Capitol Notebook: 2% K-12 funding increase approved by Iowa Senate Republicans

DES MOINES — General state funding for K-12 public schools would increase 2 percent in the 2025-2026 school year under a legislative proposal that passed the Senate largely along party lines.

Only Republicans supported the proposed 2 percent increase, which they argued is what is sustainable under the state budget. Democrats argued the proposal is insufficient to help public school districts cover all their costs.

Three Republicans — Sens. Charlie McClintock, Dawn Driscoll and Tom Shipley — joined all Democrats in voting against the proposal.

From 1973, when the current public school funding formula was created, until 2010, general state funding to K-12 public schools increased by an annual average of 5 percent. Since Republicans regained at least partial control of the state lawmaking process in 2011, that annual increase has averaged 2 percent.

The Senate Republican proposal, Senate File 167, would result in $4.2 billion in state general fund spending on K-12 education, according to Sen. Mike Evans, R-Aurelia, a former public school administrator.

The Senate proposal matches Gov. Kim Reynolds’ proposed 2 percent general school funding increase. House Republicans have proposed a 2.25 percent increase plus a one-time general state funding infusion of $22.6 million to help districts cover inflationary costs.

Ticket bot ban passes Senate

Swifties rejoice: the Iowa Senate unanimously approved legislation that would prohibit the use of bots in making bulk order purchases of concert and event tickets.

The legislation was designed to address web applications that buy large numbers of concert and event tickets so an individual can sell those tickets for exponentially more on the secondary market. Similar bills have been passed across the country after the issue gained national attention when fans of the pop music star Taylor Swift had difficulties buying tickets to her 2023-2024 concert tour.

The bill, Senate File 146, prohibits the use of a bot to purchase more than the posted limit on ticket sales to concerts and other events. It passed the Senate on a 47-0 vote and is now eligible for consideration in the Iowa House.

House grain bill contains new protection for credit sales

A bill that was advanced Tuesday by a House subcommittee would update the state’s decades-old insurance fund for farmers to include coverage for riskier, delayed-payment sales of corn and soybeans.

The Grain Indemnity Fund reimburses farmers for their losses when they aren’t paid by grain buyers, typically when those buyers go bankrupt.

The fund nearly ran out of money in 2023 after three buyers went bankrupt in a little more than a year. Just before the bankruptcies the indemnity fund was near its minimum operating balance of $3 million.

This is the third consecutive legislative session in which lawmakers have entertained bills to modify the operation of the fund, which is replenished periodically by a per-bushel fee on grain sales.

House Study Bill 131 would raise the minimum fund threshold — which triggers that fee — from $3 million to $8 million.

The bill also would raise the maximum threshold — which ceases the fee — from $8 million to $16 million.

The bill does not increase the maximum payment amount to farmers. The fund reimburses 90 percent of the loss per cash sale, up to $300,000.

But it adds coverage for certain credit-sale transactions, in which farmers aren’t paid for their grain within 30 days. That has been a point of contention among lawmakers because they are riskier transactions that are sometimes used by farmers to reduce how much their revenue is taxed.

One farmer who attempted to claim reimbursement from the state fund amid the last grain dealer bankruptcy had delayed payments for up to several years that totaled about $800,000.

The House bill adds partial coverage for so-called “deferred pricing” sales. Those can include instances when farmers need to move their grain but hope to get a better price based on anticipated future rates.

Those types of sales would be reimbursed for 70 percent of losses, up to $210,000, by the House bill.

The bill does not add coverage for “deferred payment” sales, when a purchase price is determined up front but payment is delayed.

Norlin Mommsen, a DeWitt Republican and farmer, led the three-person House Agriculture subcommittee that recommended the bill for further consideration. He said he has been opposed to coverage for credit-sale transactions but that the bill is a compromise.

Other states with similar indemnity funds provide varying degrees of coverage for the transactions.

Hunting constitutional amendment gets committee support

A resolution that might lead to hunting, fishing and trapping being codified rights in the Iowa Constitution received a House committee's support in a party-line vote Tuesday.

The Natural Resources committee approved the resolution 13-8, with all Republican support.

House Joint Resolution 1 will require approval by the full House and Senate in two successive General Assemblies before it would be put to a vote by the public.

“The idea behind the bill is to future-proof those rights to hunt, fish and trap, to preserve the economic impact that those sports have on the state, also the cultural impact, as well as to maintain it as a management tool for regulating our wildlife,” said Rep. Dean Fisher, a Montour Republican.

Fisher said 24 other states have added those protected activities to their constitutions.

There was little discussion about the resolution before the vote. Rep. Eric Gjerde, D-Cedar Rapids, said there are more important rights to attempt to protect.

AG announces settlement over fake stem cell treatments

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird announced a settlement with an Omaha-based company accused of wrongfully promoting its stem cell treatments as cures for a range of health disorders.

The settlement resolves allegations that a company executive target marketed and sold “unproven and dangerous stem cell treatments” to Iowans, according to an announcement Tuesday.

Michael Pavey, one of two named executives in the lawsuit, agrees to pay $240,000 in restitution to Iowans who were sold fake stem cell treatments. Pavey also will pay $6,000 to Iowa’s consumer education and litigation fund.

The lawsuit, filed by former Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller in 2020 and which Bird’s office continued arguing, alleges Regenerative Medicine and Anti-Aging Institutes of Omaha, as well as Omaha Stem Cells LLC, Stem Cell Centers LLC, and the companies' owners and top executives, Travis Autor, Emily Autor and Pavey “deceptively, misleadingly, unfairly, and without any reasonable basis,” claimed their stem cell therapies could reverse aging and treat, cure or prevent conditions such as Alzheimer's disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and chronic pain.

The lawsuit states Pavey specifically targeted older Iowans and created a misleading testimonial video used in sales seminars that touted the effectiveness of the treatments alleged to have made Iowans sick.

Pavey denies the allegations and denies he is legally responsible for any conduct in violation of Iowa Consumer Fraud Actor any other law.

The settlement prohibits Pavey from marketing, promoting or selling stem cell treatments in Iowa. He’s also barred from collecting payment from Iowa consumers who received treatment at Omaha Stem Cells, LLC, or Regenerative Medicine and Anti-Aging Institutes of Omaha.

Pavey cannot participate, directly or indirectly, in the formation or usage of corporations targeted toward Iowans.

In addition to paying restitution and costs and attorneys fees incurred by the AG’s office, Pavey must pay $90,000 in civil penalties to the Attorney General.

Any Iowan who was a victim of these scam stem cell treatments should contact the Iowa Attorney General’s Office at 1-888-777-4590 or online at iowaattorneygeneral.gov.

Gazette-Lee Des Moines Bureau