Fewer bulbs on annual 'Christmas tree' bill

By James Q. Lynch 

The Gazette

DES MOINES – The Legislature's annual “Christmas tree” has fewer bulbs this year.

For the second day this week, the House worked Wednesday hanging a few ornaments on the all-encompassing “standings” bill, House File 2531.

Also, Wednesday, representatives approved a $350 million transportation appropriation including an increase of $1.2 million for road salt.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, D-Des Moines, predicted the House will complete work on the 56-page standings bill this morning, keeping the House on track to adjourn this week. Progress on the bill has been helped by the decision not to wait until the final hours of the session to debate standings.

“The level of angst has been reduced,” he said.

Given declining state revenues, lawmakers have had to dig deep into their cash reserve piggybanks to cover the $900 million in bulbs on HF 2531. It's a catch-all of budget and policy measures, often pieces of legislation that couldn't be approved on their own.

Majority Democrats said they discouraged adding those measures to the standings bill this year because of fiscal limitations and a desire to end the session this week.

Regardless of the number of bulbs, there are gifts under this year's Christmas tree. There was a safety bill for bicyclists that was popular in the Senate, but not so popular in the House. There was $314 million for teacher salaries, professional development, and early intervention supplements. The Meskwaki settlement school received $90,000 from the Underground Storage Tank Fund for salaries. And there was language giving non-union state troopers the same meal allowance as their union-joining colleagues.

There were lumps of coal, too. K-12 education was underfunded by $167 million, which may result in the layoff of as many as 2,500 teachers. Property tax credits for homeowners and ag and family farm owners were underfunded by about $55 million.

 While much of the House debate focused on policy changes in the standings bill, there also was concern with using nearly $662 million in one-time money, including $252 million from the state's cash reserves.

Republicans warned that the state will go into fiscal 2012 with a $1 billion budget gap and no federal stimulus funds or Senior Living Trust funds to fill it. Cash reserves will be down to about $221 million after fiscal 2011, they said.

They would have a case, McCarthy countered, if the state economy continued to tank. However, he believes the Iowa economy is beginning to turn around. If state revenues bounce back – daily receipts were 3.95 percent below the previous year Tuesday – the state's fiscal picture will brighten and the rainy day funds will be replenished, McCarthy said.

During debate on the standings bill Wednesday, the House:

• rejected language that would have allowed voters to raise local hotel-motel tax.

Representatives voted 73-25 to keep current language that caps the hotel-motel tax at 7 percent. Rep. Tyler Olson, D-Cedar Rapids, had sought language to allow voters to increase that to 9 percent for cities and from 7 percent to 8 percent for counties – potentially an effective rate of 10 percent if both rates were increased.

In Cedar Rapids and Linn County, he added, it the hotel-motel tax could be a disaster recovery tool.

Although sympathetic, Rep. Nathan Reichert, D-Muscatine, said now is not the time to raise the cap.

The recession has hit no industry harder than hospitality, Reichert said. In Muscatine, the city's revenue from the tax dropped from $360,000 to $240,000 last year, he said.

• approved a marketing campaign to educate Iowans on the need to take personal responsibility for the quality and quantity of water in their local watersheds. It also directs the Iowa state university agricultural extension service, the Water Resources Coordinating Council, and agency members of the council to work with floodplain and hydrology experts to educate the general public about flood plains, flood risks, and basic flood plain management principles.
• rejected 49-49 an amendment to have the Legislature determine the future of the Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School in Vinton. Rep. Dawn Pettengill, R-Mount Auburn, said that if a report on the school's residential services recommends eliminating those services, the Legislature, not the regents, should make that decision.

In other action Wednesday, the House approved SF 2381 to appropriate $350.7 million for transportation, including $48.9 million from the Road Use Tax Fund and $301.8 million from the Primary Road Fund. It authorizes 3,373.0 FTE positions. It's a net decrease of $1.6 million and 20 positions.

The House agreed to allow ATV operators to stop for soda or gas at a convenience store, changed seatbelt regulations to take drivers off the hook for backseat passengers 14 and older who don't buckle up and rejected stripping $50,000 from the bill for North America' Supercorridor Coalition dues. Rep. Jason Schultz, R-Schleswig, said the Legislature didn't know enough about the coalition and what it did to justify the dues, which, he said, was at least enough to pay for one of the approximately 2,500 K-12 teachers facing pink slips.

Floor Manager Rep. Dennis Cohoon, D-Burlington, defended the dues, saying $50,000 “is not that huge” and offers Iowa an economic development tool.