Final day for Iowa Legislature set for Friday

DES MOINES - In fits and starts, the Iowa Legislature spent the 144th day of what was supposed to be a 110-day session moving slowly toward adjournment.

Lawmakers came up short and will be back Friday to finish approving a $7.168 billion general fund budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1 and a handful of policy bills.

Senate majority Democrats and House majority Republicans have approved much of that spending, including a 1.25 percent boost in base per-pupil funding and an extra $55.7 million in one-time surplus funds for K-12 schools, and $1.839 billion for health and human services including provisions to keep the Mental Health Institute in Mount Pleasant open.

Lawmakers also are working on appropriating nearly $135 million of surplus money for one-time spending, including the $55.7 million for schools, $43 million for Medicaid and $10 million to repay down $28.9 million in Vision Iowa bonds.

Among budgets approved Thursday were $43.1 million for agriculture and natural resources, $42.3 million for economic development and the $51.8 million administration and regulation budget that covers more than a dozen executive branch agencies. Lawmakers also approved and sent to the governor a $119 million Rebuild Iowa Infrastructure Fund with the Senate also approved funding for E-911 systems that includes $4 million in what will likely be a 12-year contract to upgrade communications systems.

‘Financial challenges'

Gov. Terry Branstad saw 'significant accomplishments” in what he called a difficult session 'because the state is facing some financial challenges due to the fact that farming income is estimated to be down 32 percent.”

The Legislative Services Agency confirmed that but said the revenue drop has been offset by May receipts that were the second-highest in state history.

Branstad won a victory when the Legislature approved a version of his Connect Every Acre broadband plan to deliver high-speed Internet to all parts of the state. However, another Branstad priority - his anti-bullying proposal - was stripped from the catchall standings bill because of opposition from the House GOP.

Branstad, who was at Linn-Mar High School in Marion, also said a bird flu epidemic that has affected 29 million birds at 73 Iowa farms has created uncertainty.

Lawmakers addressed the bird flu epidemic by passing legislation to protect public landfills that accept the bird carcasses from lawsuits as long as they follow the rules of the departments of Natural Resources and Homeland Security.

In between brief debates Thursday, lawmakers had time to clean their desks and discuss crops, vacation plans and their desire to be elsewhere. Some engaged in last-minute lobbying for funding or pet projects. In an effort to break a deadlock on texting while driving and underinsured motorists, a 10-member transportation policy conference committee was dissolved and reformed with two new GOP senators.

Highs and Lows

Some found time to assess the highs and lows of the session. For leaders of the minority caucuses in each chamber, there were mostly lows.

'We made some progress on job training, but that's close to it for me,” House Minority Leader Mark Smith, D-Marshalltown, said.

He was hard-pressed to think of anything that defined the session.

'There's not a lot of clarity as to what we did to improve the lives of Iowans,” Smith said.

For example, the House didn't adequately fund K-12 education, Smith said, 'so we're taking textbooks out of children's hands and putting firecrackers in them.”

His disappointment included failures to raise the minimum wage or increase mental health services, and despite making some gains on improving water quality, doing nothing on air quality.

Across the rotunda, Senate Minority Leader Bill Dix, R-Shell Rock, whose caucus voted against most of the budget deals House Republicans negotiated with Senate Democrats, was disappointed the Legislature 'hasn't kept spending in check as much as we should.”

'Iowans want us to be more respectful of voters' tax dollars and job creators,” Dix said.

Synthetic Drugs

Among the other casualties of split control appear to be tougher penalties on the manufacture and sale of synthetic drugs and expanded gun rights.

'There was strong bipartisan support” for legislation to give the Iowa Board of Pharmacy more flexibility to address counterfeit drugs, said Rep. Ken Rizer, R-Cedar Rapids. 'But it was clouded with the marijuana elements the Senate put on.”

Senators fought to expand the bill to reclassify marijuana for medical use, lower the penalty for possessing small amounts of marijuana, equalize penalties for crack and powder cocaine, and give judges discretion to waive mandatory minimum sentences for low-risk drug offenders.

'It's a shame that we couldn't do our job and get this through,” Rizer said, 'but people are dying so we'll try again next year.”

Gun Law dies

Another measure pitched overboard was an expansion of gun rights that passed the House on a 73-25 vote. It would allow parents to teach gun safety to minors with no age restriction, create a restricted access database for verification of permits, legalize suppressors for Iowa gun owners and make permits valid for five years. Senate Democrats passed a scaled-back measure that only legalized firearms suppressors.

'The Iowa Senate refused to advance the Second Amendment rights of Iowans,” Rep. Matt Windschitl, R-Missouri Valley, said.

Abortion Bill

Pro-lifers claimed a victory by codifying language requiring doctors to offer pregnant women the opportunity to see an ultrasound image of their fetus.

'I work with women in a crisis pregnancy center, and this could be a turning point for some of them,” said Rep. Walt Rogers, R-Cedar Falls. 'There will be people alive next year because of what we put in the code.”

Rep. Lisa Heddens, D-Ames, wasn't sure it would matter because offering women a view of the ultrasound is 'standard of practice” now. Lawmakers rarely put standards of practice in code because health care changes.

'In five years, ultrasound could be obsolete,” she said.