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ISAC Update: 1.17.14

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85th Iowa General Assembly, Second Session, Week One

The Iowa Legislature gaveled in for the first time this week on Monday, January 13 at 10:00 am to begin the 2014 session. On Tuesday, Governor Branstad delivered his Condition of the State address and released his budget proposal. Click here to view a summary of the proposal. On Wednesday, Justice Cady delivered his Condition of the Judiciary address.

A majority of the week was spent on organizational meetings of the various legislative committees outlining the House and Senate priorities for the upcoming session. There seems to be a common theme and desire amongst the members for a much more limited and expeditious session this year. As we will every week, below are summaries that cover significant legislation pertaining to the counties currently being debated at the Iowa State Capitol.

• Governor Gives Condition of the State Address

• Road and Bridge Funding

• Rural Improvement Zones

• Election Legislation

• Weekly Legislative Forums

• County Day at the Capitol

• Transportation Day at the Capitol

• Public Health Day on the Hill

• Veterans Day at the Capitol

• NACo Report on FY 2014 Omnibus Spending Bill

New and Noteworthy

• ISAC TIF Webinar

• ISAC University At-the-door Registration Fee Waived

• Spring School of Instruction Registration is Open

• IRS 2014 Mileage Rate

• NACo Economic Recovery Study and Interactive Map

• NACo Legislative Conference Registration is Open

• NACo National Cyber Symposium Registration is Open

Governor Gives Condition of the State Address

On Tuesday, Governor Branstad delivered his Condition of the State address to the second session of the 85th General Assembly. The main highlights focused on providing assistance to Iowa’s returning and existing veterans, expanding ultra-high speed internet to underserved communities, and increasing apprenticeship and job training programs in Iowa. The Governor proposed a $7 billion state budget for FY 2015 which is about a 7.8% increase from FY 2014.

The Governor’s proposed budget contains funding to implement last year’s commercial property tax relief bill (SF 295). This budget request includes $120 million to fund the backfill to local governments to offset reductions in property tax revenue brought on by the legislation. Mental Health Equalization payment funding to the counties for FY 2015 was also included in the Governor’s budget and was kept at the status quo from FY 2014 at $29.8 million. Proposed REAP funding for FY 2015 was also requested at the status quo level of FY 2014 at $16 million.

Click here to comment on the Governors Condition of the State Address.

Road and Bridge Funding

HSB 514, a bill that would increase the per gallon gas tax, was introduced in the House Transportation Committee this week by the committee chairman Representative Josh Byrnes (R-Mitchell). The bill calls for a three cent per gallon increase on July 1, 2014, an additional three cent per gallon increase on July 1, 2015, and an additional four cent per gallon increase on July 1, 2016. Under this bill, the distribution percentage formula for determining the difference in excise tax between ethanol blended gasoline and other motor fuel would be extended from the current expiration date of June 30, 2014 to a new expiration date of June 30, 2024.

The additional revenue generated by the increase in the per gallon tax will be credited to the TIME-21 fund up to the statutory limit on annual deposits of $225 million, and revenue exceeding that limit will be credited to the road use tax fund. Upon the expiration of the TIME-21 fund on June 30, 2028, the revenues will accrue in the road use tax fund.

Road funding is once again one of ISAC’s top legislative priorities. ISAC supports a phased-in 10-cent increase in the motor fuel tax and has registered in favor of HSB 514.

Click here to comment on road and bridge funding.

Rural Improvement Zones

SF 2003, a bill addressing the operation and dissolution of rural improvement zones (RIZ), was introduced this week and referred to the Senate Local Government Committee. The bill is sponsored by Senator Ken Rozenboom (R-Mahaska), a former Mahaska County Supervisor. SF 2003 contains the following provisions:

• Requires a board of supervisors to consider the detrimental effect that the diversion of incremental property taxes would have on other taxing districts.

• Provides that the decision of the board of supervisors to allow or deny a petition for a RIZ district shall be given deference by any reviewing court.

• Prohibits a RIZ from obtaining land through condemnation and prohibits a government entity from using its condemnation authority on behalf of the RIZ district or its activities.

• Requires each RIZ board of trustees to consider other funding sources prior to the use of incremental property taxes.

• Puts in place an automatic sunset of 15 years after the effective date of the bill for those districts already established and 10 years after the resolution establishing the district for those districts established on or after the effective date of the bill. The board of trustees maintains the ability to dissolve a RIZ by resolution, and the bill provides the ability of the trustees to extend the RIZ not more than 10 years.

RIZ reform is one of ISAC’s top legislative priorities. SF 2003 would give boards of supervisors more authority to consider the fiscal impact of a RIZ, and would solve the problem of no end date by putting in place an automatic sunset. ISAC has registered in favor of SF 2003.

Click here to comment on rural improvement zones.

Election Legislation

There is reason to hope that election legislation has a chance of passing this year after not making a lot of movement the last three years. Senator Danielson (D-Black Hawk), the chair of the Senate State Government Committee, spoke positively on the possibility of election legislation during his opening comments during the first meeting of Senate State Government for the 2014 session.

ISAC will be pursuing legislation related to elections including addressing a provision requiring auditor’s offices to be open two Saturdays before a primary election, addressing the issue of the post office not being consistent in postmarking the absentee ballots that are mailed back to the auditor’s office with a completed ballot, and reducing the number of envelopes used to return an absentee ballot from two to one.

Click here to comment on election legislation.

Weekly Legislative Forums

Below are links to the legislative forums held throughout the state. We encourage you to attend these forums in order to interact with your local legislators and educate them on the issues that counties are facing. After you have attended any of the forums, please take the time to submit a comment to ISAC that lets us know the feedback you received from you legislator using the online legislative comment form. This assists the government relations team in their work on the Hill. We also encourage you to visit the Capitol during the session to meet with your legislators. The government relations team enjoys seeing county officials at the Capitol throughout the week and working with them to further ISAC’s 2014 Legislative Priorities.









***Please note that some of these forums are out-of-date need to be updated.

County Day at the Capitol

ISAC will hold County Day at the Capitol on Wednesday, March 12 in conjunction with the 2014 ISAC Spring School of Instruction. Registration for this FREE event is currently open and pre-registration is requested. Click here for more information and to register.

Transportation Day at the Capitol

Transportation Day at the Capitol will be held on Wednesday, January 29, 2014. Representatives from highway associations and coalitions, counties, cities, development groups, and other transportation stakeholders will make the case for an increase in transportation infrastructure income to maintain and build Iowa’s roads and bridges. Click here for a tentative agenda for the day’s events.

Public Health Day on the Hill

Please plan to attend Public Health Day on the Hill on Tuesday, February 4, 2014. The Iowa Public Health Association is pleased to partner with Iowa Counties Public Health Association, the Iowa Environmental Health Association, the State Hygienic Laboratory at the University of Iowa, and the University of Iowa College of Public Health to convene this event. Click here for more information and to register. Registration is free, but requested.

Veterans Day at the Capitol

Veterans Day at the Capitol will be held on Wednesday, January 22, 2014. A formal program will begin at 10:00 am in the Rotunda with remarks by Governor Terry Branstad and Adjutant General of the Iowa National Guard, Major General Tim Orr, among others. Vendor and informational tables will be on display beginning at 9:00 am, and meetings with individual lawmakers can take place both before and after the formal program. Please contact Jill Joseph at 515.727.3442 for more information.

NACo Report on FY 2014 Omnibus Spending Bill

On Thursday, January 16, Congress cleared a $1.012 trillion FY 2014 omnibus spending bill (H.R. 3547) that will fund the federal government through the remainder of FY 2014. Congress will now send the measure to the White House for President Obama's signature, averting any threat of a government shutdown through September 30.

The nearly 1,600-page spending plan, which combines all 12 FY 2014 appropriations bills, provides an overall 2.6% increase in discretionary spending from the FY 2013 levels. Although spending was scheduled to fall to $967 billion under the Budget Control Act (P.L. 112-25) which included the sequester, the omnibus adopts the new caps on defense and domestic discretionary spending set by last month's budget deal (P.L. 113-67), of $520.5 billion and $491.8 billion, respectively. Click here to read a special NACo report on the omnibus.

ISAC TIF Webinar

ISAC will be hosting a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) webinar from 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm on Thursday, January 30. Robert Josten of Dorsey and Whitney law firm will discuss statutory and regulatory requirements and procedures that govern the Iowa Urban Renewal Law (Iowa Code Chapter 403).

Topics to be covered including time for questions are as follows:

• Statutory basis for establishing urban renewal areas, including description of property and projects

• Adoption of tax increment ordinance

• Types of tax increment obligations: bonds, internal advances, TIF rebate agreements

• Annual reporting requirements: role of  Auditor related to city TIF debt; role of auditor related to county debt

• Auditor reports to cities and monitoring payments

• Treasurer responsibilities for distributing TIF revenue:  determination of property from which TIF generated; determination of tax levies subject to TIF and amounts to be distributed

Click here to register for the webinar. A recording of the webinar will be available on the website following the presentation. This webinar is free to anyone who would like to attend. If you have any questions, please contact us at 515.244.7181.

ISAC University At-the-door Registration Fee Waived

ISAC University is being held January 22-23, 2014 at the West Des Moines Marriott. Due to last-minute concerns regarding the weather, the at-the-door registration fee is being waved. The current forecast for the Des Moines area is clear next week! Please plan to attend this extremely beneficial conference at this reduced rate! Click here for more information and to register.

Spring School of Instruction Registration is Open

The 2014 ISAC Spring School of Instruction being held at the Des Moines Marriott Downtown March 13-14, 2014 is currently open to registrations. You must register for the conference prior to making your hotel reservations through the online housing system. Please click here for all conference information and to register.

IRS 2014 Mileage Rate

The IRS Mileage rate has changed from 56.5 cents to 56 cents per mile (Effective January 1, 2014). Please click here for more information.

NACo Economic Recovery Study and Interactive Map

NACo recently released County Tracker 2013: On the Path to Recovery, a study assessing the recovery patterns across the nation's county economies in 2013 by analyzing annual changes in four indicators – economic output (GDP), employment, the unemployment rate and home prices. The report also contains case studies to illustrate how specific county economies fared during the recession, recovery and in 2013. The counties profiled include Tarrant County, Texas, Los Angeles County, California, Linn County, Iowa and Mountrail County, North Dakota. This NACo study is accompanied by an interactive map so you can examine economic performance data for each of the counties in your state and each of the 3,069 in the Nation. Click here to download the report and to access the interactive map.

A webinar explaining how to use the tool and analysis will be held from 1:00 pm – 2:15 pm on January 21. Click here to register.

NACo Legislative Conference Registration is Open

Registration for the 2014 NACo Legislative Conference is now open. The conference is being held in Washington, D.C. March 1-5. In addition to the conference programming, ISAC plans congressional meetings with all Iowa Congressmen and Senators. Click here for more information and to register. Please contact Rachel Bennett at rbennett@ or 515.244.7181 for more information.

NACo National Cyber Symposium Registration is Open

Join NACo April 9-11 in Omaha, Nebraska for one and a half days of education and networking around the topics of cybersecurity. This year's symposium will follow a two-track model with targeted programming for both county officials, and IT and cybersecurity staff. NACo is offering complementary registration for all Cyber for Counties Task Force members. Click here to register. Contact Karon Harden at kharden@ or 202.942.4227 with any questions.

Contact Information:

Iowa State Association of Counties (ISAC)

5500 Westown Parkway, Suite 190, West Des Moines, IA 50266 

Phone: 515.244.7181 Fax: 515.244.6397



This ISAC Update is being sent to all ISAC members.

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