Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1923-01-03
LEGISLATURE IS
READY TO OPEN
CONTINUED from first page)


ster, Kniokerbocker of Linn, Larson
of Montgomery, LeValley of Frank
lin, McFarlane and Santee of Black
Hawk. Morgan of Jasper, Marcy OF
Dickinson, Perkins of Sac, Peters of
Dallas, Powers of Crawford, Smith
of Clinton, Springer of Wapello,
Weaver of Polk and Westervelt of
Greene. Last sessions speaker pro-
tenn, democratic floor leader, and the
chiefs of most of the important
house committees are gone. In the
house it will be to a great degree a
new group, faced by very heavy ana
intricate tasks. Perhaps Iowa there
fore will be a little indulgent at
first.
There are already pressing, two
mountainous legislative jobs, either
of which would be staggering load
for any legislature, when it has been
piled on top of other regular work
of a session. These are tax law
reform and code revision.
Neither can be accomplished
without weeks of shirt-sleeve labor.
The legislative committee on taxa
ton has come to conclusions radical
ly affecting most of the great bulk
of our laws governing taxation.
These decisions have required
thought and effort extending ovel
two years. The recommendation
will demand much study--so much
study that the legislator this win
ter (if our tax laws are to be re-
vised so completely as the commit
tees outline contemplates) will be
able to qualify as a taxation ex-
pert after the session closes.
Moreover the committee of eight
that did all this preliminary work
will not have many spokesman in the
new houses of the assembly. It's
chairman, Senator VanAlstine of
Humboldt, will not be present, and
the burden of explaining the COM
mittee's views in the senate will rest
wholly upon the SHOULDERS of Smith
of Madison and Butcher of Johnson.
In the house the committee will have
only one spokesman-Moen of Lyon.
And on top of tax law revision IS
likely to be code revision, a task so
great that the Thirty-Ninth assembly
declined to tackle in regular session.
Governor Kendall has announced his
intention to urge code revision as a
part of the regular work of this leg
islature, in his biennial message. II
is within the province of the as
sembly to ignore him, but code re-
vision already has been put off two
years, and failure to act now would
postpone it two years more.
Thara =.
advance of this session to indicate
which way the Legislative mind Is
going on the various issues likely
to be raised. As stated heretofore,
the speakership fight has developed
no fights upon question of state pol
icy. 1t is safe to assume a few
things upon which there will be
distinct, and perhaps spirited diff
ferences of opinion. The taxation
committees notion to tax personal
incomes will not have plain sailing,
and neither will the proposal to
create a state tax commission. The
members will not be in unanimous
agreement as to the fate of the
state highway commission.
That there will be many bills af-
fecting the highways and motor We
hicles taxation laws is a certainty.
Some of the high spots in this bud
get already are apparent: Walter
Ramsay, secretary of state, has an
nounced the opinion that auto taxed
should be reduced. His idea will at
least get before the assembly for y
hearing. And then Senator Cald-
well of Mahaska county has prepar-
ed a bill proposing to put a tax on
gasoline sold at retail, the tax to
raise about seven million dollars a
year, and the money 10 be spent in
paving about 5000 miles of Iowa
cross state roads. The proposal to
place road administration under a
single head, and to move the high
way office from Ames to Des Moines,
is quite certain to recur. There has
been a sentiment In favor of divert
| ing some Of the money now spent
on primary road to the improvement
of township highways. And there
are many other notions. What will
happen after all of them have been
reduced to writing, and sifted In
committee, and debated in both
uOuSeS, "Oult VIC NC SOlll liiC pV"SiS
of any Solomon to foreSee.
A very recently revealed legisla-
tive necessity appears in the an
nouncement last week by the state
board of education of a gift of Q
quarter of million dollars to the
medical school OF the state university
of Iowa, contingent upon appropria'
ton by the state of S45O,OOO year
for five years, to be added to the
gift. 1t will be up to the assembly
to say whether this S450,000 shall bt
appropriated, and it will be tantal'
ling question at this time, when SC
much stress is put on the necessity
of decreasing taxes.
One tendency somewhat surprising
to one who has followed recent Iowa
legislatures closely, seems evident as
the session nears. That is an active
interest on the part Of many legis
lators in proposals, to be renewed II
Governor Kendall's message, fol
some simplification of state govern
ment by merging related bureaus anc
commissions.
Such things have been recommends
ed regularly every biennium for SD
years, and until now they haven
made a ripple. Advance statement
by several members of this assem-
biy, however, show an awakened IN
terest, which might result in far
reaching action.
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