Week Ten of the 2018 session of the 87th General Assembly proved to be very eventful, much more so than the typical second funnel week. Everyone entered the building Monday morning prepared for a crazy week, but were shocked when the Senate Majority Leader announced his immediate resignation. The news ate up the first half of the week and put a pinch on the Legislature's ability to clear very many bills through the second funnel deadline on March 16th. (The second funnel is a deadline by which any non-tax or spending bill needs to have been passed out of a policy committee in the opposite chamber from where it was introduced in order to stay alive for the rest of session.)

 

Senate Leadership

Now-former Senator and Majority Leader Bill Dix was elected to the Iowa Senate in 2010. He previously served five terms in the House. Dix led the Senate Republican caucus since 2013 and was largely credited with leading them into the majority in the 2016 election, after which he was selected as Majority Leader. In that role, he was one of the top three most powerful people in the Iowa Capitol, along with Governor Kim Reynolds and Speaker of the House Linda Upmeyer.

 

News of Dix's retirement was followed by an announcement from Senate Republicans that they would select a new Majority Leader in a meeting on Wednesday morning. In that meeting, they determined that Senate President Jack Whitver of Ankeny would move up into the Senate Majority Leader position. Whitver is succeeded as Senate President by Senator Charles Schneider of West Des Moines, the Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee and former Majority Whip. Senator Amy Sinclair from Allerton has been promoted to Majority Whip after having been an assistant majority leader.

 

Another Special Election

Since Dix's seat has been vacated during a legislative session, there is a compressed timeline for filling the seat. A special election to fill the Senate District 25 seat has been scheduled by the Governor for April 10. Democrat Tracy Freese, who planned to challenge Dix in November, will run in the special election against Annette Sweeney, a former Iowa Republican Representative. This is the seventh special election of this two-year General Assembly.

 

Remaining Agenda

The leadership bombshell in the Senate threw the funnel week schedule further into chaos, so many bills that faced an uncertain future just ended up being thrown overboard. How the Senate's priorities change in the final weeks remains uncertain, but with Monday, March 19th, being Session Day 71 of the 100-day session, it's looking increasingly likely that the legislative focus may narrow to the budget and little else, possibly some tax reform.

 

Budget Update

The one thing the Legislature MUST do before leaving town for the year is the budget. That includes both passing bills to fund the next fiscal year (FY 2019 which starts July 1, 2018) and making adjustments, if necessary, to ensure that FY 2018 does not end with a deficit. As you know, there has been an ongoing discussion since December about a deappropriations bill that would cut FY 2018 expenditures by as high as nearly $50 million.

 

On March 9, the Revenue Estimating Conference (REC) met to establish their updated revenue estimates for FYs 2018 and 2019. The REC added $33 million to the balance sheet for 2018 and about $207 million for 2019. According to the Legislative Services Agency, this still means the State is looking at a FY 2018 shortfall of $3.6 million. The recent volatility of revenue estimates means the Legislature and Governor are still likely to deappropriate money from FY 2018 though the amount is anybody's guess.

 

This week, we expect to see the budget discussion heating up. There will likely be a decision made about deappropriations, budget targets will be released so that appropriations subcommittees can begin assembling their budgets, and we should have a better sense as to what the Legislature will attempt to do with tax reform.