Governor Reynolds Proposes Eliminating or Consolidating Nearly Half of Iowa Boards

Fulfilling Another Porter Campaign Promise

On September 7, 1993, President Clinton introduced the National Performance Review while speaking in front of a forklift carrying unnecessary government regulations.

I ran for Governor of Iowa in 2018 with three main objectives:

1. Restoration of voting rights for anyone who served their time and paid for their crime.

2. Reviewing and consolidating or eliminating boards and commissions to cut unnecessary government

3. Phasing out the state sales tax over 10 years and replacing it with nothing

Republican Governor Kim Reynolds adopted the restoration of voting rights in 2020 and is now looking at eliminating or consolidating nearly one-half of the state boards and commissions. Could this be in response to the fact that the Porter campaign nearly made the margin of difference in the 2018 gubernatorial election?

One of those boards proposed to be eliminated is the Health Facilities Council (Certificate of Need board) which Governor Reynolds appointed me to and that I served on from 2020 until I moved to Arkansas in 2022.

Our board was tasked with deciding if new hospitals, nursing homes, and mental health facilities could open or expand. Certificate of need laws are often used to keep out competition.

Many boards and agencies serve no real purpose, could be consolidated with other boards, or are just plain unnecessary. Some even are harmful with their regulations and fees.

While I agree with opponents of the plan that there should be transparency, I believe the consolidation and elimination of boards should be able to get bipartisan support if done properly.

Neither Democrats nor Republicans in the state legislature should want to continue with unnecessary rules, regulations, and taxes that come from government bloat. After all, 30 years ago, Bill Clinton did something similar.

This is the type of bold policy position that libertarians should campaign on.