Senate passes standings budget bill

DES MOINES – Bleary-eyed state senators approved an omnibus budget bill early Saturday that funds state salaries, K-12 schools, property tax credits and a host of other programs while resurrecting a number of issues previously declared dead.

The Senate voted 30-19 to approve a standing appropriations bill that authorizes next fiscal year's school aid formula funding and finalizes other pieces of the state's fiscal 2010 budget plan. The vote came at 2:56 a.m.

Senate File 478 appropriated $65 million from the state's cash reserve to help balance the fiscal 2010 general fund budget. The bill also generates $16.7 million through a series of court fee increases and directs $11 million of the proceeds to the judicial branch budget for fiscal 2010.

The measure earmarked $67.3 million from the general fund and $127.6 million from other funds to cover state employee salaries for the 12-month period that begins next July 1.

The catch-all bill also became a reclamation project for several issues that failed to move on their own. For instance, the legislation includes language to increase the maximum payout allowed for mechanical and amusement devices from $5 to $50.

Also included were separate provisions to remove the sales tax exemption for casual sales of all-terrain and off-road vehicles and allow cities to charge a franchise fee of up to 5 percent. Other resurrected issues dealt with worker's compensation changes and contract awards to “responsible” bidders.

Sen. Eugene Fraise, D-Fort Madison, failed 31-18 to strip out language to establish state regulation of commercial dog breeders in an effort to address concerns over abuse and neglect. One person in the Senate gallery clapped loudly after senators rejected Fraise's call for an interim study of so-called “puppy mills” and the enforcement of laws covering the care of animals.

During debate on the wide-ranging bill, Sen. David Hartsuch, R-Bettendorf, tried unsuccessfully to end the practice of providing health, dental or medical benefits to domestic partners of state employees. He argued the change would provide a major savings to the state and the policy is no longer needed given an Iowa Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriages.

The Senate did accept an amendment offered by Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs, to allow county supervisors to lower their salaries irrespective of a county compensation board's recommendation for other elected county officials' pay.

Senators narrowly rejected an attempt by Sen. Swati Dandekar, D-Marion, to remove a provision that would require public disclosure of research tax credits received by corporations.

Dandekar expressed concern that disclosure might violate confidentiality of trade secrets or private business plans, but Sen. Bob Dvorsky, D-Coralville, said there shouldn't be a problem in requiring “a little more transparency on these transactions.”

The Senate also defeated an attempt by Sen. Brad Zaun, R-Urbandale, to exempt bars for Iowa's Smokefree Air Act, with Dvorsky arguing against “tinkering with something that's working.”

Also rejected was an amendment by Sen. David Johnson, R-Ocheyedan, that sought to prohibit K-12 schools from beginning classes before the fourth Monday in August beginning with the 2010-11 school year.

Sen. Keith Kreiman, D-Bloomfield, tried unsuccessfully to remove language that would allow the Iowa Executive Council decide whether alcoholic beverages should temporarily be allowed at the state Capitol. Currently, the Legislature votes to waive that prohibition on rare occasions.

“We don't have to have liquor on the state premises,” said Sen. Jim Haun, R-Muscatine, who joined Kreiman on the losing side of a voice vote.

Kreiman did prevail in his bid to block a plan announced by the state court administrator to reapportion magistrates by shifting some from rural counties to urban areas due to an overall shortage related in part to the state's budget situation. Detractors said the court needed flexibility in assigning magistrates based upon case loads and other factors.