Numbers show 2017 Iowa Legislature productive, but not record-setting
With its new majority in the
While not everyone was targeting doors, Gov.
They wasted little time. It took 10 days in February to reduce
"We rolled our sleeves up and got to work," said House Speaker
When people look back on the session that wrapped up
Historic or not, it was productive when measured by the numbers. Lawmakers enrolled 174 bills and resolutions in the 104-day session, reported the non-partisan
That makes 2017 the most productive session in terms of the number of bills passed since 2010 -- the last time one party had the triple crown of state government control. That year,
However, lawmakers were even more productive in passing bills during a stretch in the late 1980s and early 1990s when
They passed 327 bills in 1989 followed by 275 in 1990 and 1991 and 261 in 1992. Since then, productivity has been trending downward until now.
Going back no farther than 20 years, the high-water mark was when 233 bills passed the
Then in 2010, it was
From 2007 to 2010,
In
That surprised Sen.
"I thought it was the opposite," he said.
Under split control, he said, "you can't pass any bad Democratic bills or bad Republican bills."
In 2005 and 2006, he recalled, the
"It was the best we've ever had in terms of legislation, people getting along and doing the right thing," Horn said. Lawmakers passed 184 and 191 bills those years.
Based on a review of
But numbers tell only a part of the story.
The party in control uses its new advantage to pass measures that had been stuck in limbo under split control.
In 2007, for example,
When the
But none of those sessions compared with what
"No. 1, collective bargaining right off the bat. Wow," he said. "It was like they stole legislation. (
Iowans shouldn't be surprised by how quickly
"At the beginning of this session I said Iowans wanted us to change the way we do business," he said. "This is what 15 weeks of a Senate Republican majority looked like. Not wasting time with politics -- just substantive, real policies."
"This is only a chapter of the legacy we hope to leave for our state as we move this state forward in a positive, fiscally responsible, economically prosperous direction," Dix said.
l Comments: (319) 398-8375; [email protected]
Red = Total Republican Control, Blue = Total Democratic Control, Gray = Split Control
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