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(Des Moines, IA) -- As Iowa lawmakers continue to work toward adjourning for the year, bills appropriating the state budget are beginning to move. Senate File 646 allocates funds to the Departments of Agriculture and Natural Resources. The proposal includes around $650,000 to combat Avian Influenza in an attempt to regulate the price of eggs. State Rep. Norlin Mommsen (R-DeWitt) managed the bill.
"Most of the time, the only conversation that takes place about eggs is how you want them cooked," Mommsen said. "They want them scrambled, over easy, sunny side up or poached...With the outbreak of Avian Influenza, the conversation has become more about price and availability than how you have them cooked."
The proposal includes $100,000 to aid in vaccine research, $100,000 for outbreak response and $250,000 for the diagnostic laboratory at Iowa State.
"We attempted to take a broad approach to addressing the price of eggs and other potential disease issues that might affect the state of Iowa," Mommsen said.
Some opponents, however, suggest there may be other reasons for the high price of eggs. That includes State Rep. JD Scholten (D-Sioux City).
"The Justice Department just filed an investigation with Cal-Maine who isn't in Iowa but they're our nation's largest egg producer," Scholten said. "Their profits at this time are nearly eight times as high now as they were at the start of the bird flu outbreak."
The appropriations are a part of a total of a $146 million allocation to the two departments, or roughly 1.5% of the total proposed budget. The bill now heads to Governor Kim Reynolds' desk, where she can veto any budget item before signing the bill.