Iowa Politics Today: School board elections could be realigned with city elections

A roundup of legislative and Capitol news items of interest for Thursday, April 6, 2017:

SCHOOL ELECTIONS MOVED:

The Iowa Senate voted 36-13 on Thursday for a bill that would put Iowa's school board elections and city elections on the same day - a measure that Republicans believe will increase voter turnout and decrease costs.

But some Democratic senators, especially those representing more rural districts, had concerns, saying boundaries don't always easily align and the bill could add confusion to voters and costs to counties if they have to train additional volunteers and keep polling places open later.

'My two Republican auditors said they weren't ready for this,” said Sen. Tod Bowman, D- Maquoketa. 'It's complicated to make sure people receive the right ballots ... Errors are bound to occur.”

Sen. Waylon Brown, R-St. Ansgar, said he understood their concerns but believes the bill leaves an adequate amount of time to figure out any issues. It would not go into effect until July 1, 2019.

'I understand implementing it is complex but that is no reason not to move it forward,” he said.

The bill, which already passed the House, now goes to Gov. Terry Branstad.

ENERGY PRICES:

Retail gasoline prices in Iowa rose 4 cents this week, but closed 4 cents lower than the national average of $2.35 a gallon.

As of April 4, the price of regular unleaded gasoline averaged $2.31 across Iowa, according to AAA. That's 28 cents higher than a year ago.

Retail diesel fuel prices in Iowa were up a penny, with a statewide average of $2.45 compared with the national average of $2.51. A year ago, diesel averaged $2.09 in Iowa.

Wholesale ethanol prices were up a nickel over the past week to $1.64.

Natural gas prices are up 14 cents to end the week at $3.07/mmBtu.

Throughout the summer, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship will report retail heating oil and propane prices in Iowa once a month.

Tips for saving energy on the road or at home are available at energysavers.gov and at fueleconomy.gov.

LEADING INDICATORS:

The Iowa Leading Indicators Index increased 0.1 percentage points to 106.9 in February from 106.8 in January. This was the eighth gain in the last 12 months and the fifth consecutive gain.

The monthly diffusion index decreased from 68.8 in January 2016 to 56.3 in February, with four of eight components contributing positively to the index.

Seven of the eight indicators - agricultural futures profits index, average weekly unemployment claims (inverted), diesel fuel consumption, Iowa stock market index, national yield spread, new orders index, and residential building permits - experienced an increase of greater than 0.05 percent over the last half a year.

The February monthly value of the new orders index increased to 67.4 from January's 55.1 and was above the February 2016 value of 51.3.

The 12-month moving average of residential building permits increased to 1,124 in February from 1,097 in January and was 41.5 percent above the historical average for February (1998-2016).

Diesel fuel consumption, average manufacturing hours, the national yield spread and the agriculture futures profit index were the four components that contributed negatively to the index. Taxable diesel gallons were 9.4 percent lower than the 57.39 million gallons reported in February 2016.

The full report can be found on the department website, https://tax.iowa.gov/.

COMPLAINT DEPARTMENT:

Complaints to the Iowa Office of Ombudsman increased by 3 percent in 2016, and those numbers may go up even further this year, according to the ombudsman's annual report.

The ombudsman opened almost 4,600 cases last year, more than two-thirds of which were jurisdictional complaints. Cases involving state government agencies made up 49 percent of the cases and local governments 36 percent of the cases.

The annual report highlights 10 cases investigated in 2016. In one, an ombudsman investigator persuaded a city council to rescind the appointment of a new council member because the council had not followed procedural requirements in state law.

In another case, the director of a small nonprofit Medicaid provider was told that managed-care organizations would not pay for the home-birthing services she offered. The issue was resolved after an ombudsman investigator brought it to the attention of the state agency that oversees MCOs. Complaints about MCOs became commonplace last year, after the state changed the way it insures the poor.

Ombudsman Kristie Hirschman said the increased case numbers are one of the reasons she decided to produce a scaled-down version of the ombudsman's annual report. Hirschman plans to supplement the report with more timely, periodic summaries of the office's most effectual work on the office's website.

Hirschman was named ombudsman by the Iowa Legislature in March after 21 years in the office.

The report can be found at www.legis.iowa.gov/Ombudsman.