Northwest Iowa — One of the Iowa State Senators that represent this area has been selected to be part of the Senate Republican Leadership Team.
The two Senate districts that represent our northwest Iowa counties (plus some more) are District 1, where Republican Senator Zach Whiting is the Senator, and District 2 where Senator-elect Jeff Taylor will be taking over for Congressman-elect Randy Feenstra who has represented the district in the State Senate.
Whiting was elected in 2018 to take over for David Johnson who left the Republican Party in 2016 upon the election of President Donald Trump. He says he will be glad to serve in his new position as one of four Assistant Majority Leaders in the Senate.
(as said:) “Well, I feel really honored. We have a great leadership team down there and I’m really excited to be a part of that. In order to be selected as an Assistant Majority Leader, my colleagues had to elect me to that position. And so to be nominated by one of my most senior colleagues and one of my dear friends down there and to have the support of my colleagues in the Senate, it’s a great honor, and I’m really excited to be a part of our leadership team and try to continue to push a strong agenda.”
He says he and the rest of the Republicans have some work to do when the session starts.
(as said:) “You know, as everyone knows 2020 has been a wild year and we had some big ideas that we want to do at the beginning of last year that were kind of put on hold that with the pandemic and the disruption that it’s caused to the economy. And so I think at the top of our list is a tax reform package where we can try to lower income and property taxes and then as part of the plan that we discussed last year and build off of what the governor proposed to the legislature, [which] is to fund the IWILL program for outdoor and water quality programs and then importantly what is consistently one of the most top-identified needs to address in our district is mental health and a way to fund that and so if we take some of that burden off the property taxpayers and at the county level and shift some of that cost over to the state. “
Whiting tells us that they expect a few COVID restrictions in the Statehouse, but he feels that it’s important that they remain doing face-to-face lawmaking and remain accessible to the state’s citizens at the State Capitol.
The Republican leadership team consists of the following Senators:
· Majority Leader, Senator Jack Whitver, Ankeny
· President of the Senate, Senator Jake Chapman, Adel
· President Pro Tempore of the Senate, Senator Brad Zaun, Urbandale
· Majority Whip, Senator Amy Sinclair, Allerton
Assistant Majority Leaders:
o Senator Chris Cournoyer, LeClaire
o Senator Carrie Koelker, Dyersville
o Senator Mark Lofgren, Muscatine
o Senator Zach Whiting, Spirit Lake
