Week 4 Legislative Update

Business continues to pick up at the statehouse as we get closer to the first funnel in 2 weeks. The biofuel access bill that we discussed last week passed the House Wednesday afternoon 82-10. This bill requires retailers with compatible infrastructure to sell E15 by 2026. There are 2 waivers that retailers with incompatible infrastructure can get, one based on the age of underground storage tanks, the other based on cost to upgrade. The Senate has similar language that passed an Agriculture subcommittee this week. Read more about the bill here.

Education funding is the next big question for the legislature. The legislature each year sets the state supplemental aid (SSA) increase for school funding. This session, the Senate proposed a 2.25% increase in the aid to schools which passed the full Senate Education committee this week. The Governor and the House have both proposed a 2.5% increase which is about an additional $150 million dollars to schools.

Funnel Week

As mentioned above, in two weeks the legislature will have its first funnel week. "Funnel week" here in Iowa can make you think of summer tornadoes and destruction, and while funnel week at the Capitol is chaotic, it is a different type of storm. This self imposed deadline keeps bills with support moving and weeds out bills that won't advance. With the exception of bills assigned to Ways and Means and Appropriation committees, all bills not passed out of a full committee by Friday, February 18 are considered "dead". This means that the bill won't be discussed for the rest of the session. Funnel week is a flurry of subcommittee meetings and committee meetings as legislators push to get their ideas through committee so they have a chance at becoming law. This first funnel applies to bills in the chamber they were introduced in, House bills have to pass a House committee and Senate bills have to pass a Senate committee. In March, there is a second funnel where the opposite is true. After passing a full chamber, a bill will have to pass a committee in the other chamber to stay alive after the second funnel.

Bill Tracking

This is a list of the bills IIC has declared on this session.

HSB 584 Prize linked savings- FOR

This bill passed subcommittee 3-0 and is eligible for full State Government committee.

HF 2128 Biofuel Access- UNDECIDED/MONITORING

As described above, this is the Governor's proposed biofuel access bill. Passed the House 82-10.

SSB 3084 -Biofuel Access Bill- UNDECIDED/MONITORING

This bill is the same language as the House version passed this week. It passed out of subcommittee and is in the full Agriculture committee.

General interest articles

KEY LEGISLATIVE DATES

A full session timetable can be found here.

February 18: First funnel

March 18: Second funnel

April 19: 100th day of session

UPCOMING EVENTS

Co-op Day on the Hill

February 16

7-9am: Breakfast and greet legislators

9am: Tour the capitol on your own (optional)

Please reach out if you have any questions about what happened this week, what the rest of session might look like, or if you have any other questions or need assistance with a governmental organization or agency.

Rebecca Boyer

Director of Government Affairs

cell: 712-363-4397

office: 515-292-2667

rboyer@iowainstitute.coop