BW INSIGHTS

2020 Legislative Session-Week 1

By BrownWinick | 01.17.2020

The first week of the 2020 Iowa legislative sessionstarted Monday with the swearing-in of a new House Republican leadership team. Rep. Pat Grassley (R-New Hartford) was officially named Speaker of the House, while Rep. Matt Windschitl (R-Missouri Valley) was sworn in as Majority Leader. Grassley listed workforce-related issues as his top concerns,... Read More

2019 Legislative Session - Week 14

By BrownWinick | 04.22.2019

House and Senate Republicans have reached an agreement on the budget for next fiscal year (FY20). Under the joint plan, the state will spend $7.64 billion from the general fund. That’s a 0.2 percent increase from last year. Although lawmakers can legally spend 99 percent of ongoing revenues, the GOP proposal uses just north of 97 percent.... Read More

2019 Legislative Session - Week 13

By BrownWinick | 04.12.2019

House and Senate Republicans are continuing to hash-out next year’s budget (FY20), but have yet to agree on the final figures. Those so-called “joint budget targets” lay out how much both chambers are willing to spend on big-ticket appropriations, like education, economic development, and health and human services. In the absence of joint targets,... Read More

2019 Legislative Session - Week 12

By BrownWinick | 04.05.2019

Lawmakers raced bills through committee this week, scrambling to beat the second legislative “Funnel.” Most policy measures that didn’t pass out of the House or Senate, and a full committee in the opposite chamber by Friday are dead for the remainder of session. Tax, spending, government oversight, and leadership bills are largely exempt from this... Read More

2019 Legislative Session - Week 10

By BrownWinick | 03.22.2019

Governor Kim Reynolds has shifted her focus toward disaster relief following catastrophic floods across Iowa. Yesterday, she requested that President Donald Trump issue an expedited Presidential Major Disaster Declaration for 57 counties. That move would immediately free up federal recovery resources, including FEMA funding. So far, the floods... Read More

March 2019 REC Summary

By BrownWinick | 03.18.2019

The Revenue Estimating Conference ("REC") met yesterday morning (3/15/19) in Des Moines. A short summary of the information discussed during the meeting is below, along with the below spreadsheet handed out during the meeting that contains more detailed information. In short, the report from yesterday shows that revenues for the existing fiscal... Read More

2019 Legislative Session - Week 9

By BrownWinick | 03.18.2019

Iowa’s budget forecast remains relatively stable, although the state will bring in slightly less revenue than anticipated. That’s according to numbers released today by the Revenue Estimating Conference (REC). The expert panel projected the state will rake in $7.84 billion for the fiscal year beginning July 1. That’s roughly $20 million less than... Read More

2019 Legislative Session - Week 8

By BrownWinick | 03.08.2019

Lawmakers raced bills through the committee process this week as Friday’s funnel deadline approached. Most legislation that hasn’t passed subcommittee and full committee in the House or Senate by now is officially “dead” for the 2019 session. Some measures are exempt from funnel—generally those dealing with government oversight, taxes and... Read More

2019 Legislative Session - Week 7

By BrownWinick | 03.01.2019

Senate Republicans released their budget targets this week for the fiscal year beginning in July. Their total spending, about $7.62 billion, is roughly $50 million less than that proposed by the House GOP. The Senate version includes more spending for administration and regulation, and for economic development. As usual, one of the largest... Read More

2019 Legislative Session - Week 6

By BrownWinick | 02.25.2019

House Republicans introduced their FY20 budget targets Tuesday (set out below), which call for slightly more spending than Governor Kim Reynolds proposed. Under the House plan, Standing Appropriations (or “Standings”) would receive the most funding, $3.86 billion. The Standings bill is typically the last piece of legislation passed each session,... Read More