Serving O'Brien & Clay Counties
Serving O'Brien & Clay Counties
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The Iowa Taxpayer Relief Fund is an account in the state treasury that holds unanticipated state revenue to be returned to the taxpayers. In order for funds to be deposited in the Taxpayer Relief Fund, actual state revenue has to exceed what had been projected for state tax collections by the three-member Revenue Estimating Conference (REC). The difference between what was actually collected in tax revenue and what the REC had projected is deposited into the account once the fiscal year’s b...
Keeping students safe in schools is a top priority. Last week, the Public Safety Committee advanced House Study Bill 675 to ensure students have the protection they deserve. HSB 675 has two parts, the first addresses the need for school resources officers inside buildings and the second creates a professional weapons permit and with extensive training for school employees. School resource officers (SRO) are an asset to schools and the community seeking better security and safety in their...
This fall, the House and Senate held a joint interim committee to discuss the continued fight against human trafficking. The committee consisted of Representatives, Senators, law enforcement, county attorneys, criminal defense attorneys, the judicial branch, and others working to stop this abhorrent crime. Senate File 562 directed the committee to review initiatives, laws, policies, and other matters relating to human trafficking, including appropriate human trafficking-related training for law...
Revenue to the State of Iowa from legalized gambling is taking divergent paths in the new fiscal year. While casino gaming receipts are falling, sports wagering continues to grow. In October, the state collected $26,741,690 in casino gaming taxes. This is a reduction of $2.3 million from what the state collected in October 2022, when casino gaming tax revenue came in at $29,025.047. For the first four months of Fiscal Year 2024, the state has received $105.2 million in casino gaming taxes. This...
Iowa was recently involved in several lawsuits against pharmaceutical drug companies, drug distributor firms and giant pharmacy companies regarding opioids. Over time, these suits generated a number of separate settlements with states and local governments to address the impacts of opioid abuse in the United States. This approach was modeled after the actions of the mid-1990s when states banded together and sued tobacco companies for the costs of smoking-related illnesses. However, there are...
Recently, Bankrate rated Iowa the No. 1 state for retirement after consideration of affordability, overall well-being, cost of quality healthcare, weather and crime. Bankrate stated that affordability was weighted most heavily and given the massive tax cuts the Legislature has passed recently – it is no surprise that Iowa scored well. The other states in the Top 5 after Iowa were Delaware, West Virginia, Missouri and Mississippi. The worst? Alaska. It was No. 50 largely because of weather and af...
Two of the most common concerns I hear are about roads not getting fix and too much road construction. Our local department of transportation folks are constantly reviewing road conditions, monitoring traffic flow and putting projects in the pipeline. Like everything else, costs have increased and so has transportation investments. Fiscal Year 2023 saw record spending on roads and bridges in Iowa, according to the Iowa Department of Transportation. DOT announced that spending on transportation...
With Gov. Kim Reynolds’ signature on each of the 2023 budget bills, the state’s spending plan for the new fiscal year is now set. The governor signed all of the Fiscal Year 2024 budget bills on June 1. She chose not to use her line item veto authority on any of the appropriations levels enacted by the General Assembly. The only item veto involved policy in the Judicial Branch appropriations bill. The section in question dealt with a situation in eastern Iowa where attorneys who do not pra...
The governor recently signed Senate File 542, which makes updates to Iowa’s youth employment laws. This bill changed significantly in its journey through the Legislature. This bill was developed with Iowa Workforce Development and Iowa businesses, including grocery stores and restaurants, which hire many individuals under 18. This bill went through many changes throughout the process, including incorporating changes suggested by the labor unions, the bar association and House Democrats. It s...
Iowa law requires that all residential property be reassessed every two years on the odd numbered year by the county assessor. That means Iowans had their homes reassessed this year. When talking about assessing a home – what is really being talking about is the determination of market value. The law in Iowa is that assessed value is market value. The assessor finds the market value by analyzing recent sales, but also looks at the replacement cost (the amount it would cost to rebuild the p...
The Revenue Estimating Conference (REC) met last month to give a better outlook of the state’s budget. For Fiscal Year 2023, the REC panel increased expected revenue for the current fiscal year from its October forecast of $9.5341 billion to $9.6152 billion. This is an increase of $81.1 million over October’s number. When compared to FY 2022’s final revenue number, state revenue would be down 1.9 percent in FY 23. The decline in annual revenue is due to the implementation of this year’s tax ref...
General Fund revenue for the state continued to come in strong, as tax receipts in May were 43.6 percent higher than what the state collected in May 2021. While some of this increase is attributable to a variety of tax filing deadlines falling on a weekend at the end of April, the strong revenue number continues the state on a path to collect more revenue than what the Revenue Estimating Conference (REC) projected. Leading the revenue growth this month was personal income tax, which generated...
Last week, Gov. Kim Reynolds announced that the Glenwood Resource Center will close in 2024. GRC is one of two state-run resource centers in Iowa to serve Iowans with intellectual disabilities. GRC serves around 150 Iowans and has over 560 full-time staff members. In 2019, the U.S. Department of Justice began its investigation of Glenwood Resource Center, and DHS began immediately gathering information, notifying family members, staff and legislators of the DOJ investigation and working to...
Over the last five years, the Iowa Legislature has passed bipartisan mental health reform, created the state’s first ever children’s mental health system, created long-term sustainable funding for the Mental Health and Disability Services Regions, provided significant funds to mental health providers through Medicaid rates, and expanded access to mental health care through telehealth. The efforts to tackle mental health issues in our state are not easy, involve several entities and do not hav...
Feb. 18 is the last day of “Funnel Week.” This is the week the Legislature cuts off debate for bills that have not made enough progress to get out of committee. This process helps narrow down the scope of bills eligible for debate and moves the legislative session forward. The next funnel week will cut off bills that have not made progress on the floor of either the House or Senate. All tax and appropriations bills are exempt from funnel deadlines. But this is the time of the year where you sta...
This session, there were several child care bills brought forward in an attempt to increase child care workforce numbers, increase provider rates to maintain existing child care facilities, provide incentives to develop new child care facilities and help hard-working families afford child care. Child care is one of, if the not the most, important factor in getting Iowans back to work after the various business shutdowns during the public health emergency. The following bills went into effect on...
The Iowa Constitution requires that every 10 years following the census there must be a drawing of congressional and state legislative districts based on changes in population, also known as redistricting. In Iowa, the responsibility of drawing the map of proposed districts lies with the nonpartisan bill drafting agency, known as the Legislative Services Agency (LSA). The plan developed by LSA is required by Code to have each Senate and House district have a population as nearly equal as practic...
