ISSUE: April 14, 2024

Budget Work Picks Up Pace as House, Senate Appropriations Bills Unveiled

As the calendar edges closer to the 100^th day of the 2024 Legislative Session, work on the Fiscal Year 2025 budget is picking up steam this week. Both the House and Senate have released most of the proposed budget bills. . 

Both chambers are continuing to work on their budget proposals, with conversations on closing the gaps and passing the FY 2025 budget are ongoing.

Health and Human Services Budget

The House and Senate are furthest apart in their budget totals in the Health and Human Services. Below is the breakdown of where the House would like to appropriate the budget.

·      The House Health and Human Services budget appropriates $2.217 billion from the general fund to the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Health and Human Services for Fiscal Year 2025. This is a $92.5 million increase compared to FY2024.

·      In total with federal matching funds, this budget appropriates over $6 billion towards Medicaid, child care, child welfare, public health, aging, and veteran services in Iowa.

·      Highlights from the House HHS budget include:

o  Mental Health Care: The Iowa House has made increasing access to mental health care for Iowans a priority. This budget provides $2.25 million in increased state funding towards mental health Medicaid rates, building on last year’s $13 million increase. It also provides for an enhanced rate to Psychiatric Medical Institutes for Children that care for children with the most complex conditions.

o  Care for older Iowans: This budget provides a $3 million increase to home health rates to help keep Iowans in their homes for longer and to ensure access to care in rural Iowa.  

o  Protecting local pharmacies: We want to protect rural Iowans’ access to local pharmacies. This budget builds on the bills we’ve passed this session by increasing the Medicaid pharmacy dispensing fee by $2 million.

o  Quality care for disabled Iowans: This budget increases home and community-based services rates to care for disabled Iowans in their communities with a $14.6 million investment. It also provides $5 million to increase access to enhanced case management for Iowans using long-term services and supports and provides $1.78 million to increase the eligibility for the Medicaid for Employed people with disabilities program.

o  Taking Care of Our Veterans: This budget funds the Iowa Department of Veterans Affairs, the Veterans Cemetery, and the Iowa Veterans Home at the Governor’s recommended level. (More details below)

o  Child Welfare: This session, we set out to pass policies to ensure all children, especially those born into difficult situations, have the support they need. Regarding child welfare, this budget:

----Increases the stipend for those in the child welfare system utilizing the preparation for adult living program.

----Increases foster care rates and adoption subsidy rates.

----Pays for home studies for those Iowans that are hoping to adopt a child in need.

House Releases Department of Veterans Affairs Budget

The House Health and Human Services Budget above is expanded below.

----This budget funds a $1.03 million increase to the Iowa Veterans Home (IVH). The Iowa Veterans Home, located in Marshalltown, provides both nursing home and residential levels of care for Iowa’s aged, chronically ill, or disabled veterans, dependent spouses, and surviving spouses. There are around four hundred individuals at the Veterans Home.

----Total revenue sources for IVH include 45.6% Medicaid, 24% U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs per diem, 16.8% resident support, 8.8% General Funds, and 4.8% from other sources.

----This budget also includes a $335,916 increase to the Department and a $292,000 increase to the Iowa Veterans Cemetery.

----Last year, the legislature provided a $200,000 increase to the Veterans Home Ownership Assistance Program. This program provides a $5,000 grant to service members for a down payment and closing costs toward the purchase of a new home in Iowa. The home must be a primary residence and it is a once-in-a-lifetime grant. This appropriation aided an additional 40 veterans annually. 

Governor Reynolds signed into law

Illegal Re-entry by Criminals

Senate File 2340

SF2340 recently signed into law, allows Iowa law enforcement to arrest criminals who were deported due to crimes previously committed in the United States and have illegally re-entered our country and are in Iowa. The bill creates a new crime of illegal reentry to the state of Iowa.

This bill gives law enforcement additional tools to keep Iowans safe from "imported" gang members, drug dealers and terrorists now penetrating our border.

House Passes IDALS Departmental Bill

On Wednesday, April 10, 2024, the Iowa House passed House File 2641 by a near unanimous 96-aye to 1-nay vote. HF 2641 is the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS) departmental bill. The measure proposes a number of changes to the Code that make technical corrections to update Code verbiage, remove dormant or obsolete program and Code provisions, and restructures Code language concerning the ‘Choose Iowa Promotional Program’. 

Regulation of Traffic Cameras

House File 2681:

·      We’ve heard from many Iowans who are frustrated by the amount of speed cameras we’ve seen pop up all around Iowa in the past few years.

·      Some cities and counties argue that these speed cameras are used to increase public safety. However, it’s clear that some municipalities are abusing these systems and using them to raise revenue for themselves.

·      Here’s what the bill stipulates:

o  Cities or counties must prove a legitimate safety concern and receive a permit from the Department of Transportation to install a traffic camera.

o  Traffic cameras could only be used to issue tickets to someone driving more than 10 miles over the speed limit.

o  Images taken by the traffic camera must be deleted within 30 days unless they are a part of an ongoing criminal investigation.

o  Signs must be placed between 500 and 1,000 feet in advance of any traffic camera.

o  Local governments can only use the money generated by traffic cameras for transportation infrastructure improvement or for their police and fire departments.

The Senate has placed this bill on their calendar for a vote this week.

Connecting Public Dollars to Charitable Services 

This week Governor Reynolds signed into law House File 2264 to help connect public dollars to charitable services that benefit local communities provided by religious groups. Currently, under Iowa law counties and townships are not allowed to directly appropriate public funds to institutions, schools, or associations under ecclesiastical or sectarian management. HF 2264 would allow public funds to be given to these groups to be utilized for projects and programs to benefit the public. These programs would be meal services, homeless shelters, etc. The new law specifies that the group receiving the funds cannot require participation in religious services, educational programs, or other participation to receive the benefit of the program. This bill would be another tool for local governments to further utilize public dollars to help those in their communities who need assistance. It was passed on a bipartisan vote.

SF 2161- False Reports to Law Enforcement

Signed into Law

It is now a class "D" felony if a person makes a false report or call to public safety officials and claims there is a: forcible felony occurring (felonious child endangerment, assault, murder, sexual abuse, kidnapping, robbery, human trafficking, arson in the first degree, or burglary in the first degree), intimidation with a dangerous weapon, an act of terrorism, unlawful possession of biological agents or diseases, any arson crime. If one of the false claims above is made, and the information results in serious bodily injury or death of another, the person who made the false report is guilty of a class "C" felony.

Governor Signs Bill on Foreign Ownership

of Land into Law 

This week Governor Reynolds signed into law legislation to strengthen Iowa’s laws on ownership of Iowa’s agricultural land by nonresident aliens. Senate File 2204 easily passed with bipartisan support with a vote of 95-0 in the House of Representatives. The new law increases reporting requirements, increases enforcement of current laws, and authorizes the Attorney General’s office to investigate reports of potential violations of Iowa’s laws concerning foreign ownership.

----SF 2204 expands the registration requirements for nonresident ownership to include intermediaries and parent corporations. The reports shall now also include the legal name, birthplace, nationality of the owner, and the supervisor of the daily operations on the land. Additionally, the reports require a statement of the purpose for conducting business in the state. The bill gives the Attorney General the authority to conduct investigations regarding violations of land ownership, including subpoena powers.

----The new law also increases the civil penalties for failing to file a report on time by increasing the penalty up to 25% the assessed value of the land. The legislation also requires the Secretary of State to prepare an annual report compiling the information included in the foreign land ownership registrations to be provided to the General Assembly and the Governor. 

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