News from the Hill…
This week there has been much more floor action with the passage of several bills. Also three different budget bills were debated on the House floor. Approximately half of the budget bills start in the house and half of them start in the Senate. Three of the budget bills starting in the Iowa House are Education Appropriations, Administration & Regulation and Transportation. The total appropriations of these three budgets for fiscal year 2014 are as follows, Education $894,926,944, Administration and Regulation $55,120,931 and Transportation $352,840,655. There will be more money appropriated for Education in the Standings Bill later in session. The monies appropriated in the Transportation Budget are non-Highway dollars; it is the DOT Commissioners that make the decisions for the monies for new roads, pavement replacement, bridge replacement, etc. and contained in the 5-year plan. The 5-year plan is not included in this budget.
Second Amendment Rights…
House File 535 is a bill that has the support of the NRA, Iowa Firearms coalition and the law enforcement community in Iowa. It protects all Iowans by keeping personally identifiable information confidential for those Iowans who choose to obtain a permit to acquire or carry a firearm. The bill also gives law enforcement another tool to go after criminals who try to purchase a firearm fraudulently and makes the act a class D felony.
Ways and Means Bills on the Floor…
Two of the bills that passed out of Ways and Means Committee were passed on the House floor this week. One bill, HF 598, more clearly defines that any all-terrain vehicles that is primarily used for agriculture is exempt from Iowa Sales and Use Tax. This is a good bill for the industry, a good bill for the dealers and a good bill for the Department of Revenue. The second bill, HF 599, came from the Agriculture Committee, then went to Ways and Means Committee and was passed on the House floor this week. This bill raised the cap for the beginning farmer tax credit. It is extremely difficult for beginning farmers to get started today without the help of a family member. On the other end of the spectrum, there are older farmers looking to slow down who do not have any family member interested in farming. This bill helps to link the beginning farmer and the older established farmer together so both can benefit from the tax credit. This is an expansion of the credit that was started in my 1st or 2nd term. It has worked well and this makes a great improvement to help more beginning farmers.
Property Tax Bill…
This week in Ways and Means Committee, we passed Governor Branstad’s property tax bill, HSB 150. The bill establishes equity in the Commercial/Industrial Property Class. Over a four year phase in period, the taxable value on those two classes would be 80% of their assessed value. It is presently 100%. For the Residential Property tax class the bill lowered the present 4% allowable growth cap to 2%. The bill also provides a standing appropriation of replacement dollars for local governments so they would not be negatively impacted. We amended this bill in Committee to add more property tax relief across all classes of property by removing more of the K-12 School foundation levee off the backs of property tax payers and placed them at the state. I am the floor manager of this bill. This bill has headed to the Appropriations Committee and then will head to the House Floor with a new numb HF609.
Medicaid Integrity…
Iowa is one of a minority of states that does not have a program integrity statue for Medicaid. HF 553 gives the DHS specific authority to investigate and to regain losses as a result of Medicaid fraud, waste and abuse. The Federal government will audit our Medicaid dollars and a few years back found some abuse that accounted for several million dollars. The state had to send those dollars back to the Federal government, but did not have any means in being able to go after the providers that abused the program. Taxpayers should not be on the hook for private provider’s abuse. This bill will allow the state to go after any providers to regain losses as a result of Medicaid fraud, waste and abuse.
“We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not ot overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.”
– Abraham Lincoln
For more information on these and other bills: www.legis.iowa.gov
-Tom Sands