State budget again moves ‘center stage’ in Iowa Legislature

DES MOINES - Democrats and Republicans in the Iowa Legislature will start their work this session about $127 million apart in the task of crafting a state budget topping $7 billion.

Not an insurmountable divide, leaders say, but one that could consume the election-year session's scheduled 100 days starting Monday and then some, depending on how willing the partisans are to compromise and work with Republican Gov. Terry Branstad after last year's overtime assemblage that ended on a sour note.

Revenue estimators last month projected the state would collect more than $7.327 billion during the 12-month period that begins July 1, a 4 percent increase that would provide Branstad and the split-control Legislature about $7.254 billion under Iowa's 99 percent spending limitation law.

'The state's economy is strong and is growing. There is no economic emergency, but we will certainly have to focus on priorities,” said House Speaker-select Linda Upmeyer, R-Clear Lake. 'We're continuing to grow, which is a good thing, but we're growing more at a moderate to slow pace than an exuberant pace.”

Most legislators agree with that outlook, but generally that's where it ends.

Republicans who control the Iowa House took the Revenue Estimating Conference's figure and subtracted the $7.174 billion authorized to be spent from the general fund in the current fiscal year to come up with $153.1 million in new money available for budgeting this session.

But Democrats who control the Iowa Senate figure each percentage of state revenue represents about $70 billion, and 4 percent growth means budget makers will have about $280 million in new money to spend.

Budget officials within the Branstad administration's Department of Management project the state has $343.1 million in 'new” funding available to spend in the coming fiscal year, based on the 99 percent limitation and a projected $232.3 million carry-over balance that state law allows. That number would be reduced, though, if supplemental appropriations are needed yet this fiscal year ending June 30.

Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs, said Democrats' focus this session will be on the long term - making sure there are adequate resources for preparing young people with skills needed to compete in the future economy.

'It's really about the next generation so people really have to take the long view and we're going to look for willing partners,” Gronstal said. Of the insistence by GOP legislators not increase general fund spending by more than the $153 million in fiscal 2017, the Senate leader said 'we're following the law, and the law says we can spend 99 percent of available revenue.”

Gronstal said he expects some budget areas would need to be cut to make room for increased spending for education and human services, especially since a delay in implementing Branstad's Medicaid changeover to privately managed care likely will reduce savings.

Senate Republican Leader Bill Dix of Shell Rock said lawmakers should treat taxpayers' money 'like the family budget,” recognizing that the challenges to balancing the ledger relates to too much spending rather than a lack of revenue.

'It's always a challenge to put the votes together for it and make all the pieces fit and this shouldn't be any different,” he said. 'I expect that to be center stage in what we have to accomplish and hopefully we pass a budget that is long-term sustainable and spends less than what we're taking in.”

Adding to the budget pressures are commitments made during the 2013 session to commercial property tax relief, education reform and Medicaid expansion that carry sizable price tags.

One partisan flashpoint will be the insistence by Republicans and lobbyists opposed to abortion rights that public money to Planned Parenthood be halted.

No state money currently is being spent directly on abortions in Iowa, but conservative activists and GOP lawmakers are pressuring Branstad to take action in halting any government money going even indirectly to Planned Parenthood organizations in Iowa.

Branstad has said he is working with GOP legislators to 'look at whatever we can do” to defund Planned Parenthood, but the governor said he will not break the law or invite a lawsuit by denying government grant money without legal cause.

Top legislative Democrats say Planned Parenthood provides important family planning, cancer screening and health services for women, and dismantling the agency would result in more abortions, not fewer.

Sen. David Johnson, R-Ocheyedan, said GOP legislators are willing to stretch out the session if that's what it takes to ensure that non-profit organizations that provide abortions do not get government support.

'This is where the session getting completed within its designated 100 days is not likely,” Johnson said.