Iowa lawmakers consider proposals to cut legislative session by half, avoid government shutdown

DES MOINES — The number of days that state lawmakers are reimbursed for their housing and meals during a legislative session would be cut in half under legislation being considered at the Iowa Capitol.

Another bill moving in the Legislature would establish state spending at current levels if ever lawmakers were unable to pass a budget before the end of the state budget year on June 30.

Both proposals received enough support this week — from majority Republican lawmakers only — to survive a key legislative deadline that keeps them eligible for further consideration.

Shortening legislative sessions

Currently, state legislators receive per diems for housing and meals for 110 days in odd-numbered years and 100 days in even-numbered years. While there is no hard deadline by which a legislative session must end, the per diem expirations are designed in part to motivate lawmakers to complete their work.

Senate File 2209 would cut the length of those per diems by half, to 55 and 50 days.

Iowa Sen. Mike Bousselot, a Republican from Ankeny who introduced the legislation, said during a committee hearing Wednesday that the Iowa Legislature’s per diem schedule has not been changed since 1983, when it was reduced to the current lengths. He said with changes in technology, he felt it was time to revisit how long Iowa’s annual legislative sessions should last.

“(In 1983), the internet didn’t exist. Text messages were a figment of sci-fi imagination. And you could smoke at your desk and take your calls on a landline,” Bousselot said during a meeting of the Senate State Government Committee. “The world, it turns out, has changed quite a bit in the intervening … years. This bill is an attempt to say that it is high time the Iowa Legislature look at how we do business.”

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Sen. Tony Bisignano, a Democrat from Des Moines, suggested the proposal should apply only to the majority party’s lawmakers, since they set the legislative agenda. He also said the proposal would disproportionately affect lawmakers from outside central Iowa who have farther to travel to Des Moines for the legislative session.

He also pointed out the majority party could shorten the session by introducing fewer bills. Last year, lawmakers introduced more legislation through the first funnel deadline than they did in the entirety of four of the previous five years.

“Self-discipline is what it’s going to take (to reduce the session’s length),” Bisignano said.

Keeping state government funded and running

Under Senate Study Bill 3176, the state budget would remain status quo the following year if state lawmakers do not pass a new budget by the end of the fiscal year on June 30.

Republican lawmakers in support of the proposal said it would prevent state government from being unfunded or forced to shut down if legislators were to deadlock in state budget negotiations.

Democrats on the Senate State Government Committee argued the legislation gives an out for legislators to shirk their responsibility of passing a state budget each year.

“This seems like we’re injecting D.C.-style politics into Iowa,” Sen. Matt Blake, a Democrat from Des Moines, said in reference to federal lawmakers who regularly pass continuing resolutions for government spending instead of a federal budget.

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Sen. Scott Webster, a Republican from Bettendorf, argued the legislation does the exact opposite and avoids so-called “D.C.-style politics” by ensuring Iowa state government will not shut down.

“This bill forces you to not have a government shutdown in Iowa. A government shutdown in Iowa hurts taxpayers,” Webster said. “This particular bill says if you don’t do it, you’re going back to last year’s budget. It is actually a protection for taxpayers.”

Both bills now are eligible for consideration by the full Iowa Senate.

Comments: (515) 355-1300, erin.murphy@thegazette.com

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