Legislative news – 03/06/2014
Under the Golden Dome
The winnowing of policy bills continues as the Legislature approaches the second legislative funnel. By Friday, March 14, a bill must have passed one chamber and a committee in the opposite chamber to receive further consideration. This translated into a lot of floor debate this week as both chambers rushed to move their priorities. The House and Senate jointly announced their budget targets this week. The two chambers have agreed upon an overall budget of $6.97 million, a 7.4 increase in spending over the prior year. It is also nearly $30 million less than the Governor proposed in his budget. Budget targets set the overall spending number for the state as well as the spending authority for the different general budget categories. The budget subcommittees will now work to align specific spending priorities within those overall targets. Normally, the two chambers announce their budget targets separately and then spend weeks negotiating the differences between those numbers. This year is different. The joint agreement on the overall spending number and the specific budget targets means that legislators can quickly work to resolve individual spending programs within each budget area.
|
|
Est. FY 2014 |
FY 15 Branstad |
FY 15 House/Senate |
|
Admin & regulation |
$52.79 million |
$53.71 million |
$51.80 million |
|
Ag & natural res. |
$40.82 million |
$45.10 million |
$43.10 million |
|
Econ development |
$41.38 million |
$48.10 million |
$44.33 million |
|
Education |
$899 million |
$$982.72 million |
$986.12 million |
|
Health & humans |
$1.75 billion |
$1.859 billion |
$1.858 billion |
|
Justice |
$716.42 million |
$729.37 million |
$728.96 million |
|
Trans, infrastructure |
$135,000 |
0 |
0 |
|
Unassigned standings |
$2.99 billion |
$3.28 billion |
$3.26 billion |
There is not much to report as of this week on the issues of interest to IMHCA members. Suicide prevention seems to have stalled and faces an uphill battle to passage given the funnel deadline. The same is true of bullying prevention. Both the House and Senate have bills out of committee but are running into significant opposition as they try to move them to floor debate. I will provide a more detailed summary of budget issues as they progress and any other legislative issues that “pop” up as the next few weeks unfold.
Remember, March 24 is the joint IAMFT/IMHCA legislative day. We will meet at the 6th floor Lucas cafeteria at 2:00 p.m. for a quick briefing and then head to the Hill to talk to legislators.
Submitted by:
Emily Piper | [email protected] Piper Consulting Services P.O. Box 12011 | Des Moines, Iowa 50312-2011 Phone: 515-202-7772 | Fax: 866-869-2842