Lawmakers plodding toward adjournment

DES MOINES – Majority Democratic leaders worked to finalize a $5.3 billion budget plan that boosted funding for education and sought more money for disaster recovery efforts before adjourning the 2010 legislative session as early as Friday.

“Basically, it's dotting of the ‘I's and crossing of the ‘T's,” House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, D-Des Moines, said today. “We'll try to be done tomorrow evening. If for some reason there's a glitch and we can't get our work done tomorrow night, we'll come back and finish on Saturday. But there is a road map to get out of here tomorrow night.”

Negotiations over a bonding measure to provide up to $150 million more money for infrastructure projects – much of it flood mitigation and recovery work – and provisions of a catch-all standings appropriation measure were the main hurdles to adjournment as lawmakers slogged along at a slow pace today.

“The good news is we are making real progress,” said Gov. Chet Culver. “I'm hopeful here in the next couple of days that we'll be able to agree on just about everything and move forward.”

Last session, Democrats approved $830 million in bonding authority, and lawmakers still have up to $150 million that could be leveraged without impacting the debt service thanks to favorable interest rates and financing charges, McCarthy said. That represented about $45 million in additional proceeds and Culver was pushing for the extra money to go toward flood mitigation and disaster recovery efforts.

“We know where we're vulnerable in this state but it's going to take resources,” he said.

McCarthy said decisions over bonding and infrastructure funding likely would be the final budget pieces to fall into place as lawmakers looked to adjourn on the session's 75

^th

day – the shortest session since 1972.

“Every day we're not in session saves $35,000 to $40,000,” said Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs. Shaving 25 days off the scheduled 100-day session could amount to nearly $1 million, which Gronstal said represented “a number of people's jobs in the state.”

Earlier today, House members voted 51-45 to approve a massive standings bill that appropriates nearly $2.5 billion to K-12 schools beginning July 1 – authorizing a 2 percent increase in base school aid and another $100 million to cushion the impact of Culver's 10 percent across-the-board cut last October.

The governor said schools will be getting about $58 million more next fiscal year – maybe the only budget area to see more funding – but Republicans warned the state underfunds the spending authority that likely will fall to property taxpayers to make up.

House File 2531 would tap the state's cash reserve for 207.5 million – largely to cover state Medicaid costs and property tax credit obligations. The bill also provides for state employees pay raises won in collective bargaining but required state agencies to fund them from status quo or declining budget allocations.

A provision to allow cities or counties to increase motel/motel tax assessments was stripped from the bill and representatives rejected a proposal to study the future of dog racing at state licensed racetrack casinos.

They did agree to revive some stalled issues by including language instructing motorists to give bicyclists more room on roadways and not throw objects at them. The House bill also allowed bingo events without a state license if there was no admission charge and prizes were donated.

On the Senate side, majority Democrats stuck to their language requiring administrators and teachers to work together in improving low-performing schools in an education funding bill. Senators stripped language that required more private associations beyond the Iowa Association of School Boards that receive public funds to be subject to open meetings/records laws in favor of a study, but approved a House change to pump an extra $9 million in regent universities' operations next year.

A final version of a transportation budget bill raised the requirement for back-seat passengers to wear belts from under age 11 to under age 18. Sen. Matt McCoy, D-Des Moines, said anyone aged 14 through 17 not wearing a seat belt – unless unable to fasten a belt due to a disability or not enough belts in the vehicle's back seat – could be charged with violating the new law rather than the driver.

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