Monday, April 11th will be Session Day 92 of the 100-day session. Nearing the finish line! Except we’re not, really. While progress is being made, all of the budget bills still need to be negotiated and a number of policy issues remain outstanding. Legislators in leadership roles are indicating that a lot of heavy lifting remains before you’ll see the 2022 legislative session adjourn “sine die.”
What’s the Delay?
The biggest policy disagreement right now revolves around the school choice bill (SF 2369) which includes a provision that would allow up to 10,000 students to qualify for a limited voucher program for attendance at a private school. The House, Senate and Governor are currently trying to come to agreement on the issue.
Both chambers removed the teacher librarian language from their bills prior to passage, but that doesn't mean we're out of the woods yet. It's important to keep our messaging going in order to prevent the language we oppose from being inserted in whatever deal ends up being struck.
Other policy issues that need to be worked out (or cast aside for the year) include the Governor’s Renewable Fuels bill, tort reform, bottle bill changes, the Governor’s Workforce bill, and as mentioned in the opening paragraph, ALL ten of the budget bills (status of each of those listed below).
Soil Temperatures Not Helping
Some of you will remember lobbyists referring to soil temperatures with regard to the Legislature’s progress toward shutdown. The reason soil temperatures play into this is the number of farmer legislators serving in the Legislature, some of whom have apps on their phones that notify them of the soil temperature back at home.
While most Iowa lobbyists know about the importance of soil temperatures, last week, our colleagues Tim and Sydney with the Dentons Davis Brown Law Firm delved deeper into the issue in their client newsletter with a goal of putting numbers out there to help people better understand this phenomenon.
They cited a link to Iowa State University’s Soil Monitoring site (link) where you can track the current soil temperatures across the state. As of April 6th, those temperatures range from a low of 33 degrees Fahrenheit in northern Iowa to a high of 46 in southern Iowa. Another link they cited from ISU (link) points to 50 degrees as being the benchmark when farmers can start planting corn and soybeans.
As soon as those soil temperatures reach and exceed 50 degrees, the legislators who farm at home have an added incentive to push their colleagues to wrap up the session. So, those of you hoping to see them adjourn soon for the year, be sure to start lobbying Mother Nature to turn up the thermostat!
Publication Note – Reminder that this publication, which typically comes out every two weeks during session, will NOT be published two weeks from now IF it looks like the Legislature could adjourn in the near future. If that is the case, we will instead wait and publish AFTER they adjourn for the year. In the mean time though, keep an eye out for timely alerts requesting you to take action.
