Lawmakers of BOTH parties are expressing concerns about staffing levels at Iowa public safety agencies, but Republicans on a House committee have approved what they’re calling “status quo” funding for Iowa’s justice system which covers the highway patrol, prisons and the state crime lab.
Representative Gary Worthan, a Republican from Storm Lake, says there’s no extra money to hire more troopers or crime scene investigators.
In most cases, the agencies would receive about as much money as was planned for the current year, before a round of budget cuts last month. Representative Chris Hall, a Democrat from Sioux City, says the state prisons, in particular, are understaffed.
The House G-O-P’s state budget plan is drafted around a tax cut of 100-million dollars. Republicans in the Senate have proposed significantly deeper tax cuts.
