Fishbonker
Life Member
IBA Legislative Update
Week 2
The second week of the session was abbreviated by the Martin Luther King holiday and a statewide snow storm. The Legislature convened at 10 AM Tuesday, and both chambers adjourned quickly. Many legislators were still trying to return to the Capitol on Tuesday afternoon.
Neither chamber did any floor work this week but Wednesday morning started concentrating on committee and subcommittee work. During this time of session each year, subcommittees and committees are meeting on bills with an eye on upcoming deadlines. Legislators are already facing the first committee funnel in about a month (MARCH 8) which is the final date for Senate bills to be reported out of Senate committees and House bills out of House committees. Bills that don't meet this deadline will be dead for the session unless they are budget or tax bills, with a few exceptions.
The bottle bill subcommittee met and voted out SF 59. The bill increases the handling fee to two cents and take grocers out of the redemption business. It modifies Iowa’s existing bottle bill by increasing the handling fee and eliminates grocery and convenience stores as retailer for redemption purposes. The bill will likely go to the full Senate Natural Resources Committee in the next week.
A democratic version of I Will legislation was introduced this week but is unlikely to pass without considerable republican support. Passage of the measure would likely be tied to other tax reform and probably wont happen until late in the session.
Legislators finished their work week early on Thursday before heading back to their districts. Neither chamber met on Friday. Weather for this week looks problematic with record lows predicted for much of the week.
Just a reminder to find out who your two Legislators are (Senator and Representative. Simply go to: “FIND YOUR LEGISLATOR” at https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislators/find. Enter your address on the right side of the page and you will get both your State Representative and your State Senator. Click the two names and you will be taken to a site where you can find out all kinds of information about each person (district, home address, home phone, committees, etc).
YOU CAN ALSO SIGN UP FOR THEIR WEEKLY NEWSLETTERS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS. They are a wonderful source of information on what your legislators are thinking, what is important to them, and when they are conducting forums. Most legislators conduct forums back in their home districts on Fridays and on the weekends to seek constituent feedback on a variety of topics. We strongly encourage attendance at forums. It is a very effective way to let legislators know we work in their districts and to advance and address issues that are important to us. A link to these forums can be found here:
hat are vital to counties. A link to these forums can be found here
http://www.iowahouserepublicans.com/forums (click forums this weekend on that page)
http://iowahouse.org/forums/
http://www.iowasenaterepublicans.com/events/
http://www.senate.iowa.gov/democrats/events/
Bills of interest this week
HF 114 - House minority members’ bill on increasing sales tax for trust fund
HF 77 - REAP Funding to $20M
HF 82 - Leashed Dog to retrieve deer
SF 91 - Spearing Deer - (Atlatl use) - https://youtu.be/gjkJzrwtdzk
HF 49 - non-ambulatory hunter weapons requirements
HF 50 - Youth deer hunting season - Rep. Salmon version
SF 86- anatomical donor symbols – On hunt & fish license
Week 2
The second week of the session was abbreviated by the Martin Luther King holiday and a statewide snow storm. The Legislature convened at 10 AM Tuesday, and both chambers adjourned quickly. Many legislators were still trying to return to the Capitol on Tuesday afternoon.
Neither chamber did any floor work this week but Wednesday morning started concentrating on committee and subcommittee work. During this time of session each year, subcommittees and committees are meeting on bills with an eye on upcoming deadlines. Legislators are already facing the first committee funnel in about a month (MARCH 8) which is the final date for Senate bills to be reported out of Senate committees and House bills out of House committees. Bills that don't meet this deadline will be dead for the session unless they are budget or tax bills, with a few exceptions.
The bottle bill subcommittee met and voted out SF 59. The bill increases the handling fee to two cents and take grocers out of the redemption business. It modifies Iowa’s existing bottle bill by increasing the handling fee and eliminates grocery and convenience stores as retailer for redemption purposes. The bill will likely go to the full Senate Natural Resources Committee in the next week.
A democratic version of I Will legislation was introduced this week but is unlikely to pass without considerable republican support. Passage of the measure would likely be tied to other tax reform and probably wont happen until late in the session.
Legislators finished their work week early on Thursday before heading back to their districts. Neither chamber met on Friday. Weather for this week looks problematic with record lows predicted for much of the week.
Just a reminder to find out who your two Legislators are (Senator and Representative. Simply go to: “FIND YOUR LEGISLATOR” at https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislators/find. Enter your address on the right side of the page and you will get both your State Representative and your State Senator. Click the two names and you will be taken to a site where you can find out all kinds of information about each person (district, home address, home phone, committees, etc).
YOU CAN ALSO SIGN UP FOR THEIR WEEKLY NEWSLETTERS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS. They are a wonderful source of information on what your legislators are thinking, what is important to them, and when they are conducting forums. Most legislators conduct forums back in their home districts on Fridays and on the weekends to seek constituent feedback on a variety of topics. We strongly encourage attendance at forums. It is a very effective way to let legislators know we work in their districts and to advance and address issues that are important to us. A link to these forums can be found here:
hat are vital to counties. A link to these forums can be found here
http://www.iowahouserepublicans.com/forums (click forums this weekend on that page)
http://iowahouse.org/forums/
http://www.iowasenaterepublicans.com/events/
http://www.senate.iowa.gov/democrats/events/
Bills of interest this week
HF 114 - House minority members’ bill on increasing sales tax for trust fund
HF 77 - REAP Funding to $20M
HF 82 - Leashed Dog to retrieve deer
SF 91 - Spearing Deer - (Atlatl use) - https://youtu.be/gjkJzrwtdzk
HF 49 - non-ambulatory hunter weapons requirements
HF 50 - Youth deer hunting season - Rep. Salmon version
SF 86- anatomical donor symbols – On hunt & fish license