The 2023 Session of the 90th General Assembly of the Iowa Legislature officially completed its business when the Senate adjourned sine die at 12:04pm on Thursday, May 4th, followed closely by the House of Representatives at 12:33pm.  Adjournment came near the end of Week 17 on Session Day 116, a short six days into overtime.

The Governor now has 30 days after the end of session to take final action on all the legislation sent her direction. She can sign bills into law, veto bills, and ONLY in the case of appropriations bills, she can line-item veto specific sections from the spending bills. She can’t change numbers, redirect spending, or make any other changes to legislation. Since her staff was heavily engaged throughout the session, we are not anticipating seeing any vetoes.

The last two weeks of the session were very eventful, with the Legislature coalescing around a major property tax reform proposal (HF 718) while all of the budget bills came together in the background. The tax bill was passed by both chambers, 49-0 and 94-1, on Tuesday, May 2nd, and signed into law by Governor Reynolds on Thursday, May 4th.  

The final tax reform package represents a combination of some of the House and Senate tax bills that we detailed in the last update. We have a two-page summary of the bill you can find HERE. The biggest component to the bill lies in the first two divisions, where county (Division 1) and city (Division 2) levies are consolidated and revenues are limited from one year to the next. The bill contains a number of other provisions, referencing bond thresholds and dates, reporting requirements for information to taxpayers, and changes to exemptions and fees.   

HF 718 did eliminate the library levy, along with about 14 other city levies. If you are in one of the many communities that have a library levy, you will want to be sure you are working with your local city council. Under the new law, whatever amount your library levy is currently set at will be added on to your City's general operating levy. (Example: if your library levy is 9 cents and your city's general operating levy is $8.10/1000, then the City's general levy after implementation will be $8.19/1000) The bill leaves city's with about 5 levies at their disposal. The Iowa League of Cities and the Iowa State Association of Counties will likely soon have more in-depth information on HF 718.

Library Budget News

Even with the State Library and Enrich Iowa moving Departments and Appropriations Bills this year due to the State Reorganization Bill, we were happy to see no surprises on the budget for libraries. The Administration & Regulation Budget (SF557) funds Enrich Iowa at its current level ($2,464,823) and adds one-time increase of $25,000 for the State Library ($2,557,594).  

As for the Brainfuse database, after the State Library staff and ILA lobbyists were able to fix a small drafting error, the Economic Development Budget (SF 559) continues to earmark $150,000 for the State Library's vocational testing/skills development database.  

Start Strategizing

The Iowa Library Community has had a tough legislative year, probably the toughest any of us can remember. We await the Governor's final action on a few bills that will lock in negative changes to the teacher librarian profession and start a process for removing certain books from Iowa's school libraries. While libraries weren't the target, we also saw the elimination of the local library levy and loss of influence over the State Librarian position in Iowa, through passage of the property tax reform bill and the state government reorganization bill.

Still, it's critical that ALL of us step back for a moment and remember there were scores of much harsher bills that did NOT advance. There was a well-funded advocacy group that was able to have at least a half-dozen people at the Capitol multiple times during the session while all of you were getting your jobs done, and they were unable enact the stricter bills they sought to enact. There were late efforts in the session to put forward greater restrictions on Iowa's libraries, but your steady advocacy throughout the session convinced legislators to not pursue more restrictions.

YOU WERE EFFECTIVE. YOU WERE HEARD. Well done, ILA members! Now, we have more work to do to prepare for the next session. You aren't alone. Your Association, your lobbyists and your colleagues are all in this with you. Nothing important ever comes easy, so take a breath, and let's get ready for the next chapter.  

The bill tracker list below has been slimmed down to include ONLY bills that either have been signed by the Governor or are heading to the Governor for her signature. (She has 30 days after the session ends to sign or veto bills.)

Bills That Didn’t Make It

If you are looking for a bill that did not advance, follow the Bill Tracker link above, and select “Inactive” on the Search function.