As you may have heard, House Democrats fled the Capitol in protest of two bills, each designed to defend Iowans' right to bear arms. The first bill amends the Iowa Constitution to include an explicit right to bear arms and the second strengthens your right to self-defense. Both bills passed the House with the support all Republicans and a couple Democrats. The constitutional change would happen by surviving next session and a yes vote by the people.
The House and Senate are again at odds again over property tax, mental health reform, and education. First, Iowa's current commercial property tax rate is the second highest in the nation, whereas commercial and industrial property owners pay tax on 100 percent ofmarket value. Republicans want to reduce the taxable value of commercial and industrial property by 40 percent over an eight year period, while Democrats think that proposal will put local governments at risk. Second, the division on mental health isn't that we should fix the many issues but rather how we should pay for it. As it stands the Republicans would like
to see the State fund this while the Democrats would rather property tax payers shoulder the burden. Third, on education, the House recently passed the Governor's education bill with some changes while the Senate discarded the Governor's plan and wrote one of their own.
The Ag Protection Act recently passed the Senate. This bill provides protection for Iowa's agriculture community from fraudulent activities by prohibiting people from committing fraud to obtain access to an agricultural production facility. This week the floor debate has increased as we are taking up budget issues like IDALS DNR Environmental First Fund (budget target $35.7 mil), Economic Development Budget (appropriates $29.1 mil), Judicial Branch Budget ($156.1 mil), Justice Systems Appropriations Bill (Budget approx. $16 mil). These will probably be amended and sent back from the Senate so these amounts could change. If you have concerns or questions I can be reached at the Capitol by emailing steven.olson@legis.state.ia.us.
