PDI Policy Perspectives - February 21, 2016

Policy Perspectives

February 21, 2016

Professional Developers of Iowa's Bill Tracker is HERE

One Funnel Down, One to Go

Monday, February 22nd will mark the 43rd Day of the 100-day Legislative Session. It will also mark the beginning of the post-First Funnel portion of the session. On Friday, any non-spending or tax bills that had not been passed by the committee to which they were assigned fell victim to the first funnel and died for the year. As is tradition, the first funnel kills several hundred bills every session. Additionally, many of the bills that survived were advanced out of committee with legislators knowing they needed more work before they could advance.

As we enter the seventh week, we start the march toward the Second Funnel deadline which occurs in three weeks on Friday, March 11th. By that deadline, any non-taxing or spending bill will need to have been passed by the committee to which it was assigned in BOTH legislative chambers.

Both chambers will spend the next three weeks conducting a large amount of both floor debate and committee work in an attempt to move priority legislation over to the other chamber and out of committee. This differs from the run-up to the first funnel, where the chambers conduct very little floor debate as the focus is solely on committee and subcommittee work.

School Funding continues to remain unresolved as we near the halfway point of the session. The Senate continues to hold the line at four percent while the House continues to argue that the State budget cannot afford that amount. Both sides have valid arguments and neither one looks like they are backing down any time soon. The rest of the State budget will likely be hard to start piecing together while education funding remains unresolved.

Some other big issues at the Statehouse:

Medical Cannabidiol - The House Commerce Committee advanced legislation, 17-6, that would fix Iowa's previously enacted medical cannabidiol program. The bill would legalize the limited growth of marijuana in Iowa for distribution as medicine to treat three conditions: epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and end-stage cancer. Legislators cited a number of constituent stories of people whose lives could be improved or saved by the law change.

Fireworks - The legalization of fireworks remains a hot topic at the Capitol.

Federal coupling - Whether or not Iowa will amend its tax code to take full advantage of some federal tax changes remains a heated debate. Doing so would put a whole in the state budget, but failing to do so means some Iowans would not see a tax break on their state taxes.

SAVE - In the last issue, we talked about the Secure an Advanced Vision for Education (SAVE) Fund proposal from the Governor and Legislators. This issue continues to advance at the Capitol with a couple of different versions clearing the funnel deadline.

Medicaid Privatization - A handful of bills to slow down or alter the Governor's plan to have Medicaid operated by managed care companies have cleared the funnel.

Legislative Forums

Advocate with your State Senator and Representative!! Please follow that link below to find out where legislative forums are occurring in your area!!

http://www.infonetiowa.org/calendar/events/

If you know of other legislative forums that do not appear on this list, let us know at [email protected]!

Other PDI Issues

Tax Increment Financing

Still no news on the upcoming TIF bill. For reference, you can view our summary of Rep. Sands' bill from last year, House File 628, HERE.

Renewable Chemical Production Tax Credit

The Renewable Chemical Production Tax Credit legislation continued its march forward by clearing the funnel deadline in both chambers. Now, the companion bills will be sent to each chamber's Ways & Means Committee (exempt from funnel) for more refinements and negotiation. For the record, House leaders announced the passage of the bill in their newsletters among the list of success story bills. That's always a good sign!

FY 2017 Budget

While budget work should be heating up, most budget subcommittees have wrapped up their work for the year (but an occasional meeting may be planned). If you go HERE, you'll find a spreadsheet with House-Senate-Governor budget comparisons. Not much will happen before the March revenue estimates are released (usually mid-March). Those estimates will set the final threshold for legislative spending, since legislators will have a firm grasp on how much revenue the state will take in for the year, and how much they can spend (by law, they can spend 99% of this estimate). Depending on how much those estimates change, House and Senate budget targets may need to be tweaked.

Enhance Iowa

Senator Dotzler's Enhance Iowa bill was advanced through the funnel in the Senate and will now be referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee for further changes.

Live Bills Being Tracked

Below is a table of the bills we are tracking for you. Please be sure to check the "Bill Tracker" link at the top and bottom of this message to see a more current version.

Bill#

Title

Status

HF2111

Abandoned Building Program