The first day of spring was last Tuesday, bringing new life to the Capitol in week 11. As the weather continues to warm, farmers will be eager to start planting crops; we will keep you apprised of the soil temperature in the state, which is a good indicator of when the legislature will adjourn sine die.
Although there was speculation about the week being cut short, the House and Senate continued business as usual, sending 34 bills to the Governor and passing a combined 21 bills between the chambers.
The most notable news of the week, and the legislative session to date, is the chambers finding agreement on school reform—namely the Area Education Agency bill, which has been the major topic of conversation this session. In addition to the AEA bill, legislators have officially established the SSA appropriation for FY2025 at 2.5% and passed a Teacher Pay increase of $50,000.
School Reform
The House took up HF 2612 on Thursday, which originally passed the chamber 53-41 but due to an amendment in the Senate needed further consideration. The House caucused the majority of the day, then adopted a time-certain motion to end debate at 6:30 p.m. Amendment H-8237 passed the chamber 52-42, and the final bill passed 51-43. Most of the Republicans who voted against the bill the first time voted against the bill again.
The new bill combines several major priorities that have dominated the conversations at the capitol this year.
- Increases starting teacher pay to $50,000
- Establishes the State Supplemental Aid at 2.5% (lower than the 3% the House originally pushed for)
- Gives school districts jurisdiction over spending for media and general education services.
- Does not make any change to funding for special education in the 2024-25 school year.
- In the 2024-25 school year, school districts would receive 60% of the state funding for media services and general education services and AEAs would receive 40%.
- In the 2025-26 school year and beyond, districts would receive the state special education funding that currently goes to the AEAs, but they would be required to send 90% of that money to the AEAs, while keeping the remaining 10% of funds.
Governor Reynolds released a statement on the AEA bill passing the House:
“Today’s vote by the House paves a path forward to further strengthen Iowa’s education system in meaningful ways. Every student deserves a quality education that helps them reach their potential. By reforming the AEA system, empowering school districts, and improving oversight and transparency, we are committing to better outcomes and brighter futures for Iowa’s students with disabilities. They deserve nothing less.”
Assuming this compromise holds upon the bill’s return to the Senate, it will constitute a major step forward on the path toward adjournment for the year. Legislators would then be able to turn their full attention to other priorities, including tax policy and budgeting.
Budget Activity
Last week’s Revenue Estimating Committee (REC) projected that the state would bring $9.626 billion in FY 2024 (the fiscal year that ends June 30). This would be a net revenue decrease of about 2.2% from FY 2023. Last week’s projection was about $120 million lower than the REC predicted in December; at that time, they projected $9.746 billion in revenue for FY 2024.
The REC also projected a slight increase into FY 2025 (which begins July 1), projecting a 0.7% increase which will result in about $9.697 billion in revenue. In contrast, the REC also projected a slight decrease for FY 2026, projecting a 1% decrease which will result in about $9.6 billion in revenue.
Governor Kim Reynolds released her budget proposal in January using the December estimate. Because she recommended a total appropriation of $8.92 billion for FY 2025 (more than $1 billion less than the projected revenue that year), her number fits well within the newly released numbers from the March REC.
The first sign of life in the appropriations process came this week. The Governor introduced a number of budget bills:
Governor Priorities
State Primary – June 2024
The deadline for filing for the June primary was Friday, March 15. As an update from last week, the below charts list the candidates who filed their candidate June primary paperwork with the Secretary of State.
Fifteen legislators have announced their retirements, leaving those seats with contested races. Of those retiring, three have served just one term in the statehouse, with the rest of the retirees serving between six and 30 years in the legislature. One Representative, Art Staed, is leaving his House seat to run in adjacent Senate District 40.
There are seven uncontested Senate races and 42 uncontested House races. One of these uncontested seats is freshman Republican Luana Stoltenberg’s seat, District 81, where the only candidate is Democrat Daniel Gosa.
There are surprisingly few primaries this year. Only one Senate Democrat has a primary – Claire Celsi of District 16 in Windsor Heights. One House Democrat incumbent has a primary – Elinor Levin of District 89 near Iowa City. Two open seats have Democrat primaries – Democrat Representative Ako Abdul-Samad’s seat in District 34, and Democrat Representative John Forbes’ seat in District 44, both in Des Moines.
Republicans have a few more primary contests than Democrats this June. Senator Jeff Edler’s retirement brought a three-way Republican primary in District 26. Senator Waylon Brown has a primary and a general election opponent in District 30. Four Republican House incumbents have primaries – Representatives Sexton, Young, Meggers, and Bloomingdale. Six open seats have Republican primaries – Districts 13, 22, 24, 51, 64, and 91.
Download the list the full list here.
Soil Temperature
Like most states, Iowa’s legislative calendar is based around the planting and growing season. The legislature convenes in January and typically adjourns in April or early May. During this time the soil is either frozen over or too cold to plant. But, as spring arrives, the soil temperature begins to increase, as does the pressure on the legislators who are farmers (of which there are many) to get out in the field and plant.
According to Iowa State University Soil Monitoring, the current soil temperatures around the state are in the upper 30s in the north and low 40s in the south. It is recommended to begin planting corn and soybeans when the soil temperature is at 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Taking this environmental factor into account, it doesn’t look like there will be any pressure from the farmer legislators to adjourn the session unless a dramatic warmup is around the corner.
What’s next?
This week and next week, only the following bills are eligible to be considered on the House or Senate floor (along with a few rare exceptions):
- Bills passed by both Houses
- Appropriations Bills
- Ways and Means Bills
- Unfinished Business
We expect chambers to produce budget targets soon, which will prompt appropriations chairs to begin working out their budgets. Once a final agreement on budgets is reached between the House, the Senate, and the Governor’s office, budget bills will be amended and approved accordingly by each chamber before being sent down to the Governor’s Office; this process will play out until the final day of session.
Tax reform and budgeting will be the focus of the coming weeks and will be crucial to negotiations leading up to sine die, the final day of session. The full 2024 Session Timetable can be found here.
