The legislative session is now at the halfway point. Today marks day 57 of the 110-day scheduled session.  Last week Legislators rushed to hold subcommittee hearings and committee meetings to beat the first major "funnel" deadline of the 2021 legislative session. The funnel is a way that legislators narrow the list of bills that can be discussed. Bills that did not make it out of committee before the end of last week are technically "dead" for the rest of the year. Lawmakers moved more than 50 bills through committee JUST ON THURSDAY ALONE. Here’s a list of bills that are still alive (Note: Note all of these bills are supported by MEDCO)

• Action in the House Economic Growth Committee on Thursday kept the IEDA’s Manufacturing 4.0 bill alive. The committee met Thursday morning to take up and unanimously pass HSB 233 (Link) which contains adjustments to IEDA tax credit allocations, creation of the Manufacturing 4.0 Technology Fund, a new $5 million line item funding for tourism, and creation of the Energy Infrastructure Revolving Loan Program. 
• Major changes to child care to increase access to child care tax credits, encourage employers to pay for or build child care facilities for their employees, and help families gradually come off of child care assistance (rather than suddenly losing it all).(HF141, HF230, HF292, HF302, HF370, HF230, HF712)
• The Governor's "Broadband Bill" to expand access to fast reliable Internet access to all areas of Iowa. (SF390)
• The Governor’s Housing bill (SF 295 & HF 582) is still in the Ways & Means Committee in both chambers, awaiting action. We are likely to see more interest in this legislation now that funnel week has passed. PDI is supporting these bills. The Department released more handouts this past week on this legislation that you can see HERE and HERE.  
• A bill that stops all taxpayer funds from supporting technology companies like Google and Facebook, if they censor free speech. (SF 402)
• School vouchers that allow kids to attend private schools paid with taxpayer funded scholarships, and a new hybrid charter school program. (SF159)
• Vaccine changes that include allowing dentists and podiatrists to give COVID-19 vaccines to adults, but do not allow businesses to require their employees get COVID-19 vaccines and vaccinators to update the state's immunization registry

CLICK HERE TO READ ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Legislators now have until April 2 to vote on the surviving bills, and get them out of committee in the opposite chamber. The "second funnel" requires a House bill to be voted out of the House, and then out of a Senate committee before April 2. This procedural hurdle can be overcome if identical bills are passed by committee in both chambers.

In the middle of this flurry of work is the March 19 Revenue Estimating Conference (Link) meeting when a group of three economists review how much money the state has taken in since the start of the fiscal year on July 1, 2020. They then predict how much money the state has to spend in its budget for the next fiscal year (which begins July 1, 2021). The Legislature will start their budget process using the LOWER of the two estimates from this meeting and the REC meeting from last December.

Last week the Iowa House passed SF 364 (Link), a COVID-19 relief package for Iowa taxpayers and businesses affected by COVID-19. The bill provides $128 million in tax relief to Iowans by exempting pandemic-related grants and unemployment benefits from state income tax. This will be funded by a combination of the remaining monies within the Taxpayer Relief Fund for FY 21 and some of the State’s remaining ending fund balance.