Katie P. Hall
Director of Government Affairs
khall@iowainstitute.coop
O: 515-292-2667
C: 515-686-1066

Day 103 (Week 15): April 20, 2018
State
1.   Tax Reform Monitoring, UPDATED
·        SSB3195 : The original Governor's bill now coming out of the Senate: click on button below for the one page Senate summary
·       Would increase taxes on credit unions
·       20% QBI deduction coupled at 100% (does not couple with DPAD, subsection g)
·       Section 179 deduction increased to $500,000
·       Increases standard deduction to $12,000/$24,000
·        HF2489 (old HSB671) : The Governor's bill with House amendments-- passed out of committee on a party line vote, click button below for summary
·       Does NOT increase taxes for Credit Unions
·       Fully couples 199A at 25% (this would also couple with DPAD-- which Senate side does not do)
·       Waiting on joint budget targets, sounds like this should be sorted out by Saturday
·       Monitoring to make sure taxes are not increased for members
2.    Ag & Nat. Resources Appropriations: HF2491 Monitoring, NEW
·      Makes the FY 2019 appropriations for IDALS, DNR, Iowa State and University of Iowa
·      Does not give ISA state funds they use to leverage grants to the tune of $2.2 million

3.    Telephone Property Tax: SF2388 Support, UPDATED
·      House Ways and Means approved the bill with an amendment
·      Passed out of Senate on 39-8 vote with amendment S5189: would delay portions of implementation by 3 years
·      Would change property tax structure for telephone companies from an outdated unit valuation to an assessment mechanism that is neutral, competitive, simple & consistent

4.   Utility Matters: SF2311 —Support, UPDATED
·      See resolution 41.E2 of our guiding principles for language supporting this legislation
·      20+ amendments filed: Summary below includes latest Carlson amendment
·       Sections 3-7, 10, 11, 13 and 16 are good policy changes for our REC members
·       Provides regulatory parity and clarifies IUB oversight of locally rate-regulated utilities
·       Includes several code “clean-up” provisions helping streamline the statute for locally rate-regulated utilities    
5.   Beginning Farmer: HF2490 —Support, NEW
·      Introduced on Monday, renews & extends the tax credit out to the year 2023

6.   Property Tax Backfill: HSB678 —Monitoring, UNCHANGED
·      P hases out the property tax backfill payments to local/county governments
·      P ut in place in 2013 as property tax reform, replacing decline in revenue
·       FY 2018, reduces payments from ~$150 million to $100 million, then an additional $25 million each fiscal year until 2021, leaving $25 million as the new backfill budget

7.   Industrial Hemp: SF2398 —Monitoring, UNCHANGED
·      Subcommittee recommends passage on 4.11.18
·      Passed out of Senate unanimously on 4.4.18-- sent to House
·      Provides provisions for statewide industrial hemp research, marketing and enforcement
Senator Annette Sweeney was sworn in on Monday this week, after winning the special election on April 10th.

Appropriations bills were introduced on Tuesday.

Legislators are hopeful that a resolution on tax reform will be reached yet this week, although several estimate we have another 2-3 weeks of work before we've finished the session.

At the top of this update, I captured a beautiful, sunny day at the capitol. The picture to the right is the view from the capitol steps, looking toward downtown Des Moines. Just thought I'd share a little different view of the DSM skyline with you all!
Want to speak with your federal legislators?
D.C. office numbers and e-mail addresses below: 

Sen. Chuck Grassley: 202-224-4120 (Andrew Brandt: andrew_brandt@grassley.senate.gov)
Sen. Joni Ernst: 202-224-3254 (Michael Dolch: michael_dolch@ernst.senate.gov)
Rep. Rod Blum: 202-225-2911 (Kirby Richard: kirby.richard@mail.house.gov )
Rep. Dave Loebsack: 202-225-6576 (Will Collier: will.collier@mail.house.gov)
Rep. David Young: 202-225-5476 (Steph Carlson: stephanie.carlson@mail.house.gov)
Rep. Steve King: 202-225-4426 (Matt Meiners: matt.meiners@mail.house.gov)


Have a wonderful weekend,
-Katie