Some have called expanding the bottle bill to include water and energy drinks, and double the deposit to a dime to increase the penny-per-can handling fee for redemption centers to 2 cents. Even that may not be enough to support redemption centers, especially in rural Iowa, according to Iowa State University economics professor Dermot Hayes, who has been analyzing the bottle bill for about 10 years.
In Iowa, the average gas price Thursday was $3.924, but topped $4 in many rural areas according to AAA. However, Iowa lawmakers say they’ve heard little talk of suspending state motor fuel taxes -- 30 cents a gallon state tax on gas and ethanol, and 32.5 on diesel fuel.
If lawmakers go along with legislation approved by the House, this weekend will be the last time Iowans have to go through the twice-a-year ritual of changing their clocks — if Congress also agrees.
As she has done in the run-up to formally starting to campaign, Gov. Reynolds contrasted her leadership to that of the Biden administrations and the Democratic Congress.
On this week’s edition of the On Iowa Politics Podcast: Reynolds makes it official, filing season, midpoint of the legislative session, and support your local constitutional sheriff.
In 2021, Iowa companies exported $3.1 billion in goods to Mexico, which is the state’s third-largest export destination overall and the second-leading export market for corn, pork and soybeans.
The fiscal 2023 budget proposed by House Republicans represents a less than a 1 percent increase from the current $8.1 billion budget. Gov. Kim Reynolds and Senate Republicans have proposed spending just more than $8.2 billion, a 3.5 percent increase.
Iowa’s state budget is even healthier than experts previously estimated, but over the next two budget years, once newly approved state income tax cuts go into effect, Iowa’s state revenues are projected to decline.
Proponents say bills changing the staffing ratios and allowing younger workers to operate with less supervision would allow flexibility in child care facilities, but opponents say the changes could make those settings less safe for children.
House File 2299 restricts the appraisal process, stating that appraisers shall not settle disputes between insurance companies and individuals about how damage occurred. Instead, the appraisers could determine only the cash value of a loss.
Iowa House resolution recognizes the Ukrainian people’s fight for freedom and self governance.
Proposal to provide scholarships of as much as $5,500 a year to eligible private school students cheered as providing choice to more families, panned as attack on public education during Iowa House hearing.
According to a new poll from Selzer & Co., 84 percent of Iowans said the state’s recycling law is good for the state, while just 12 percent said it is bad. And 80 percent said the state should either keep the law as it is, or expand it to add more types of eligible containers and more retail locations where containers can be returned.
The investigation could be seen as politicians trying to “push their own agenda and inappropriately interfere with a separate but equal branch of government,” House Democrats said in a letter to the speaker and Judiciary Committee chairman.
Iowa’s high school graduation rate slipped from 91.8 percent for the Class of 2020 to 90.2 percent for the Class of 2021.
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