News from the Hill…
This week on the Iowa House passed supplemental state aid (SSA) for fiscal year 2017. The amount of growth in their spending local school districts is allowed. The amount of growth for FY 2017 will be an additional 145 dollars per pupil, which is 2.25 percent increase over last year. The new per pupil amount in the foundation formula will be 6,591 dollars. This amount is a mixture of property taxes and state taxes collected and sent back to districts. There will be an increase to the state general fund appropriation of 153 million dollars that will go to K-12 educational funding. This was the agreement that was worked out between the Senate Majority party, House Majority party and the Governor. Both bills, SF 174 and SF 175 passed with 55 voting aye, 44 voting nay and 4 absent or not voting. I voted for both bills.
Water Quality…
On Wednesday, March 23, 2016, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS) issued a press release in which Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey announced 13 urban conservation water quality initiative demonstration projects have been selected to receive $978,149 in funding. In addition to the state funds, the 13 projects will provide over $2.59 million in matching funds to support water quality improvement efforts as well as other in-kind contributions. The communities participating in the projects are: Amana, Ankeny, Arnolds Park, Bloomfield, Cedar Rapids (2 locations), Davenport, Des Moines (2 locations), Lake View, Sioux City, Storm Lake and West Des Moines.
Projects will focus on conservation measures that capture and allow storm water to be absorbed into the ground and reduce a property’s contribution to water quality degradation, stream flows and flooding. They also include partnerships and outreach/education components to disseminate information to promote increased awareness and adoption of available practices and technologies for achieving reductions in nutrient loads to surface waters. Practices which will be installed as part of these projects include bio-retention cells, bio-swales, native landscaping, permeable pavement, rain gardens, sedimentation basins, soil quality restoration, wetlands and other practices. A bioreactor and saturated buffer system will also be installed to demonstrate potential nutrient reduction benefits in an urban storm water runoff environment. More information about these and other urban water quality practices can be found at www.cleanwateriowa.org/residential-practices.aspx.
This is just a small sample of what is and has been going on in the State of Iowa when communities work together to help find solutions. There will be more next week on the different water quality initives being worked on in the legislature this year for future projects.
Ways and Means…
The Ways and Means Committee passed HF 94 this week out of committee. The bill eliminated a requirement that taxpayers indicate on their Iowa Tax returns the presence or absence of health coverage for their dependent children and apply for certain public health care coverage. This information is no longer needed or useable. In addition this was never a function of the department of revenue.
The committee also passed out HF 2412 which was the economic development authority bill that included the Historical Tax Credits. This program has been a success in the State and needed some updating to make it more useable for the different communities that participate. The bill also took measures to protect the taxpayer of Iowa who are the ultimate partners in this program.-
“Earth’s saddest day and gladdest day were just three days apart!” – Susan Coolidge, author
For more information on these and other bills: www.legis.iowa.gov
Until next time,
Tom Sands