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Post-Funnel Updates
Spring break is here! Unless of course you are an Iowa legislator, lobbyist, or staff. For those involved with the Legislature, this is simply the start of Week 10, and the 2023 session has now passed the halfway point.
The last two Fridays were key in the Iowa legislative process. Friday, March 6 was the first legislative deadline, called a “funnel.” While nearly 1,700 bills have been introduced during the 2023 legislative session, more than half are now dead, having failed to make it out of their originating committees before this first deadline.
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Click here for IARHC-tracked bills still alive. The list includes elimination of PA supervision, ban on mental health non-competes, expanded mental health and rural physician programs, certificate of need changes, non-nurse midwife licensure, rural emergency hospital designation, and a whole host of anti-LGBTQ+ bills.
Friday, March 10 was also a significant session date, the quarterly meeting of the Revenue Estimating Conference (REC). Iowa law permits the Legislature to expend 99% of state revenues collected. That's where the REC comes in; they estimate revenues four times a year to make sure the state doesn't overspend when budgeting. Iowa law also requires legislators to base their budgets on the lesser of two estimates – December and March.
The REC increased their March revenue projections for both the current fiscal year (FY2023 – up $135 million) and the upcoming fiscal year (FY2024 – up $25 million). Since the Legislature is required to build their budget using the lower of the December and March projections, legislative leadership will start setting their FY2024 budget targets based on the REC’s December numbers. Few things to note:
- Leaders have roughly $9.625 billion to work with as they set their overall budget target. They’ll eventually divide that overall number up by the ten budgets (Administration/Regulation; Agriculture/Natural Resources; Economic Growth; Education; Health/Human Services; Infrastructure; Judiciary; Justice Systems; Standings; and Transportation).
- While this overall spending cap is about $100 million less than was available last year, legislators have been underspending for the past several budget cycles to make room for tax cuts adopted over the past two legislative sessions. So the reduction was anticipated.
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The Governor’s budget came in at $8.487 billion. That’s almost $2 billion below the budget limit. On top of that, the state will have an $854 million surplus at the end of the current fiscal year. You can look at the Governor’s individual budget requests here.
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Legislators are waiting to begin detailed budget discussions until the reorganization bills pass. They are planning to rework the budgets to match the newly redesigned government structure, which likely means a lot of line items that were in previous HHS Budgets will be eliminated. Eliminating a line item doesn't mean the funding will end, just the requirement that a specific amount be spent on that project/service. That could include IARHC's $25,000 line-item.
With the first legislative deadline in the rear-view mirror, legislators turned their attention to floor debate. The House and Senate passed 46 bills this week, including several that were protested by groups that support the rights of LGBTQ+ Iowans. Legislators sent a bill to the Governor that bans any gender-affirming medication or surgeries for minors, even if parents approve of it.
The Senate took the first step in reorganizing government by voting its bill out (SF 514) on a party line vote (34 Republicans voting for, 15 Democrats voting against). Legislators removed the section that would have changed the number of votes needed to confirm Governor’s appointments to boards and commissions from 34 to 30. However, all other amendments failed, including:
- Sen. Wahls' amendment to add back the Board of Health.
- Sen. Bisignano's amendment to leave the Commission for the Blind in charge of hiring the department director (not the Governor). This actually got two Republican votes (Sen. Zaun and Sen. Shipley).
- Sen. Bennett's attempt to keep the Consumer Advocate independent.
- Sen. Boulton's amendment to stop the Attorney General from overriding county attorney decisions.
Other notes from the past two weeks:
- The House amended the rural emergency hospital bill (SF 75) to require any hospital getting REH designation to go through the certificate of need process to change back to another hospital designation. The bill goes back to the Senate, which can approve the amendment (sending it to the Governor), amend the amendment (sending it back to the House), or reject it outright. The Senate generally dislikes the CON process, so this could be a sticking point.
- The House Appropriations Committee introduced a bill to expand postpartum Medicaid coverage for 12 months (HSB 226). The bill appropriates $5.6 million next year, and $8.9 million the following year. Rep. Shannon Lundgren, Rep. Brent Siegrist, and Rep. Amy Nielsen are on the subcommittee. Because this bill is in Appropriations, it is not subject to funnel deadlines.
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Legislators sent the ban on gender-affirming medication and surgeries for minors (SF 538) to the Governor last week, and it's clear she will sign the bill into law. It goes into effect upon enactment, but those currently receiving treatment have 180 days before their physician must end care. The bill also makes it illegal for a health care professional to "knowingly aid or abet" these services, which makes a provider liable if they refer a patient to another state. There were five Republicans who voted against the bill: Rep. Rep. Mike Bergan, Rep. Chad Ingels, Rep. Megan Jones, Rep. Brian Lohse, and Rep. Hans Wilz.
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The bill that eliminates required education on HIV, HPV, and availability of HPV vaccine is still alive (SF 496) but legislators are leaning toward only eliminating mention of HIV as a compromise position. Another bill would limit instruction of human growth and development in other ways, including eliminating references to sexual orientation and transgender from K-6 curricula and limiting access to books containing sexual material.
- So far no action (knock on wood) on the anti-DEI bill (HF 616). It would prohibit state universities from hiring diversity, equity, and inclusion staff or having any kind of DEI infrastructure, no matter how it is funded. The bill does not impact curricula. Another bill (HF 182) requires universities to report on an extensive list of terms used in coursework and course titles that gets to the same issue.
There were very few new bills introduced this week, and most were just renumbering bills that were voted out of committee. The Bill Tracker is updated with these new numbers.
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