(Des Moines) Iowa House Representative Tom Moore from Griswold says as we draw nearer to the 100th day of the session, April 16th, it is encouraging that the House has set its targets. Moore says they received a total budget of about $80 million less from the Senate and the Governor, and her targets were about $34 million less. He says this allows individual budget committees to start working on line items within their respective budgets.
Meanwhile, House Republicans are moving forward with a state budget of $8.955 billion for the next fiscal year beginning July 1, 2024. The proposed budget is an increase of $402.8 million over the current year’s spending level of $8.552 billion. This amount is an increase of 4.71 percent over Fiscal Year 2024.
Tom Moore highlighted a few bills passed through the House this week.
HF2664 allows a party to bring an eminent domain proceeding to the district court in Polk County for a declaratory review. The review is limited to rights, status, and other legal matters relating to eminent domain takings. It allows land owners to understand constitutional issues before a project moves forward.
HF2672 authorizes county board supervisors to determine whether the county will participate in the forest and fruit tree reservation tax exemption program.
Moore voted “NO” on this bill because he thinks we’re increasing taxes on those who have land and manage land in the forest reserve program, though there are bad actors who need to be addressed. He claims it should be done by the law we already have on the books to contain it, which is not being administered. This bill barely passed with a 51-43 margin.
HF2658 increases childcare assistance rates by $5 million annually and extends the childcare workforce pilot program for one additional year to collect data.
HF2661 is the Law Enforcement Omnibus bill. It makes changes to IPERS for Sheriffs and Deputies. It also does the following:
- Increases the applicable percentage for retirement benefit payments of sheriffs and deputies in IPERS.
- A person charged with the murder of a peace officer or corrections officer is not eligible for bail.
- A person convicted of a felonious assault on an officer is not eligible for bail while awaiting sentencing.
- Creates a tax credit for public safety officers moving to Iowa.
HJR2006 proposes a constitutional amendment requiring a 2/3 majority to increase any income tax or create a new tax. This bill also proposes a constitutional amendment requiring any income tax to be imposed at a single rate. If it passes the GA next year, it will be sent to the ballots for Iowans to vote on.
HF2662 establishes the Iowa film production incentive program and funds within IEDA.
