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State Capitol Report

April 7, 2023

This Week's Highlights

  • State government reorganization (SF 514) signed into law.
  • Prescribing psychologist bill ready for Senate debate (HF 183).
  • Mental health provider non-competes (HF 93) also ready for Senate action.
  • Mental health professional loan program updates alive (SF 253/HF 244).
  • "Parents Rights" Education Bill bouncing between chambers (SF 391)
  • House set for final vote on asset tests for public assistance (SF 494).
  • Certificate of Need, anti-DEI bills die in the funnel.
  • House has budget targets for subcommittees but no budget bills.
  • Senate Committee voted out budget bills, but with blanks instead of numbers.

Session Winding Down, Budgeting Begin


The Iowa Legislature has entered its final (maybe) month of session. Legislators lose their per diem expenses that cover staff, lodging, meals, and mileage for their time at the Capitol on April 28. While they can, and usually do, go over this deadline, it's a powerful motivator to wrap things up. There is still a lot of work to get done over the next three weeks, and legislators will have to pick up the pace soon or a lot of bills will not make the final cut.


March 31 was the final "funnel" deadline, marking the end of most committee work. Only Appropriations and Ways & Means Committees will continue to work, all other bills must be ready for debate. You can check the IPA Bill Tracker for a complete rundown of bills surviving and now dead.


Surviving Bills:


  • Several bills to improve access to behavioral health survived the deadline: prohibiting mental health professional non-competes (HF 93), eliminating barriers to prescribing psychologist practice (HF 183), creation of a psychiatric fellowship program (HF 274), adding outpatient community-based competency restoration to the list of core services MH/DS regions are to fund (HF 471), requiring the YourLifeIowa/Suicide hotline information be printed on every high schooler's ID card (HF 602), and updates to the mental health provider loan repayment program (SF 253/HF 244).


  • The Governor has signed state government reorganization (SF 514).



  • The House and Senate are bouncing their "parents rights" bill (SF 391) back and forth, unable to agree on which version of forced LGBTQ-outing, booking-banning, don't say sex in school version of the bill is the best. Apparently telling kids about the one vaccine to prevent cancer (HPV) is also not appropriate. The bill is back in the Senate's hands for a second time with a House Amendment.


  • The House and Senate both still have their companion bills that weaken Iowa's child labor laws (SF 542/HF 642). Kids as young as 14 can take on some dangerous work to help us solve our workforce shortage.


Despite overwhelming opposition, the House continues to move forward to add new household asset tests for public benefits (SF 494) like Medicaid, HAWK-I, SNAP (supplemental nutrition assistance program), and FIP (family investment program). There are currently no asset tests for HAWK-I, and the asset tests in place for Medicaid are for the individual (not the household). A person's retirement, house, primary care, and $10,000 of value on a second car are set aside. All other assets would count forward the $15,000 limit. The bill estimates 8,000 Iowans would lose Medicaid and 2,800 would fall off SNAP (but SNAP savings are federal; all the savings to the state are from Medicaid). The bill would require more than $20 million and more than 250 staff before the fourth years $8 million savings is realized. Most groups say this will hurt kids the most.


Bills Not Making the Cut:

  • Eliminating a lot of HHS Boards & Commissions (HF 566)
  • Prohibiting insurance switching off medications that are working (HF 626)
  • Eliminating certificate of need for community mental health centers (SF 506)
  • Prohibiting anything DEI at state universities (HF 616)
  • Allowing health care providers to refuse to provide services if it violates either ethical, moral or religious beliefs (SF 297)


Budget Update (Fiscal Year 2024)

The one thing the Legislature must get done before they adjourn is passing a Fiscal Year 2024 budget.  The House ($8.58 billion) and Senate ($8.49 billion) are roughly $90 million apart, with the House willing to spend a little more.  Both chambers’ overall numbers would spend less than 90% of incoming revenue (they cannot legally spend more than 99%).  That leaves just over $1 billion unspent, ostensibly for future tax cuts.

 

The Senate’s overall budget number - $8.49 billion - is in line with the Governor’s proposed budget.  However, many argue the Governor’s support of some initiatives during the session demonstrate her budget numbers are actually higher now than the numbers she proposed earlier.  Due to timing during the session every year, the Governor has to submit a budget to the Legislature in December before seeing the scope of what initiatives the Legislature might put forward for consideration during the session.

 

The Iowa budget typically consists of 10-11 separate Appropriations bills that are generated by the legislators on the Appropriations Committees as well as the seven appropriations subcommittees.  The full Appropriations Committee chairs will usually divvy up the larger ($8.58/8.49 billion) budget number into smaller allocations (or “targets”) that fit into each of the budget bills.  

 

Currently, we have Senate bills without numbers, and House numbers without bills.

This week, the Senate ran seven shell appropriations bills out of committee that included no dollar figures or employee numbers, with the goal of having legislative vehicles ready for Senate consideration as soon as their is agreement on the final budget numbers.  Conversely, the House does not yet have any bills ready, but they did release their individual subcommittee budget targets to enable their budget bills to start taking shape.  

FY2024BudgetTargets1.jpg

In the days and weeks ahead, we will start to see the House put together and pass budget bills while the Senate will be assembling floor amendments to install the line items into their budget bills.  How long this all will take relies entirely on how quickly the House and Senate can come to agreement.  


MCO Bill = More Money for Medicaid

Just when you think Medicaid can’t be more confusing, HF 685/SF 462 come along.  These bills tax the state’s three managed care organizations (MCOs), then gives it back to the MCOs as a part of their contract.  This allows the state to use the money to draw down more federal funds, thus adding about $100 million in new funds to the Medicaid budget each year.  There is a lot of talk about using this to help improve Medicaid reimbursement rates, with physician and behavioral health rates at the top of the list of rates most out of sync with other states. We still have not seen which codes might be included.


Iowa Supreme Court Case Complicates Shutdown

In a typical legislative session, there are policy provisions that fail to gain approval through both chambers, but remain as a priority for legislators to get done.  In some of those cases, legislators have traditionally added policy language into the final appropriations bills.  They always try to limit this practice, but it invariably ends up needing to happen when time is running out and few other bills remain on which they can be attached. 

 

Last week, the Iowa Supreme Court handed down a ruling regarding a utility issue that was added to the FY 2021 Standing Appropriations Bill.  The court found that the Legislature had, in this case, violated the single subject rule in the Iowa Constitution since the provision in question had not been properly debated and did not have a clear connection to the bill to which it was being attached.

 

What does this mean for the current Legislature?  We anticipate legislators being much more careful about amending policies into budget bills, especially this year.  It’s worth noting that policies added to budgets do carry a certain amount of risk if legislators weren’t careful to include the Governor in discussions, since budgets can be line-item vetoed.

 

What Else is Left?

Typically, we ride into the final part of the Legislative session knowing the House and Senate each still have a few high-profile initiatives they need to get done.  This year, while a lot of important policy remains in play, there really isn’t any single big issue that we know they need to complete, especially since it’s the first year of the two-year legislative cycle which enables them to push issues to the sideline and take them up next year where they left off. 

 

The one issue that seems to be standing out as one they may try to address is property tax, but we do not have a clear view which form property tax changes will take.  Part of this is as a result of constituents receiving their biennial housing assessments in recent weeks. The new values reflect Iowa’s hot real estate market and came as a shock to many homeowners.  A lot of legislators are getting pressure back in their districts to take action before the new tax bills come out later this year. 


Right now House and Senate are miles apart in their approaches to property tax reform, and the Governor hasn't included it in her priorities. It may very well prove to be too difficult to address in the waning weeks of session.

Publication Note

Our next report is scheduled to come out the week before session is scheduled to end. If it looks like they will end on time, we may delay publication. In the mean time, keep an eye out for timely alerts requesting you to take action and watch the Bill Tracker for updates to the bills you are watching closely.

Your Bill Tracker

Click above to see status of important bills, or create your own report with our custom download.

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Find a local event with your state or federal elected officials here. Three weeks are shown at a time on this website.

Your Legislative Team:

Amy Campbell | amy@ialobby.com | 515.554.5838

Craig Patterson | craig@ialobby.com | 515.554.7920

The Advocacy Cooperative | www.ialobby.com

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