DES MOINES -- State Sen. Herman Quirmbach, D-Ames, gave the Legislature a pat on the back Monday for passing a $1 cigarette tax increase last year. He says the tax increase is responsible, in part, for reducing cigarette sales.

The Iowa Department of Revenue said just over 5 billion cigarettes were sold the year before the tax went into effect, a number that dropped to 3.2 billion in the 12 months after the tax increase was implemented.

"We have made tremendous progress, in just a single year, in the reduction of this deadly threat that burdens and threatens the lives and the health of so many of our Iowa citizens and constituents," Quirmbach said.

Despite some negative feedback, Quirmbach said, lawmakers did the right thing by passing the tax. He urged lawmakers to pass a smoking ban in public places this session to strike another blow against smoking in the state.

"We should be encouraged in that endeavor by the clear success, the triumphant success, of the cigarette tax increase," Quirmbach said.

ECONOMY AND SPENDING -- Sen. Paul McKinley, R-Chariton, found lessons for state lawmakers in national economic trends and warned against overspending in the event Iowa's economy goes south.

"I think it will behoove us all to be frugal and understand that times could be getting tougher," McKinley said.

He also criticized a hike in the minimum wage that lawmakers passed last year.

McKinley said he recently visited with the manager of a Pizza Ranch restaurant, who told him that eight Pizza Ranch restaurants closed in Iowa last year and eight will close next year because the minimum wage was raised.

Nursing homes, day cares and pre schools also say they can't afford the higher wages, McKinley said.

"So one must ask -- is it better to have unemployed people at $7 an hour or employed people at $6 an hour?" he said. "I think the answer to that is rather obvious."

McKinley said he also got a feel for what voters were thinking at legislative forums over the weekend.

"People are very concerned about their pocketbook, and one thing that comes out clearly is, 'We do not want to pay any more taxes; we're paying all we can afford now,'" McKinley said.

Compiled by the Lee Enterprises Des Moines bureau. Contact Charlotte Eby at (515) 243-0138 or chareby@aol.