PLATFORM OF THE CLARKE COUNTY IOWA DEMOCRATS

ENACTED MARCH 23, 2024

EDUCATION

1. We believe that public money should be used for public schools. We further believe that public education needs to be adequately funded and supported. We call on the legislature to take action to support public education.

Rationale: There is currently an assault on public education in the name of school choice. We must counter the false narratives of revisionist history and against critical thinking in our schools.

2. We support adequate testing and standards for homeschooling and private schools.

Rationale: Accountability is lacking.

3. We support keeping the current structure and funding of the Area Education Agency (AEA) pending additional study.

Rationale: The current structure is stable and changes without quantitative study would destabilize current services.

EMPLOYMENT

1. We support predictive scheduling requirements ensuring that employers provide written work schedules at least 14 days in advance, and provide a good faith estimate of hours upon hiring.

Rationale: Workers need to be able to plan ahead for school, child care, and other jobs.

HEALTH

1. We support expanded mental health services and access to tele-health counselors and psychiatrists.

Rationale: Sufficient services are lacking. Providers don’t want to work in this state due to recent restrictive and discriminatory legislation.

2. We support the rights of doctors and their patients to decide on individual treatment without government interference, including women’s reproductive rights. The government’s role should be limited to licensing and approval of medical professionals and pharmaceutical drugs.

Rationale: Restrictions on abortions have gone so far since the Supreme Court reversed Roe vs. Wade that women’s lives are being endangered every day. The Republican Party that supported freedom of choice on this issue has lost its way, and no longer represents the views of Iowans.

3. We support the right of Medicare D to negotiate drug prices.

Rationale: Drugs costs are too high.

4. We support the Affordable Care Act, expanded access to full services in rural areas, and increased subsidization of premiums for low and middle income people.

Rationale: Health care is a fundamental right.

IMMIGRATION

1. We support comprehensive immigration reform including adequate funding of immigration law judges so that applicants can have both due process and timely decisions, expanded standards for granting of asylum to refugees, and improved regulation of work visas.

Rationale: The workforce needs immigrant workers, and our system is too broken to provide them. The current system keeps wages down and encourages exploitation of workers. Fearmongering and racism are being used by politicians to manipulate voters into blaming the victims.

2. We support enforcement of immigration laws by federal authorities alone.

Rationale: Allowing state enforcement leads to uncertainty in interpretation of the law, illegal profiling and discrimination, and other forms of abuse.

GOVERNMENT & ELECTIONS

1. We support greater restrictions and transparency on corporate campaign and political contributions, and strengthening the power of the Federal Trade Commission to enforce anti-trust laws, and for Congress to pass legislation to supersede the Citizens United Supreme Court decision.

Rationale: Corporate power and big money has too much influence in politics.

2. We support an amendment to the Iowa Constitution that would permit more ballot initiatives in order for our most important Democratic principles to be implemented.

Rationale: The Iowa legislature enacts too much special interest legislation that is not supported by a majority of the voters. Currently, there is no process for voters themselves to propose a ballot initiative.

3. We support a change in the law to allow each party to decide how to select its presidential candidate.

Rationale: the caucuses are confusing and inaccurate.

4. We support increasing the ease of voting, including an expansion of drop boxes and voting by mail.

Rationale: Maximum participation by all voters is best for democracy.

5. All renewal notices generated by the Secretary of State should be sent by regular postal mail in addition to any electronic notices such as email.

Rationale: Despite the convenience of email, it is not an official or reliable form of communication.

NATURAL RESOURCES CONSERVATION & ENHANCEMENT

1. We support a one cent sales tax increase with three-eighths of one cent allocated to Iowa’s Water and Land Legacy (IWILL) trust fund. This increase must adhere to Iowa Code 461.31 which states that the trust fund will supplement (and not replace) funds currently allocated by the general assembly for conservation and enhancement purposes.

Rationale: The IWILL trust fund was established in 2010 by an amendment to the state Constitution. Lawmakers were charged with increasing the sales tax, which they have never done over the past 14 years. Iowa is the only state with such a trust fund established which has never put one penny into investing in our state’s natural resources.

2. We support strengthening the authority of Watershed Management Authorities (WMAs) in Iowa.

Rationale: Prioritizing soil health is essential to conserving Iowa’s most valuable natural resource, our black earth. Nutrient reduction and soil conservation improve the quality of Iowa’s streams, rivers and lakes and reduce the flow of harmful substances into the Gulf of Mexico. Osceola’s water supply is polluted by chemical runoff, creating a crisis in our community.

REVENUE AND TAXATION

1. We need better enforcement of limitations on use of timber reserves. We further support a recreational tax to be imposed on timber reserves used for hunting, or in the alternative, the reserves should be opened up for public hunting.

Rationale: the property tax exemption on timber reserves is being abused, at significant loss of revenue to Clarke County.

2. We support a progressive income tax system wherein high income and high wealth is taxed at a higher rate than low income and low wealth.

Rationale: The governor’s proposed flat tax will hurt low income Iowans more than wealthy Iowans. As wealth becomes concentrated in a smaller number of individuals and corporations, smaller farms and lower wage earners need protection with a fair tax structure. Overreliance on sale and property taxes is unfair to middle and low income taxpayers.