Week 7 Legislative Update

Week 7 consisted mostly of floor debate as the chambers worked on bills that made it out of committees last week and survived the funnel. After making it out of a full policy committee, a bill still has to pass a full chamber before it can move to the other chamber and ultimately the governor. Next week we should see committee work pick up again as committees begin to work on bills passed in the opposite chamber this week.

The Senate took up the House tax bill on Thursday and amended it to include a 3.9% flat income tax rate and a 5.5% flat corporate rate. The corporate rate decrease is triggered when the state receipts for a tax year are above $700 million. The amended version still contains the retirement income pieces that all the proposals originally contained, including farmer retirement income. The House passed the bill Thursday night to end the week. Read more about the tax plan here.

With new districts to campaign in, legislators are pushing to wrap up session sooner rather than later and the pace of the session has reflected that. With tax policy now done, some big issues still to be discussed include employment reform, education choice, and the overall budget.

Bill Tracking

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

HSB 654- Third party CDL testing- FOR

This bill would allow regional transit authorities to act as third party testers for CDL tests, which will hopefully free up other testing options. It also allows third party testers to offer the new written portion of the CDL test to comply with the new ELDT regulations. This bill passed out of committee this week surviving the funnel. Renumbered as HF 2530. This bill is on the House Debate calendar, making it eligible for full debate next week.

HSB 655 -Ag commodity weight limit increase- FOR

This bill would allow vehicles transporting corn, soybeans, hay, straw, silage, stover, or manure to exceed weight limits by 12.5% up to 90,000. This bill is very similar to the harvest proclamation the governor signs every fall but would be year round. Renumbered as HF 2536.

HSB 615 -Digital sales tax- FOR

This digital sales tax bill addresses an issue the rural electric coops have been fighting for a few years. Passed full Ways and Means committee. Renumbered as HF 2520.

HF 2329 -Prize linked savings- FOR

This bill passed full State Government committee and is now eligible for floor debate.

HF 2128 -Biofuel access standard- UNDECIDED/MONITORING

Passed the House 82-10. This week, the bill passed the Senate Ag committee and is currently in Ways and Means.

General interest articles

KEY LEGISLATIVE DATES

A full session timetable can be found here.

March 18: Second funnel

April 19: 100th day of session

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