CARBONDALE - January 16, 2013. Lt. Governor Sheila Simon issued the following statement in reaction to President Obama's proposals to increase gun safety.

"Today President Obama introduced gun safety reforms that merit our full consideration. As Lt. Governor I have sworn to uphold or constitution, and as a mother I cannot help but see the need to better protect our children.

?"Keeping guns from falling into the wrong hands is in the best interest of all Illinoisans, including law-abiding gun owners. Whether we are from large cities or rural southern Illinois, we are united in a desire for safety. I look forward to working with the President on federal controls and the Governor and General Assembly as Illinois undergoes the court-ordered crafting of a concealed carry law."

CHICAGO - January 16, 2013. After participating in a call with the White House, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and governors across the nation, Governor Pat Quinn today issued a statement regarding President Barack Obama's public safety plan:

"I stand with President Obama in calling on Congress to adopt strong policies that will reduce gun violence. We must act now to protect the children and people of America.

"The President's action today is the first step of a comprehensive public safety plan that Congress must act upon. We all have a responsibility to ensure that military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines do not fall into the wrong hands.

"The American people should not have to go about their lives in fear of the kind of mass violence that can be inflicted by an assault weapon.

"The horrific tragedies that occurred in Aurora, Colorado and Newtown, Connecticut have cost our nation too many precious lives. While gun violence cannot be completely eliminated, we should not wait one more day to enact common sense measures that will save lives and help prevent these violent massacres." 

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Chief Justice Cady will present a vision for the future of the Iowa Judicial Branch: "to make the Iowa court system the best, most advanced, and the most responsive court system in the nation." Justices of the supreme court traveled throughout the state during the past 12 months listening to Iowans' expectations of the Iowa court system. The State of the Judiciary addresses how the Iowa court system is moving forward to best serve Iowans now and into the future, by protecting Iowa's children, providing full-time access to justice, operating an efficient and full service court system, providing faster and less costly resolution of legal disputes, continuing openness and transparency of the courts, and providing fair and impartial justice for all.

Live video of the speech will be broadcast on the Iowa Public Television .3 Channel (IPTV World) and streamed live on the Iowa Public Television website (www.iptv.org) and the Iowa Legislature's website (www.legis.iowa.gov) beginning at 10:00 a.m. The speech will be rebroadcast in HD at 6:30 p.m. on statewide IPTV's main channel.

Members of the media may obtain advance copies of the speech January 16, 2013, at 8:30 a.m., in the supreme court courtroom at the Capitol. The message will be posted on the Iowa Judicial Branch website www.iowacourts.gov at 10:45 a.m.

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Senate Democrat says Governor Branstad's failure to lead in this legislative session will "allow our state to fail right before our eyes."

DES MOINES - Saying he is "gravely disappointed with the lack of leadership demonstrated by the Governor today," State Sen. Jack Hatch (D-Des Moines) suggested Governor Terry Branstad failed to set out any agenda on some of the most important challenges facing Iowa in his Condition of the State Address.

"There are obviously areas of agreement with items in the speech," Hatch said. "But the areas in which we still need to find common ground are critically important, and that's what I'll be focusing on."

Hatch saved his most specific criticism of the Governor for the topic of health care, which has been Hatch's area of focus and is expected to result in a number of significant bills in the 2013 legislative session. "The absence of a clearly articulated way forward on health care as we undertake the hard work in health care is just astonishing," Hatch said Tuesday.  "It's hard to believe the Governor is dodging health care at this important moment, as we work to implement the nation's new health care law."

"We have been working on an Iowa model for health care reform for six years, and at points Governor Branstad has been an ally," Hatch said.  "He knows better than to say all we can do is recruit physicians and make it harder for consumers to recover medical damages following malpractice."

Hatch said he will be going forward with three major health care priorities related to the ACA this session and expects to introduce bills on each topic:

• Expanded Medicaid - Hatch said nearly 150,000 Iowans not now covered by health insurance could be covered by the current offer of 100 percent federal funding over the next few years, with very reasonable long-term costs to the state to follow.

• Health Insurance Exchange - Hatch said he believes Iowa needs to design its own exchange that will serve the needs of a small-state, rural population with a history of health care advocacy on health issues like diabetes, epilepsy, autism and long-term care.  Hatch says Iowa must act this session to have an exchange in place by 2015.

• Mental Health Funding - Hatch says Iowa must "keep the commitment we made in 2012 to affected families and to local governments" on mental health. He said last year's law reorganized the system into one that features local delivery of services, regionally administered.  "If we fail to fund this new system, it will suffer the same fate as the last redesign 16 years ago," Hatch said. "That would be wrong."

Hatch said other areas in which Senate Democrats will work to find common ground with the Governor during the 2013 session include tax relief for Iowa families and education reform. 

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