Le Bon Plan (social)

Ca n'a échappé à personne, les républicains ont pris le pouvoir. Ils ont la majorité dans les deux chambres qui légifèrent en Iowa ce qui leur permet de passer des Bills, propositions de loi, à très grande vitesse.

On apprenait donc hier que le budget de mon employeur, l'Iowa Flood Center, a été tout simplement liquidé dans le prochain budget. La proposition de loi doit être discutée et votée ce matin. Autant dire que ca laissait une demi-journée aux lobbyistes pour faire leur travail.

Tout n'est pas encore perdu, mais la bataille fait rage. Si la loi passe telle quelle, ce ne sont pas moins de 40 personnes qui se retrouveraient sur le carreau dès juillet 2016. Sans compter l'abandon de produits développés depuis presque dix ans, le déploiement de 252 capteurs, etc. Le grand gâchis.

Si ce n'était pas aussi désespérant, je dirais que le Flood Center prend l'eau.

Voici la lettre officielle reçue hier:

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Yesterday, we learned that the Republican legislative budget proposal for next year zeros out the $1.5 million that supports the Iowa Flood Center. This would effectively eliminate the Iowa Flood Center.

This proposed cut will have a devastating impact on the Flood Center’s ability to continue to provide flood mitigation and real-time flood support to communities, businesses, emergency managers, public works professionals and citizens that have come to depend on the Center’s efforts.

These cuts will result in the end of the Iowa Flood Information System (IFIS) a powerful on-line tool which supports flood alerts and flood forecasts, more than 250 IFC real-time river and stream gauge sensors, more than 50 soil moisture/temperature sensors, flood inundation maps for 22 Iowa communities and rainfall products for the entire state.

It would also jeopardize Iowa’s $96 million federal Iowa Watershed Approach HUD grant and the Center’s ability to continue to implement projects in nine Iowa watersheds.

With so much at stake, we are reaching out to interested parties to encourage them to communicate with their state legislators about the value of the state’s investment in flood prevention and resiliency work.

We urge you to contact your state senator and state representative TODAY to share your concerns. The cuts are contained in the Education Appropriations Bill that is moving through the legislature today and tomorrow. This bill is expected to move very quickly so it is imperative you reach out as soon as possible.

You can call your legislators at the Capitol. The Senate switchboard number is 515-281-3371, and the House switchboard number is 515-281-3221. You can also find your legislators and their emails at https://www.legis.iowa.gov/

Let us know if you have any questions.

Thank you for your support!