A bill that would set aside 25 million dollars in state money for “quality of life” projects and promotions in Iowa is ready for Senate debate. Senator Bill Dotzler, a Democrat from Waterloo, says the bill addresses the need to get more young adults to live and work in Iowa.
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But Dotzler says the money also could be used to promote sporting events like the recent N-C-Double-A tournament games in Des Moines or the Solheim (SOHL-heyem) Cup, a competition between women golfers from the U.S. and Europe that will be staged in Des Moines in 2017.
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Dotzler says boosting Iowa’s population is crucial because of some “red flags” raised by the Iowa Business Council.
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The bill has cleared both the Senate Economic Growth Committee and the Senate Appropriations Committee, making it eligible for debate in the 50 member Iowa Senate. A similar idea was floated last year, but Dotzler has changed the funding source. He proposes that if the state has at least 100 million dollars in unspent money at the end of the budgeting year, 25 million dollars of that would go to this program. Dotzler says in eight of the last 10 years the state’s finances would have allowed the program to be financed.