As many of you know, in December, Governor Branstad and representatives from the Iowa Partnership for Economic Progress (IPEP) released the findings of the 2014 Battelle Report: Iowa's Re-envisioned Economic Development Roadmap. The report reviews Iowa's industry drivers and potential growth opportunities and assesses how the state has fared in advancing innovation, job attraction and retention. The executive summary of the report can be found HERE.  

Based on the findings of the Battelle Report, the Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA) is proposing legislation to implement one of the findings by creating a tax credit program for the production of certain renewable chemicals from biomass feedstocks. This bill is still in drafting, but PDI will be supporting the measure when it comes out. The bill also contains some updates to the Angel Investor Tax Credit. You can read the IEDA's summary of the bill HERE.

The House, Senate and Governor all need to agree on budget numbers before they become official.  It's a long process that will take the entire legislative session to sort out.  The first step, however, is the Governor submitting his budget to the Legislature for their consideration.  Governor Branstad did that on January 13, and highlighted pieces of that budget in his Condition of the State address.

We'll be letting you know as more details about the budget come to light. In the meantime though, here are some points that may be of interest:

• Funding levels for the Iowa Economic Development Authority are essentially status quo. There is a $250K increase, but the Governor earmarks that for support for international trade
• A new appropriation of $500,000 per year for FY 2016 and FY 2017 to support the Home Base Iowa marketing program
• A new appropriation of $500,000 per year for FY 2016 and FY 2017 to support a business to business portal
• $162.1 million, an increase of $83.7 million, to fund the payment of all commercial and industrial property tax replacement claims for FY 2016, and $152.6 million to fund claims in FY 2017
• An increase of $50.0 million for FY 2016 and an additional $25.0 million for FY 2017 to fund the Business Property Tax Credit included in the property tax reform bill
• An increase of $250,000 for FY 2016 from the State Workers and Job Creation Fund to provide financial assistance to the Apprenticeship Training Program
• $20.0 million from the State Bond Repayment Fund for the IowaNext initiative in FY 2016. This initiative would be a grant-based program providing assistance for quality of life improvement projects that enhance recreational, cultural, entertainment, and other opportunities. All projects will carry a substantial local and private match requirement. In addition to the SBRF appropriation, the Governor is recommending an additional $6.1 million be made available for the Program from the Iowa Cultural Trust Fund
• $11.3 million from the RIIF for multimodal programs including a new program named Linking Iowa's Transportation, a grant program aimed at improving Iowa's freight rail infrastructure.
• Elimination of the Great Places Infrastructure grants ($1 million) and Community Attractions & Tourism grants ($5 million), by replacing it with the new $20 million Iowa NEXT initiative.
• Status quo funding for Regents economic development programs
• Status quo of $16.9 million for the High Quality Jobs Program
• $3.5 million reduction in funding for recreational trails ($2.5 million)
• $2 million reduction in RIIF funds to the Railroad Revolving Loan & Grant Program ($2 million)
• Status quo funding ($5 million) for the Skilled Workforce Shortage Tuition Grant

To view the Governor's office's summary of the budget, go HERE.  Additionally, you can view an analysis of the Governor's budget by the Legislative Services Agency HERE. If you see an item that you deem as especially important to you, you should contact the Governor by going HERE.