Today marks day 78 of the scheduled 110-day session, almost 3/4 of the way to the April 28th date when legislative per diems end for the year. By close of business this Friday, any policy bill that has not been approved by committee in both chambers will be dead for the year.  Bills in three committees – Oversight, Appropriations, and Ways & Means – are exempt from the funnel deadline. For that reason, those three committees are the ONLY ones that will meet after this week.

In an effort to move bills through the funnel, there will be no debate in the Iowa Senate this week, and most likely little or no debate in the House. Instead, legislators will have a flurry of subcommittee and full committee meetings to maximize the number of bills that clear the deadline.

The House and Senate each took the first step in the budget process by setting their overall budget targets.

• The state’s current budget is $8.21 billion.
• The Governor’s budget recommendation was $8.486 billion, which is a 3% increase.
• The Senate set their budget target at the Governor’s level, $8.486 billion.
• The House target is a little higher at $8.58 billion, which is a 4.5% increase.

An interesting difference in this year’s session is that we’re not sure what else will end up being enacted beyond the budget. In a typical session, we reach this point of the year and we have an idea about 3-4 main priorities still in play for the Governor, the House, and the Senate.

This year, the Governor’s agenda has largely been passed already, and the House and Senate haven’t honed in on issues they absolutely NEED to see finished before adjournment. We certainly know there are some big priorities (property tax reform, for example), but we don’t get a sense that any of the big remaining issues HAVE to be completed before the Legislature goes home.

Property Tax Reform

Whether the House, Senate and Governor end up enacting property tax reform this session is a question on a lot of your minds. There are a number of bills in the House and the Senate, but the major packages include HF1 and SF 356 (formerly SSB 1124).

We have summarized these bills in earlier issues, but we wanted to pass along some new information on SF 356, including a fiscal analysis (HERE).

As we have said previously, the approaches taken by the two chambers are very different from one another which often makes it difficult to reach consensus before adjournment. Keep watching this issue closely and talking with your legislators.

Income Tax Reduction

On the heels of legislation last year to phase the income tax in Iowa down to 3.9% by 2026, the Senate this past week moved legislation (SF 552, formerly SSB 1126) out of committee to go even further. The bill would reduce the rate to 2.5% by 2028, and then would start in 2030 to reduce it toward zero, adjusting the reduction every year based on the amount of available revenues in the Taxpayer Relief Fund. The bill faces an uncertain future should it advance to the House.

CLICK HERE TO REVIEW OTHER BILLS BEING MONITORED BY PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPER OF IOWA.