DES MOINES, Iowa – Iowa lawmakers plan to roll back collective bargaining benefits for teachers and other public sector workers by limiting the topics of union negotiations and requiring certification votes, among other changes.

Republicans took control of all three branches of Iowa government in 2016, and they’re now advancing legislation to curb collective bargaining abuses that have led to years of unnecessary expenses for taxpayers, The Des Moines Register reports.

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Legislation filed in the House and Senate Tuesday would limit mandatory negotiations to wages only, which would free public employers to impose employment terms on insurance, evaluations, seniority benefits and other topics currently included in contracts, though police and other public safety unions would be exempt from the changes.

“I am very optimistic about the chances we have for finally making changes that are in the best interests of the taxpayers of Iowa and the cities and counties and school districts, and the state of Iowa,” Gov. Terry Branstad said at a Tuesday press conference. Branstad will soon leave the governorship to become President Donald Trump’s ambassador to China.

KCCI reports lawmakers plan to move the bills out of committee this week and hold a full vote in both chambers next week.

Beyond limiting the topics of union negotiations, the legislation would also prohibit automatic dues deductions and political contributions from public employee paychecks, eliminating an automatic revenue stream that relies on public resources to process.

Unions would also be required to hold certification votes before new contract negotiations that would require a majority of members to approve, rather than a majority of those who cast ballots.

“We felt like we needed to basically make sure … that the majority of the members of that bargaining unit actually want to have the union representing them,” state Rep. Dave Deyoe, chairman of the House Labor Committee, told the Register.

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Senate Labor and Business Relations Committee Chairman Sen. Jason Schultz told The Gazette the legislation represents “a major update and modernization” of the state’s public employee collective bargaining law that hasn’t changed in 40 years.

“We want the people who are handling tax dollars to be the ones who are most answerable to the people who elected them,” he said.

Nearly all of the changes proposed in the legislation were implemented in neighboring Wisconsin in 2011 and the move saved taxpayers millions in unnecessary labor expenses. Schools across the state that were once forced to buy health insurance through the overpriced union health insurance company saved substantial funds by switching carriers, and union membership plummeted as teachers and other public employees left their unions at the first opportunity.

“I think it’s an extremely bold proposal,” Drew Klein, director of the Iowa chapter of Americans for Prosperity, told the Register. “When you really start to dig into the substance of this bill, it makes a number of really important changes. It does so in a common sense way. It does so while protecting our government services but also making sure that we’re protecting budgets at the state and local level as well.”

Union officials and their members, of course, are protesting the changes at the Capitol, though they acknowledged that there’s little they can do to prevent the proposed changes from becoming law.

“(Republicans) have control of both houses,” Larry Catherwood, a UAW member from Marshalltown, told the Register. “At the same time, they can go too far with it. They have to be elected again. … We just want to let them know we’re not going away.”

“I am beyond angry today,” Iowa State Education Association President Tammy Waero told the Gazette. “I am actually mortified (and) floored by the disrespect and animosity that drove … the authors to introduce such a punitive piece of legislation.”

AFSCME President Danny Homan called the bills “purely a political attack on unions.”

“Let me assure you the fight does not stop here,” he said. “It won’t stop until we regain the rights for working men and women across this state to have input into their jobs.”