Representative Dan Huseman

With the 2019 legislative session in its final hours, lawmakers are pushing hard to complete the state budget for next fiscal year. Total spending has been agreed to, and now we are putting in the details. The final budget will spend $7.643 billion dollars, which is an increase over last year, and our reserve accounts…

Week 14 of this session is finished, and lawmakers are heading home to celebrate the Easter holiday. We are scheduled to adjourn in about two weeks, but most people would like to make a run for the finish line next week. This will be difficult, but it is possible. We have an agreement with the…

On Thursday morning, someone in our caucus asked what the soil temperature was. One member answered it was 44 degrees today, but 53 degrees on Monday. He said when the soil is dry and 50 degrees, planters roll in Jones county. Also, April 11th was the official date set by Crop Insurance to start planting…

The second funnel week is over, so the list of bills eligible for debate continues to shrink. More importantly, by next Monday, we will be past day 85 of a 110 day session, so time is growing short. The good news is that some legislation is being thrown overboard and will not be debated this…

Next Friday is the second funnel so both chambers were busy this week moving legislation through the process. With the weather finally starting to warm a bit, everyone is itching to finish the session and return home. That could happen in another month. Over the last few weeks, much of the state has experienced severe…

March Madness is upon us, and this weekend, Des Moines is host to some opening round games. On Wednesday, Wells Fargo Arena was open so fans could come watch all eight teams who are competing this weekend practice. It was FREE, and I couldn’t believe how many people showed up. This is good because it…

There was a lot of tension inside the State Capitol this week and it was not because of any legislation. It was because of heavy rain and melting snow which has rivers and streams all over the state overflowing. Most of the rain fell in Western and Northwestern Iowa, so lawmakers from our area were…

As I mentioned last week, Friday March 8th is the first funnel of the session. If a bill does not pass out of a standing committee in either the House or Senate, it is most likely dead for this session. We will know more next Monday. We do know that the “big” bills for this…

The high school girl’s basketball tournament is going on in Des Moines this week, and the boys will be in town next week. At this time of the year, the average high temperature is 40 degrees. Unfortunately, we are not even close to that, and the forecast shows little improvement. The cold, snow, wind and…

The city of Des Moines dodged a bullet Tuesday night, as the prediction of nine inches of snow fizzled out and we received more like two inches. That was okay with everyone I talked to, because in some areas, there is simply no place to pile up more snow. Des Moines has had record snowfall…