Week 3 Legislative Update

The legislative session is starting to pick up speed as we approach the first funnel date. There were many subcommittees on bills this week with some bills passing out of committee and becoming eligible for debate in the chambers.

The Senate released its tax plan that proposes lowering income taxes to a 3.6% top tax rate and ultimately phasing out income tax. The Senate plan also proposes reclassifying the local option sales tax to a statewide sales tax. Read more about this bill here.

The House released its tax plan this week as well. The House version closely mirrors the Governor's plan of a 4% flat tax and exempting retirement income but doesn't lower the corporate tax rate like the Governor's bill and the Senate plan do. Read more about the House plan here.

Biofuel Access Bill

Governor Reynolds released her proposed language for biofuel access legislation this week. This version is slightly different than the highly contentious bill from that last session. This bill requires existing stations with compatible infrastructure to sell E15 on least one pump by 2026. Any new build retail locations would have to offer E15 on 50% of their pumps starting in 2023. If a station is incompatible, there are two types of waivers in the bill.

A class 1 exemption is an automatic exemption based on the age of the underground storage tanks. Tanks put in the ground before 1985, double walled fiberglass tanks put in before 1991, and single walled fiberglass tanks put in before 1996 are automatically exempted.

A class 2 exemption can be obtained if cost to comply would be too high. The class 2 exemption is not automatic but would be determined on a case-by-case basis.

The bill was introduced on Monday, passed out of subcommittee 2-1 on Tuesday, and was passed out of the Ways and Means committee Wednesday night with 8 no votes. Read more about the bill here.

IIC will continue to monitor this bill as it moves through the Capitol. If you have feedback or thoughts on this bill, please reach out to Rebecca. (rboyer@iowainstitute.coop, 712-363-4397)

Bill Tracking

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

HSB 584 Prize linked savings- FOR

This would allow all financial institutions to implement prize drawings connected to savings accounts. For every set amount of money a customer puts in their eligible savings account, they would get an entry into drawing for prizes like gift cards or cash. The prizes are not exorbitant amounts, the average for states that have implemented this is about $50. 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. This passed out of Ways and Means committee and is eligible for floor debate in the House.

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