Capitol Briefs 1-21-10

Roundup of legislative and Statehouse items of interest for Thursday, Jan. 21:

IT OUGHT TO BE A CRIME: Shadowy political groups engaging in smear tactics while skirting Iowa's disclosure laws could face criminal penalties under legislation being pushed by a state legislator. Sen. Steve Warnstadt, D-Sioux City, has filed a bill (Senate File 2008) making it a class D felony to willfully fail to meet the state reporting requirements one week prior to an election.

“I think people want and deserve campaigns where you know who is saying what and can be held accountable for the things they say instead of doing last minute smear jobs and being held completely unaccountable for it. It demeans the process. It cheapens it,” he said.

Charlie Smithson of the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board said such criminal probes would be outside of his authority, but he would favor raising the current fine of up to $2,000 that his agency can impose for a significant campaign-related violation.

AARP LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES: Protecting critical Medicaid funding for needy Iowans ranks among AARP's priorities for the 2010 legislative session. Bruce Koeppl, AARP Iowa state director, expressed concern that every dollar cut from the Medicaid program costs Iowa $1.68 in federal matching funds and creates a ripple effect of lost jobs and lost revenue to providers and other businesses.

Other AARP priorities include protecting funding for identified unmet home and community needs of older Iowans, protecting the quality of long-term care in Iowa's nursing homes and other institutional settings, addressing Iowa's impending nursing shortage and working to implement cost-effective ways to improve Iowa's health-care system, Koeppl said.

“MINI” SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATION: Sen. Bob Dvorsky, D-Coralville, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said Thursday that lawmakers likely would move quickly on a “mini-supplemental” spending bill to address a shortfall in the State Payment program.

Services for up to 1,200 Iowans who have mental illness or disability could be impacted by a $1.9 million shortfall. However, Dvorsky and Charles Krogmeier, director of the state Department of Human Services, said there is enough money in a mental health risk pool that counties administer to sustain the program and avoid dis-enrollment.

FEDERAL REFUGEE FUNDING COULD END: Federal officials have notified Iowa's Bureau of Refugee Programs that funding for the agency's reception and placement program will end by Oct. 1. U.S. State Department officials say future resettlement funding will only be available to nonprofit organizations after the current fiscal year.

Charles Krogmeier, director of the state Department of Human Services, said Iowa is the only state with such a program that helped about 425 refugees last year and about 230 so far this year.

Refugee bureau chief John Wilken said the services will continue to be provided by two nonprofit charitable groups. He said the state has not decided on a response to the federal notification, but his bureau will continue to assist with employment programs and other services separate from the federal-funding issue. Since 1975, Iowa has helped resettle more than 13,000 refugees through the admissions effort.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “We don't want this to be the wild, wild west … of politics where people are having unlimited corporate contributions in the middle of session.” – House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, D-Des Moines, on the possibility that state lawmakers could take action after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling legalized corporate spending on elections.