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Iowa Senate Republicans and Democrats agree on the premise that Iowa's government needs an update. They differ, however, on whether Gov. Kim Reynolds' sweeping plan is the correct path forward for Iowa.

Reynolds argues her nearly 1,600-page bill would save Iowa taxpayers nearly $215 million over the next four years by cutting unfilled positions, selling government land, reducing office space and bringing down the overall size of state government.

Her plan would reduce the number of cabinet-level departments from 37 to 16. It would also consolidate different state technologies, systems and services and would merge similar state programs into single departments.

"No Iowan should have to go to eleven different agencies to try to get something licensed," Reynolds told reporters last Thursday. "We shouldn't have workforce programs spread across eleven different agencies. How is that efficient and effective government?"

Even though the Senate bill passed out of committee today, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle say there are still several concerns to address.

Some Iowans worry the bill removes protections for the blind and deaf. Others say oversight changes to Iowa's child welfare system could create conflicts of interest for volunteers trying to help children who are abuse and neglect victims.

Democrats specifically oppose a piece of the bill that would allow the Iowa Attorney General to prosecute any criminal case and override county attorneys. It would also put the attorney general in charge of all election-related crimes.

"I'm very concerned with the power grab by the Attorney General — unprecedented," Sen. Tony Bisignano (D-Des Moines) said.

"There probably [are] things that are going to create harmful unintended consequences. The code editor will find many of them over the next several years," Bisignano said. "We have problems with moving employees from one [department] to another that, if you look at it on paper, they don't make sense."

He also argued the government re-alignment would put more power in the hands of the governor.

"The whole thing was based on more power," Bisignano said. "She's making some management changes and accountability changes. I think some [are] in the wrong direction. But it is, in the end, about accumulating and controlling the power."

Reynolds pushed back on that argument last Thursday, telling reporters that the bill is solely focused on saving taxpayers money and making the state more effective and efficient.

"This isn't about building a fiefdom for Kim Reynolds. This is about reducing the size of government, which we should all be about," Reynolds said. "It's about bringing technologies and efficiencies and collaboration and coordination to the point where we really can do what we're supposed to do and that serves the citizens of Iowa who, I would say, are our stakeholders."

The bill passed out of Senate State Government Committee on a 12-6 vote Wednesday. It still needs full House and Senate approval before it could become law.