Hogg says Democrats will defend IPERS

Iowa legislative Democrats warned Thursday they are planning to do battle next year if Republicans seek to make major changes to state's public employee retirement system.

Iowa Sen. Rob Hogg of Cedar Rapids, the Democratic leader in the Senate, joined a handful of Quad-City area Democratic legislators in Davenport on Thursday for a post-mortem on the 2017 session, which Hogg called "brutal" for working families.

The Republican-controlled Legislature adjourned last weekend after making sweeping changes on several fronts, including reductions in collective bargaining rights for most public employees, a voter identification law and a host of other changes.

Democrats still have to wait another 19 months before they'll get a chance to compete with Republicans at the polls. But asked what they expected were major issues to come in the 2018 session, Hogg said water quality and income taxes will be big topics. He also raised the idea Republicans, much like they did with collective bargaining, could seek to make changes swiftly to Iowa Public Employees' Retirement System, or IPERS.

Read more: http://qctimes.com/news/local/government-and-politics/hogg-says-democrats-will-defend-ipers/article_e83a5635-ca60-53d0-938b-26271a00a50e.html