Category: Political
News from the Hill…
This week in the Iowa House we passed several of the bills that came from the Ways and Means Committee. One of those bills was HF 2447, which I had drafted to fix a problem motor sports people were having with the Iowa Department of Transportation with their car haulers being over length. The bill establishes a new classification specifically for these types of haulers that should work for everybody. The bill passed the Iowa House with 93 voting aye and 0 nays. The bill now heads to the Senate for their consideration. I have spoken personally with Senate Ways and Means chair, who has indicated they will take a look at the bill. I sponsored and voted for this bill and will continue to follow it through the process in the Senate, as I meet with their Ways and Means Committee Chair regularly this time of year.
NASCAR…
Another bill that was passed this week was SF 2341 which replaced HF 2451 that dealt with the same subject. These bills made a couple small code changes with the possibility of bigger returns for the taxpayers of Iowa. Several years ago the legislature passed a bill that helped the owners of Iowa Speedway in Newton into a reality by permitting the track to keep some of the sales tax dollars that were generated at the track. The incentive was to stop on January 1, 2016 or once they received $12.5 million whichever came first, and only could apply if the 25% of the ownership was held by residents of Iowa. The incentive was performance based, if there were sales there would be sales tax, if there weren’t any sales, no sales tax dollars. Taxpayers were never on the hook if the track did not succeed. This past year the track was sold to NASCAR. I had several meetings with the track management and a teleconference with the owner of NASCAR. They wanted the legislature to consider changing the law for the ownership restriction to permit an Iowa Business and extend the sunset to January 1, 2026. The cap of 12.5 million was to remain intact. I was slow to move the bill until I heard first hand on some of the improvements they wanted to make to the track. While I can’t share many specific details, I believe that with this new ownership NASCAR has every intention to make the Iowa Speedway a major entertainment facility. They are uniquely capable of bringing attractions, producing nationally televised events, exporting the Iowa brand and creating value that the previous owners could not provide. I assigned this bill to myself personally to floor manage. I wanted to make sure the bill passed on its merits and not on someone’s passion for NASCAR. The Senate passed the bill with 36 voting aye and 9 nays. The House passed the bill 82 voting aye and 14 nays, now the bill heads to the Governor for his consideration.
Honoring our Veterans…
This week we debated and passed one of Governor Branstad’s initiatives, Home Base Iowa. The bill, SF 303, exempts federal retirement pay received from the military service from the state individual income tax retroactive to January 1, 2014. The bill also exempt’s military survivor benefits from Iowa income tax. The bill makes several different changes that hopefully will aid our veterans and show a small token of our appreciation to their service. The main objective is to encourage more veterans to move back to Iowa to live, work and/or retire. I voted for pieces of this bill that came through the Ways and Means Committee and the entire bill amended by the House on the Floor. The bill now heads back to the Senate for their consideration of our House Amendment.
“I now say that the world has the technology –either available or well advanced in the research pipeline – to feed on a sustainable basis a population of 10 billion people. The more pertinent question today is whether farmers and ranchers will be permitted to use this new technology.” – Norman Borlaug September 8, 2000
For more information on these and other bills: www.legis.iowa.gov
Until next time,
Tom Sands
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News from the Hill…
This week the Iowa House took up several bills on the House floor to be debated. The motivation of most members is to get the work done and adjourn for the year. The scheduled last date for this year’s session of the 85th General Assembly is April 22nd. However, it appears the train to adjournment is moving right along at a faster than normal speed. History would tell us the wheels will come off sometime to derail the speed we are presently going. So the question is this, if in fact the train derails how bad and how long will we be knocked off course? Only time will answer that question.
Motor Sports Recreational Vehicles…
Presently under Iowa Law, people who own a unit that is an RV on the front half pulling an enclosed trailer usually for racing purposes are being stopped by the Iowa DOT and being fined for over length. This problem was brought forward to me by some local car racers. I filed a bill, HF 2198, earlier this year to correct this problem. The best way to correct this and to keep in compliance with Federal Regulations was to establish a new class called “Motorsports Recreational Vehicles.” This bill will allow these units to travel on Iowa roads legally as long as they stay under 85 feet in total length. This bill passed out of the Ways and Means Committee this Week and now moves to the House Floor for full debate. It has been assigned a new number HF 2447.
Home Base Iowa…
One of the Governor’s priorities this year was “Home Base Iowa.” Governor Branstad stated in his State of the State speech, which he wanted veterans to move back to Iowa to work, live and retire. We passed SF 303 and a House amendment to that bill, which moves many of those concepts to the House Floor for full debate. The bill exempts military pension pay from Iowa income tax, eliminates the special plate issuance fee charged for certain motor vehicle registration plates associated with military service and exempts military survivor benefits from Iowa income tax. There was an attempt with an additional amendment during committee which asked to prove to the legislature by 2019 that this bill was accomplishing what it intended to do but it was soundly defeated. As Chair, I reminded the committee that these benefits were for our veterans and they had already proved the worthiness of this bill when they signed on the dotted line to protect our freedoms. That amendment failed with 1 voting aye and 23 voting nay. The bill passed 24 voting aye, 0 voting nay and 1 absent to move to the House floor for full debate. I strongly support this bill and hope it is just the first step to exempt all pensions from Iowa income tax.
First Time Home Buyers…
Many times the hardest house to buy is the first one. First time home buyers tend to be younger, with little to no down payment and financial institutions have tightened up their lending standards since the financial home crisis. This combination is making it more difficult to purchase the first home. To help and encourage people to save for a down payment, the Economic Growth Committee passed HF 2353, to initiate a program that mirrors the 529 college plans for home buyers. The bill then came to the House Ways and Means Committee for consideration. This bill allows a first-time homebuyer who is a state resident to establish the special savings account, either individually or jointly with the resident’s spouse who is also a first-time buyer. The account must be an interest bearing account and they will pay a penalty if they use the money for anything other than a down payment on their first home.
“The problem is not that people are taxed too little, the problem is that government spends too much.” – Ronald Reagan
For more information on these and other bills: www.legis.iowa.gov
Until next time,
Tom Sands