Des Moines, Iowa — Republicans in the Iowa Senate have approved a budget plan for the Departments of Natural Resources and Agriculture that includes more money to prepare for a potential outbreak of a foreign animal disease, like African Swine Fever.
Senator Eric Giddens, a Democrat from Cedar Falls, says the bill falls short in other areas.
Senator Dan Zumbach, a Republican from Ryan, says he met with the DNR’s director to shift money within the agency’s budget, to focus on priorities.
The 16 Democrats in the Senate voted against the budget plan. Senator Janice Weiner, a Democrat from Iowa City, says the bill cuts funding for the Iowa Nutrient Research Center at Iowa State University and likely ends its collaboration with the Iowa Flood Center at the University of Iowa. Weiner says it’s University of Iowa staff who’ve been measuring whether water quality projects are working.
Zumbach says the water quality funds shifted to the Iowa Department of Agriculture will be spent on science-based initiatives.
Democrats like Senator Sarah Trone-Garriott of Waukee also object to language in the bill that would repeal a law that says the State of Iowa should aim to have 10 percent of Iowa land be parks, wilderness areas, and other property available for public use.
Zumbach says it’s about priorities.
The State of Iowa currently owns about 390-thousand acres of land that is to be maintained by the DNR. That’s about one percent of the 36 million acres in Iowa according to a DNR land inventory.
