts, peer courts, and community courts where feasible;
• Allows offenses other than felony crimes against a person to be expunged;
• Maintains a system of graduated responses to delinquent behavior based on number of prior offenses, severity of instant offense, and age at time of offense; and
• Incorporates restorative justice principles into every appropriate stage of the juvenile justice system.

Domestic Violence

The League of Women Voters of Iowa finds the need for several changes in providing legal and social support services for victims of domestic violence, including a review of existing penalties for perpetrators, and working for more consistent enforcement of present laws. The League also supports increased funding for services in counseling, shelter, and education for victims and their families. In addition, the League encourages businesses to develop programs to educate and support their employees who are involved in domestic violence, and also to assist employees in maintaining continuity in employment when at all possible. Finally, we urge that the Department of Public Safety be required to publish statewide statistics related to domestic violence, a task currently cited only as an option in the Code of Iowa.

In particular the League of Women Voters supports the following additions or changes in legal processes and penalties:

• Waiver of fees for filing for protective services;
• Increase of penalties for all domestic violence offenses and utilization and enforcement of maximum penalties;
• State-funded periodic training for judicial and enforcement personnel;
• Enforcement of penalties for batterers who do not complete required training programs; and
• Booking of domestic violence arrests as domestic violence, not as assault or disturbing the peace, to facilitate the correct compilation of statistics by the Department of Public Safety.

The League of Women Voters also supports continuous and adequate state funding for domestic violence services, including:

• Support of adequate shelter space;
• Educational services;
• Housing subsidies and financial support in the form of rental deposits when victims leave shelter;
  Counseling centering on the welfare of the victim(s), in safe locations, including counseling for affected children; and
• Support for local or area legal advocates to assist victims with legal processes as well as advocates to assist with general assistance in safety, protection, and planning for the future.

Natural Resources 

Promote the wise management of resources in the public interest and an environment beneficial to life.

Land Use

The League of Women Voters supports an integrated local, county, regional, and state land use policy which enhances our quality of life and provides for:

• Preservation of prime agricultural land and sensitive natural areas, e.g. prairies, woodlands, wetlands, as priorities;
• Soil and water conservation;
• Managed urban growth which protects agricultural land, fosters higher density urban development, encourages infill development and redevelopment in cities, and preserves natural areas;
• A statewide land capability inventory;
• A diversified transportation system; and
• Statewide distribution of natural areas, open spaces and public recreation areas.

A state land use agency or other state entity should provide policy and guidelines for local and regional planning bodies, including guidelines for zoning decisions. Land use planning and enforcement should be adequately funded by a combination of state funds, fees, local taxation, and federal funds. State personnel should assist jurisdictions that cannot afford their own planners. The state agency should have power to initiate action and levy fines against violators if local jurisdictions fail to do so, and to hear appeals from local decisions.

Land use impact statements should be required for cases involving state funds, large developments above a designated size, land acquisitions by other government agencies, transportation and utility sites, and extractive industries. Citizens should have the right to sue to prevent the granting of variances. Public input at all levels of decision making is essential to sound land use planning.

The League supports the concept of publicly owned recreation trails on abandoned railroad rights-of-way. If present routes cannot be maintained, the League encourages governmental bodies to purchase abandoned rights-of-way for use as recreational trails, wildlife habitat, or for open spaces, thereby maintaining the capability for future transportation uses.

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Contacting the League of Women Voters of Iowa.

No local League in your community?

You can join the League of Women Voters of Iowa as a Member At Large (MAL).

Contact Marla Sheffler, marlasheffler@netzero.com for more information