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Flood protection bill will fall to funnel |
| Posted: March 04, 2010 |
By James Q. Lynch
Gazette
Des Moines Bureau
DES MOINES — Whatever support there was for an ambitious plan to base state flood protection policy on the 500year flood plain has been eroded by concern over the lack of reliable flood plain maps and whether new requirements would stymie economic growth.
The legislation, which would have enacted many of the recommendations of the post-2008 flood Water Resources Coordinating Council, will not survive the session’s second funnel deadline.
Other proposals fared better as legislative committees worked to advance bills ahead of Friday’s deadline for bills to be approved by one chamber and a committee of the other to be considered before the end of the session.
Among bills advancing Wednesday were proposals for smart planning, expanding access for lowincome Iowans served by the IowaCare program and making some domestic abusers give up their guns.
Although the flood protection bill, Senate File 2316, passed the Senate 26-20 earlier this week, the House Rebuild Iowa Committee will not bring it to a vote. That disappointed Senate Rebuild Iowa Committee Chairman Rob Hogg, D-Cedar Rapids.
“It brings the momentum we had last year to a halt,” Hogg said.
It also revealed a “structural political problem” in the legislative process, he added.
“The cities and other groups that don’t want this regulation are active in opposing this,” Hogg said. “But the broad general interest in protecting against future flooding doesn’t have a lobby here.” Despite their frustration with the setback, Hogg and House Rebuild Iowa Chairman Tom Schueller, D-Maquoketa, said they will continue to push changes they say will protect communities against flooding.
“We were so ready to react last year and we moved so fast so everyone could go home on the weekends and brag how much legislation we passed and how much money we had gotten,” Schueller said. “This year, there’s no money and no one wants to be proactive.” Rep. Tom Sands, R-Columbus Junction, whose district sustained heavy flood damage, said he’s willing to continue to work on new policies, but SF 2316 isn’t the answer.
“I’m not sure that if we had implemented these policies 20 years ago, there would have been any difference in the impact of the flood of 2008,” Sands said.
Originally, Hogg’s bill called for using the 500year flood plain as the basis of protection policy rather than the 100-year flood plain.
That was a problem for Sands, who said “it would be different if we could show where the 500-year flood plain is on a map.” That’s not possible in many areas.
■ Comments: (319) 398-8375; james.lynch@gazcomm.com; gazetteonline.com/blogs/ covering-iowa-politics/
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