Legislative funnel claims scores of issues; dove hunting survives

DES MOINES – Scores of policy bills were shot down by lawmakers Thursday but a measure authorizing a dove-hunting season in Iowa managed to fly safely under the radar.

The end of the 2011 legislative session's eighth week signaled the end of the line for a host of proposals that included changing the state's judicial selection process, banning most abortions, and raising speed limits on primary and county roads. Meanwhile, issues dealing with defining marriage as only between one man and one woman, reshaping Iowa's universal preschool program into a means-tested system, legalizing online poker, and revamping Iowa's economic development efforts survived the first benchmark designed to winnow lawmakers' workload.

Little-mentioned bills that would have allowed chronically ill patients access to medical marijuana, given more protections to bicycle riders on highways, imposed a moratorium on new state gaming licenses, and provided local control on locating large-scale livestock operations quietly fell victim to a self-imposed “funnel” deadline that required non-tax and non-budget bills to gain the support of a House or Senate subcommittee to remain eligible for debate this year.

At the same time, high-profile measures – one that would have let businesses, groups and others deny services or accommodations due to their religious beliefs and a separate bill to define that life begins at conception, which effectively would ban virtually all abortions in Iowa – failed to win committee approval. But leaders said the latter issue could resurface as an amendment to an eligible bill seeking to restrict late-term abortions.

“We're pleased with how funnel week went,” said House Speaker Kraig Paulsen, R-Hiawatha, who is in his first year of leading a 60-40 GOP majority in the House. “It was not nearly as bumpy as I thought it might be.”

Likewise, Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs, said he was pleased all seven of his majority-party's job-creation proposals designed to aid small businesses moved ahead and will be eligible when lawmakers begin significant debate time next week. Paulsen expected Gov. Terry Branstad's proposed revamp of the state's voluntary preschool program and a separate measure that survived the funnel to overhaul aspect of Iowa's collective bargaining law pertaining to public employees would see floor debate next week.

Branstad told a Des Moines Rotary lunch crowd that he was hopeful his preschool approach would win House approval and he was generally upbeat about the session so far. “A lot of the issues that we want to deal with are exempt from the funnel,” said Branstad, noting that his key job-creation plans rest on proposals to reduce and revamp the state's commercial property and corporate tax systems.

The biggest surprise among funnel survivors was Senate File 83, a measure pushed by Sen. Dick Dearden, D-Des Moines, that would authorizes the state Natural Resources Commission to establish an open season for hunting mourning doves, passed out of the Senate Natural Resources and Environment Committee on a 10-3 vote Thursday.

“We brought it up as a committee of the whole and it passed,” said Dearden. “It was the last day of the funnel so I thought I would give it a try. This is the first step. I'm sure the anti-hunters will be out there.”

Thursday also saw the Senate Judiciary Committee approve a measure that would give people removed from a mental-health registry a chance to get their gun rights restored. Senators added previously approved provisions that would require range training for new gun-permit applicants, bar Internet-based gun training, and authorize law officers to conduct breath tests for someone who is intoxicated and possessing a gun. A measure barring people from driving with a loaded long gun in their vehicles also survived this week's funnel deadline.

While the resolution seeking a public vote to amend the Iowa Constitution by specifying marriage between one man and one woman as the only legal union that is valid or recognized in Iowa has passed the full House, several other proposed constitutional amendments failed to garner legislative support.

Sen. Jeff Danielson, D-Waterloo, chairman of the Senate State Government Committee, noted that most of the changes were proposed by GOP legislators. “I've never seen conservatives be so activist,” he said.

On the House side, the Economic Growth Committee tweaked Branstad's proposal to replace the state Department of Economic Development with a nonprofit public-private partnership that will serve a similar function before giving is unanimous approval.

The new quasi-governmental entity, the Iowa Partnership for Economic Progress, will use the best practices of the public and private sector to help the state attract, expand and retain businesses, according to Branstad.

The nonprofit's board would be made up of business officials, appointed by the governor, and day-to-day operations would be run by Debi Durham, who currently serves as director of the Department of Economic Development.

While it would do much the same work as the current state economic development, IPEP would act much in the way of a private, nonprofit corporation.

The apparent lack of transparency in the public-private partnership caused “heartburn” for many legislators, according to Rep. Kirsten Running-Marquardt, D-Cedar Rapids.

Critics warn the nonprofit arm will allow individuals and groups to make contributions and help shape policy without having to disclose contributions and involvement. Another concern is that a corporation could make a contribution to the economic development authority without publicly disclosing it and then receive financial assistance from the authority.

Rep. Steve Lukan, R-New Vienna, who managed House Study Bill 103, acknowledged those concerns, “but we have to have a certain amount of trust in the free market pressure to produce. Corporations won't donate if progress is not being made.”

He went on to say the “ethical demands, the moral demands of the free market” would prevent cronyism in the new economic development approach.

Rep. Roger Thomas, D-Elkader, recalled sitting on Government Oversight during the Central Iowa Employment and Training Consortium salary scandal “and we don't need to go through that again when people are writing themselves checks.”