No breakthrough in Iowa budget talks

DES MOINES - The 2015 legislative session moved behind closed doors Monday as House and Senate leaders discussed budget differences with Gov. Terry Branstad's staff while touring schoolchildren gawked at the ornate but empty Statehouse chambers.

Day 127 of the overtime legislative session failed to produce the elusive breakthrough that would allow top House Republicans and Senate Democrats to summon their members back to the Statehouse for budget work needed to complete the session.

Monday's half-hour private leadership meeting failed to produce an agreement, but negotiators slated to meet again today held out hope for a resolution that would break their impasse.

'We'll get it figured out,” said House Speaker Kraig Paulsen, R-Hiawatha. 'The objective is to come to some sort of resolution that meets Iowans' needs. We'll be here as long as it takes. I think we can be done in May, I hope we're done in May, but we'll keep plugging along.”

Branstad, who is presiding over his 21st session as governor, said it will require 'patience and perseverance” to close a budget gap that started about $166 million apart - with disagreements over state funding of K-12 schools still the biggest stumbling block.

'Realistically, I think that first week of June certainly would be a target that I would like to see the Legislature achieve,” Branstad told reporters during his weekly news conference.

Senate President Pam Jochum, D-Dubuque, said agreeing on an overall fiscal 2016 spending level and setting K-12 state aid were key to resolution. She said negotiators also hoped to set the fiscal 2017 funding level for schools, but they may leave that decision until next session if need be - something Branstad opposes.

The full Iowa House is slated to reconvene Wednesday to debate the fiscal 2016 standing appropriations bill. Both chambers gaveled in and out briefly Monday, and the House Appropriations Committee is scheduled to meet today. The Iowa Senate will reconvene Wednesday.

During a brief meeting of the House Appropriations Committee on Monday attended by three legislators, the panel assigned to subcommittee an amended version of the Senate-passed standing appropriations bill that stripped out much of the policy language included before it passed on a party-line vote last week.

Gone in the House amendment was Senate language seeking to expand anti-bullying protections in K-12 schools.

Also gone was a proposed state employee retirement incentive program that Senate Democrats predict would save over $16 million - a provision they included to reach their $7.34 billion spending target for the budget year beginning July 1.

The House amendment did include a policy measure seeking to toughen penalties for synthetic drugs or imitation controlled substances that the House passed. The amendment dropped Senate provisions to change laws dealing with marijuana, crack cocaine and giving judges discretion to waive the mandatory minimum sentence relating to drug offenders with low risk to reoffend.

Committee chairman Rep. Chuck Soderberg, R-Le Mars, said Republicans wanted to scale back policy matters in the standings budget bill.

Rep. Chris Hall, D-Sioux City, ranking minority party member on the committee, said his caucus likely would draft a number of amendments on new topics or Senate issues that were removed to offer up Wednesday.