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Week 6 –
Committee Reports NATURAL
RESOURCES & ENVIRONMENT STAFF CONTACT: Sue Monahan SF 2014 – Animal Fighting Events COMMITTEE ACTION: SF 2014 makes it a class “D” felony to be a spectator who attends a contest event, which is organized for entertainment or profit, where an animal is injured, tormented, or killed. A class “D” felony is punishable by confinement for no more than five years and a fine of at least $750 but not more than $7,500. Currently, a spectator can be charged with an aggravated misdemeanor, which is punishable by confinement for no more than two years and a fine of at least $500 but not more than $5,000. [2/19: short form] STAFF CONTACT: Julie T. Simon SF 2179 – Banking Division professional licensure, regulation
COMMITTEE ACTION SF 2179 (SSB 3105) is a recommendation by the Department of Commerce’s Banking Division relating to some of the professions under the purview of the Division’s licensing and regulation bureau. The bill: • Clarifies that engineering and architectural laws apply to factory- built structures used for schools, hospitals, and other uses that require design professionals and maintains the exemption for manufactured homes. • Removes criminal penalties for members of professional licensing boards and commissions for the release of criminal and disciplinary histories received by license applicants for public accountants, engineers and land surveyors, real estate brokers and salespersons, and registered architects. • Makes continuing education provisions for real estate appraisers consistent with federal regulations. • Removes outdated provisions in the architectural law. • Allows
the Architectural Examining Board to adopt rules by which the Board may
authorize an architect who is registered in another state or jurisdiction to
bid on • removes provisions requiring registration by architecture business entities [2/14: short form] STAFF CONTACT: Sue Monahan SF 2136 – Real Estate Broker Account and Local Housing Assistance Program FLOOR ACTION: SF 2136 transfers the interest of the real estate broker trust account to the Iowa Finance Authority (IFA) for deposit in the housing trust fund established in Code section 16.181. Under current law the interest is transferred to the Department of Economic Development (IDED) for deposit in the local housing assistance program fund. The local housing assistance program fund is not currently active and IDED and IFA have a 28E agreement to transfer the interest into the housing trust fund. The bill eliminates the local housing assistance program from the Code since it is no longer in use. In addition, the bill allows interest from the title guarantee fund to be deposited into the housing trust fund. Also, all remaining funds in the local housing assistance fund will be transferred into the housing trust fund at IFA. The bill eliminates the need for a 28E agreement between IDED and IFA. [2/20: 48-0] STAFF CONTACT: Bridget Godes SSB 3072 – District reporting requirement and Department authority SSB 3097 – Statewide model core curriculum COMMITTEE ACTION: SSB 3097 would require high schools to adopt a model core curriculum by 2010 and K-8 schools to adopt standards by 2014. The bill would strike the word “voluntary” in current Code, thereby making it mandatory for all districts to offer the Iowa Model Core Curriculum. The Core Curriculum is not all that districts will offer in their curricula; it is only the minimum. Districts will need to decide where to place the core concepts and skills from the Core Curriculum in their local curricula. These core curriculum components, and the accompanying professional development around the core curriculum, are the critical pieces to actually setting higher expectations and infusing more rigorous content into classroom instruction. Every state in the country now has state-mandated content standards in reading, mathematics and science. It is likely that differences in state performance arise from differences in how those states structure the educational system around those standards, not from differences in the standards themselves. Changes in education have created problems for local schools. Federal mandates such as the No Child Left Behind law have meant that local administrators have to devote much of their time to setting standards and measuring whether the standards have been met. Districts have had wide variation in their ability to set standards and meet standards. Some districts didn't have the resources to keep up with the ever-changing needs. The bill doesn't micromanage and doesn't mandate a specific educational philosophy, curriculum, or textbook. The intent of the Model Core Curriculum is to ensure that all Iowa students have access to a rigorous and relevant curriculum to prepare them for success in post-secondary education and the emerging global economy; and to provide a tool for Iowa educators to use to ensure that essential subject matter is being taught and essential knowledge and skills are being learned. The Iowa Core Curriculum is about creating dynamic, relevant classrooms; the kind of teaching we want from our teachers and the work we want from our students. [2/19: 9-6 (Kreiman, Boettger, Johnson, McKinley, Zaun, Zieman “no”)] SSB 3072 is a Department of Education prefile that contains addresses the problem of local districts not reporting critical data back to the Department of Education. The problem is that the Department cannot report state data until it has every district in the state reporting. There is a rising incidence of failure to comply with mandated data or information requests. The Department would not use this authority frequently, but there have been a couple of egregious examples in the last couple of years (e.g., a district refusing to submit certified enrollment, another district taking a full year after deadline to submit it’s Certified Annual Report budget, and another district refusing to complete BEDS reporting) that significantly impacts the state’s compliance with federal reporting requirements and our NCLB certification. This bill would allow the Department to hold a small portion of the state aid payment in an effort to incent compliance. A submission that is late thirty days would allow the Department to hold 10 percent of the monthly state aid check; late sixty days and beyond would allow the Department to hold 25 percent of the monthly state aid check. The bill contains permissive language and would be used only as an option of last resort – this is not a mandate. All education interest groups, including IASB and School Administrators of Iowa, agree there is a need for this type of legislative authority to be given to the state Department of Education. [2/20: Short Form]
STAFF CONTACT: Kris Bell SSB 3002 – Dental Insurance Coverage Appeals SSB 3111 – Child Support Recovery COMMITTEE ACTION: SSB 3002 allows an appeal of denials of dental insurance coverage based on medical necessity. [2/19: short form] SSB 3111 makes changes to child support for the purpose of compliance with the Deficit Reduction Act (DRA) of 2005, improves enforcement of child support orders, and changes regarding gathering and safeguarding child support information. [2/19: short form] STAFF CONTACT: Cathy Engel SF 2022 – Tool and Die Lien Act SF 2057 – Residency of Applicants for Judgeships SF 2072 – Child Custody and Active Military Duty SSB 3076 – State Public Defender and Indigent Defense SSB 3122 – Use of Termination of Parental Rights from Another State COMMITTEE ACTION: SF 2002 creates a lien for the maker of a tool, die, mold, etc. for the balance due from the purchaser of the tool or die. Prior to enforcing a lien under the bill, the processor shall give notice to the customer (purchaser). [2/19: 9-4, Noble, Behn, Ward, Hartsuch voted “no”, Zieman “pass”, McKibben excused]
SF 2057 clarifies that a person applying to be nominated for a district judgeship does not have to be a resident of the judicial election district prior to the nomination for appointment by the district judicial nominating commission. If appointed to serve as a district judge, a person must become a resident of the judicial election district to which he or she is appointed. [[2/19: short form, McKibben excused] SF 2072 establishes that if a custodial parent is serving
active duty in the military service of the SSB 3076 authorizes the state public defender to contract with additional nonprofit organizations to provide legal services to eligible indigent persons. The bill also eliminates the requirement that the local public defender make an annual report to the state public defender. In addition, it requires the local public defender to serve as guardian ad litem for each child in all cases in which the local public defender office is the state public defender’s designee. The bill provides that the state appellate defender shall be appointed to represent an indigent person on appeal unless the state appellate defender withdraws from the case. [2/19: short form, McKibben excused] SSB 3122 allows the court to waive the requirement that
reasonable efforts be made to preserve the family in child in need of
assistance proceedings if the court finds that the parent’s parental rights
relating to another child or children in the same family have been terminated
by the court of another state.
Currently, STAFF CONTACT: Jace Mikels SSB 3042 – Contractor registration fees SSB 3047 – Employee right of recourse for late payment of wages SSB 3049 – Workers’ compensation benefit payments for burial expenses SSB 3073 – Unemployment insurance tax penalties COMMITTEE ACTION: SSB 3042 increase the contractor registration fee from $25 every two years to $50 every two years. The fee was last increased in 1988. Additionally, the money raised by the fees would be placed in a fund to be used for the administration of the contractor registration program and to assist in contractor compliance with state regulations. [2/20: 7-4 (Behn, Hahn, Kettering, and Ward “no”)] SSB 3047 allows employees who incur overdraft charges as a result of an employer not paying wages on the regular payday to be reimbursed by the employer for the overdraft charges. This right of recourse is already available to employees who are paid by direct deposit. This bill extends that protection to employees who are paid by check. [2/20: short form] SSB 3049 establishes the benefit amount for a burial expense through a workers’ compensation payment as twelve times the statewide average weekly wage, which is currently $7,868.92. Tying the benefit amount to the statewide average weekly wage allows the benefit to better keep pace with increases in the cost of a burial. The current benefit amount is $7,500 and was last increased by the General Assembly in 2003. [2/20: 7-4 (Behn, Hahn, Kettering, and Ward “no”)] SSB 3073 establishes a fine of not less than $50 for companies that fail to file unemployment tax reports in a timely manner. The current penalty system has increasing penalties based on the number of violations. This bill creates a single penalty. The bill also allows a company to be assessed a penalty of $30 in cases when a company payment is returned for insufficient funds. This allows the department to recoup the costs associated with transaction. The bill also allows the department to assess the costs of issuing a subpoena to the employer. This occurs when an employer has been issued a subpoena for information in an investigation into employer liability for benefits. Currently, out of 246 subpoenas issued yearly, nearly 45 percent are ignored because of the lack of a penalty to the employer for not responding to the subpoena. [2/20: 7-4 (Behn, Hahn, Kettering, and Ward “no”)] STAFF CONTACT: Jace Mikels SF 2077 – Eligibility for wind energy tax credits and allowable financing SF 2121 – Surface Water Protection Act SF 2151 – Appointments to Brushy Creek Recreation Area Trails Advisory Board COMMITTEE ACTION: SF 2077 allows wind energy projects for which energy is produced for on-site consumption by a qualified facility to be eligible for wind energy tax credits established under Iowa Code chapter 476B. The bill also allows the projects to be financed in a manner that a state bank may be a major equity investor in the project. [2/19: short form] SF 2121 establishes a water resource coordinating council within the Office of the Governor. The council is designed to coordinate water quality projects and efforts between various federal, state, and local government agencies. The bill outlines a regional assessment program, which will assess regional watersheds in the state, and assist in the planning and prioritization of efforts in that watershed. The bill was developed by the Watershed Quality Planning Task Force established by SF 2363, which was passed by the General Assembly and signed into law in 2006. [2/19: short form] SF 2151 allows the Natural Resources Commission to appoint the members of the Brushy Creek Recreation Area Trails Advisory Board. Currently, the legislature appoints six of the seven members to the board, and the Governor appoints the last member. [2/19: short form] STAFF CONTACT: Julie T. Simon SF 2189 – County fair Bingo games SF 2193 – ECDB ethics regulation SF 2194 – Oversight of non-profit entities
COMMITTEE ACTION SF 2189 (SF 2147) exempts county fairs from the limitation on the frequency and duration of bingo games for games conducted during county fairs. [2/18: short form] SF 2193 (SSB 3150) is a recommendation by the Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board. The bill: • directs the Board to adopt rules when additional situations may arise that would create an unlawful conflict of interest applicable to the Executive Branch. • states that the ban on Executive Branch officials and employees from becoming lobbyists for two years after leaving state government applies to those with "substantial exercise of administrative discretion or the expenditure of public funds." Current law applies to many officials and employees who have no decision-making authority as part of their jobs, and to limit their opportunity to become lobbyists after leaving state government goes beyond the intent of the original legislation. Such provisions already apply to the Legislative Branch. • adds an exception from the gift law for food and beverage provided at a meal that is part of a bona fide event or program at which the recipient is being honored for public service. A public official or employee is permitted to receive a "plaque or other item of negligible resale value given in exchange for public service," and also may receive a meal when making remarks or speeches at an event. This clarification would cover situations when the public official or employee is honored at an event, receives a plaque but does not make formal remarks. [2/18: short form] SF 2194
(SSB 3139) creates a “charities oversight fund” and appropriates money from
that fund to the Attorney General to support the oversight and regulation of
persons organized or doing business in The fund would be supported by fees collected by the Secretary of State from these domestic non-profit corporations, which currently must file a report with the Secretary of State each odd-numbered year. This bill requires that a fee be include when the reports are filed each two-year period. The fee would be $25 if by electronic transmission or $30 if delivered by mail or in person. An amendment was adopted [.702, 8-5 (party-line) that stipulates (1) money in the fund is available only as appropriated by the General Assembly to the Attorney General and must be used exclusively to provide oversight, (2) the legislation does not expand the oversight authority of the Attorney General, and (3) money in the fund may be used to hire two full-time employees to provide oversight and regulation of the charities. Senator Zieman declined to sign the subcommittee report. [2/18: 8-5 party-line (Hahn, Wood excused)] STAFF CONTACT: Kris Bell SF 2130 – Enterprise Zone Distress Criteria SF 2174 -- Child Abuse Prevention Tax Check Off HF 2233 – Tax Exemptions for Web Portal Businesses FLOOR & COMMITTEE ACTION: HF 2233
provides a sales and use tax exemption on specified equipment used in the
operation and maintenance of a web search portal business. Qualifying businesses must be located in FLOOR ACTION: SF 2174 (formerly SSB 3148) provides that taxpayers filing individual income tax returns will be allowed to designate $1 or more on the return to be paid to the Child Abuse Prevention Program fund. [2/20: 48-0 (Lundby, McKibben, excused)] COMMITTEE ACTION: SF 2130 relates to certain county distress criteria under the enterprise zone program. It qualifies the population loss criterion by providing that the county’s prison population cannot be used in calculating the population. [2/20: short form (Angelo, Connolly, excused)] |