Category: Political

News from the Hill…

One of the phrases that keeps getting repeated here at the capitol is, “This is one of the strangest session years I have seen.”  The number of bills that have been filed and moving through the process is greatly reduced from prior sessions.  This was the second funnel week and usually committee meetings go into the evening.  This year, many of the committee meetings are being cancelled.  There is approximately 4 weeks left of session, only one of the budget bills have come over from the Senate.  Each year the House starts half of the budget bills and the Senate starts the other half.  The House has passed most of the bills we were to begin and the Senate has only passed one budget bill and that wasn’t until April 3.  Bills are sitting in the Senate!

 Iowa Inheritance Tax…

Iowa does not have an estate tax; it has an inheritance tax for the heirs of an estate.  Presently, parents, grandparents, great grandparents, children, stepchildren, grandchildren, great grandchildren and other lineal ascendants and lineal descendants are exempt from Iowa Inheritance Tax.  However, all other heirs would have to pay Iowa Inheritance Tax.  This can be quite burdensome and result in the liquidation of assets to pay the Federal Estate tax and Iowa Inheritance Tax.  This is not right and unfairly discriminates against step grandchildren and step great grandchildren.  My personal belief is there should not be any tax on Inheritance.  But that does not seem possible to get passed in the Senate.  Therefore, we will be moving a bill out of committee that exempts the first two million dollars for each heir and a flat rate for inheritance over two million dollars.  But lineal ascendants and lineal descendants would still be totally exempt.

Ways and Means Committee…

One of the bills we passed out of the Ways and Means Committee this week was HSB 225, which is now HF 625. This bill is an act relating to the School Tuition Organization (STO) Tax Credit by allowing the tax credit for contributions made by certain entities, increasing the amount of total approved tax credits.  Presently the Tax Credit cap is $8.75 million; this bill raises the cap to $12 million effective for tax year 2014.  The bill also amends the STO Tax Credit to allow a contribution made by a partnership, LLC, S Corporation, estate or trust electing to have the income taxed directly to the individual to qualify for the tax credit.  This provision of the bill is retroactive to January 1, 2013.

 State Revenue Growth…

LSA released the latest 2013 Revenue report Monday afternoon.  While actual revenue continues to outpace the projections of the Revenue Estimating Conference (REC), the pace of growth was not as robust as had been seen in the past two months.

State revenue in March 2013 actually fell 5.8 percent or $21.8 million as compared to March last year.  Annual revenue growth still remains strong, running at 7.8 percent over FY 2012.  This is still above the revised REC projection for the year of 5.2 percent growth.

While some may point to the drop in March revenue as a sign of a slowing Iowa economy, other factors may be the cause.  Due to not completing action on federal tax policy until after the New Year, Congress provided a one-time extension on when farmers had to file their taxes.  Instead of being required to file by March 1, farmers were given until April 15.  This change is believed to be one of the reasons that personal income tax collections fell in March by $34.9 million as compared to last year.

On an annual basis, personal income tax revenue growth is now running below the REC projection.  REC has estimated this category will grow by 8.9 percent, while the number through March is 7.6 percent growth.  Due to the filing date change, April will present a clearer picture on the personal income trend.

Sales and Use tax also declined in March.  Revenue from this category fell by 3 percent over last March.  This pulled down the annual growth number to 2.5%.  The REC projected growth of 3.1%.

On the positive side, corporate income tax revenue turned positive again in March.  Corporate tax collections grew by 12.1 percent over last March.  That, combined with the strong end to 2012 has the annual growth rate climbing to 11.1 percent.  This is significantly higher than the revised REC projection of 6.5 percent growth for FY 2012.

The individual Income Tax supplies about 50% of the general fund revenues and Sales and Use Tax supplies an additional one 30%.  These two categories have a major impact on Iowa general fund revenues.

The conflicting March numbers still have Iowa’s economy growing.  April’s numbers will either confirm that this was an anomaly created by Washington or that the state’s strong economic growth of the past two years is starting to moderate.

“We must reject the idea that every time a law’s broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker.  It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.”

– Ronald Reagan

For more information on these and other bills:  www.legis.iowa.gov

-Tom Sands

Click Here: Washington Post says, “We were willing to cut the White House some slack, given the paucity of recent data. But the president’s failure to acknowledge the significant questions about these old data, or his slippery phrasing, leaves us little choice but to downgrade this claim to Three Pinocchios.”

Click Here: Gun rights advocates fear U.N. treaty will lead to U.S. registry

Click Here: The two New York Democrats allegedly formed a conspiracy built on cash payments and fraud to get Smith — one of the state’s top Democrats — placed on the GOP mayoral ballot, sources said.

News from the Hill…

The Myth of Cost-Free Medicaid Expansion….

It is a myth that expanding Medicaid doesn’t cost Iowa taxpayers any money because the federal government pays 100% of the expansion.  That is false and it is a myth propagated by proponents of Medicaid expansion.

Expanding Medicaid the way some have proposed has two fundamental problems:

1-It costs more every year for the same services.

2-It doesn’t make Iowans healthier.

Currently Iowa has 400,000 people enrolled in Medicaid.  The FY 14 estimate is that this will cost $1.2 billion in state dollars which is $88.5 million more than last year.  This cost grows every year because the number of Iowans who qualify grows, if expansion is approved or not.  Since 2000, Medicaid enrollment has gone up 88% and Medicaid expenditures are up 226%.  With or without Obamacare, the cost of Medicaid is going up.

Additionally, there are between 52,000 and 81,000 people who qualify for Medicaid but are not enrolled.  The cost of providing Medicaid to these Iowans over the next seven years is estimated at between $327 million and $564 million of additional state funds.  Under Obamacare, these people have to be enrolled in Medicaid because they are not eligible to receive health insurance.  The state is required to pay for these people at the current rate.  These people ARE NOT among the new enrollees which the federal government promises to cover at 100% for three years.  Once again, the cost on Iowans goes up again.

Finally, you have 150,000 people who will become newly eligible for Medicaid under Obamacare.  The federal government promises to pay 100% of the cost for these people for three years.  After three years, the federal share decreases.

I believe it is irresponsible and foolhardy to believe the federal government will live up to its funding promises. Just last week the U.S. Senate decided to repeal one of the key revenue generators for Medicaid expansion when it repealed the medical device tax.  With that revenue stream gone, the feds are forced to find it elsewhere.  A logical and easy place to go is lower the percentage they will reimburse states for the newly-eligible Medicaid recipients.

It is a myth that expanding Medicaid doesn’t cost the hardworking taxpayers of Iowa any money.  Medicaid costs are going up, even if it’s not expanded.  But Medicaid is going to cost EVEN MORE if we DO expand.

We need an Iowa solution.  Right now we have a Medicaid program that people on both sides of the aisle believe is broken.  That broken system treats Iowans over and over for the same chronic diseases and the same medical issues while Iowa taxpayers keep paying for it, over and over.  At the same time, none of these Medicaid recipients are getting healthier.  Without an outcomes-driven program, like the Governor’s Healthy Iowa Plan, we have no hope of containing costs or making Iowans on another Medicaid program healthier.

Once Iowa decides to jump into Medicaid expansion with both feet, there is no backing out.  The Supreme Court reaffirmed our right to decide if we want in, but it also did not stipulate a right to leave once we’re in.  Regardless, this would leave needy Iowans out in the cold – we need an Iowa program now.

The hardworking taxpayers of Iowa are not interested in ceding control of the fastest growing portion of the state budget to Washington, DC.

The Governor’s Healthy Iowa Plan has three goals:

Improve the quality of care:  provides a benefits package similar to private care that includes in and outpatient services, physician services, prescription drugs, home health, durable medical equipment, therapies and some transportation.

Lower costs:  implements personal responsibility mechanisms that have worked in other states and the private sector to encourage members to be cost-conscious consumers of health care as well as healthy behaviors.

Make Iowans healthier:  rewards health care providers for helping make Iowans healthier.

“Welfare’s purpose should be to eliminate, as far as possible, the need for its own existence.” – Ronald Reagan

For more information on these and other bills:  www.legis.iowa.gov

-Tom Sands

Click Here: DHS To Buy 360,000 More Rounds of Hollow Point Ammunition

Click Here: When Democrat Gov. John Hickenlooper signed expanded gun control laws on March 20, the lesson for other states was that this is what you get if you give Democrats the reins of power.

Click Here: Department of Homeland Security purchased over 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition over the past year – enough to wage a 20 year plus war.

Luke Rudkowski interviewed Congressman Timothy Huelscamp on his decision to vote against the NDAA which was due to the unconstitutionality of the indefinite detention provision. They also discussed Obama’s Disposition Matrix and the large ammunition purchases made by the DHS.

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 1^st or 2^nd 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