May 18, 2013

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“Set back” for efforts to expand passenger rail line to Iowa City

May 18, 2013 By

Using federal money to extend passenger rail service from the Quad Cities to Iowa City is less likely due to votes taken in the Iowa House and Senate Friday.

Senator Matt McCoy, a Democrat from Des Moines, has been an advocate of expanding passenger rail service in Iowa.

“It’s a set back,” McCoy said of Friday’s legislative action, “but not a fatal set back.”

Senate Democrats wanted to set aside some of the state’s gambling taxes to fulfill the obligation to provide state matching funds for the project, but House Republicans rejected that proposal and a bill that passed both the House and Senate Friday did not include any money for passenger rail. McCoy said tens of millions in potential federal support is slipping away because the state’s not coming up with five-and-a-half million dollars in matching funds.

“It is a set back for those folks who believe the $87 million is a missed opportunity if we don’t step up in some way,” McCoy said.

In October of 2010, Iowa and Illinois won a $230 million federal grant to expand passenger rail service, with the ultimate goal of a 110-mile-per-hour train running between Chicago and Omaha. However, when Republican Governor Terry Branstad took office in 2011, he raised concerns the state would have to sink too much money into the rail line and the top Republican in the Iowa House has said it doesn’t make sense, financially, since there’s already passenger rail service through southern Iowa cities like Mount Pleasant, Ottumwa and Creston.  Senator McCoy is still holding out hope of a last-minute reprieve for the project.

“We’re looking for the governor to exert leadership with this legislature and say that we’re still committed to passenger rail,” McCoy said. “…We think that there’s other options and available sources of funding if we decide to fully fund passenger rail…There’s still time.”

The 2013 legislature hasn’t adjourned for the year. All legislators are due back in the state capitol Tuesday. Republican Governor Terry Branstad submitted a budget proposal to legislators back in January which called for setting aside $5.5 million in the Iowa DOT’s budget that would have met the state match for that federal funding of a Chicago to Omaha passenger rail line,.

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Legislature to be back in Des Moines next week

May 17, 2013 By
State Capitol building.

State Capitol building.

State legislators haven’t taken votes on a $400 million tax package. They haven’t made final decisions about the $6.5 billion state budget plan and there’s no agreement yet on an education reform package.

“I think we had a great week. It would appear that we’re not going to get quite as far as we’d hoped,” House Speaker Kraig Paulsen, a Republican from Hiawatha, told reporters early this afternoon. “We’d hoped to come to conclusion. It appears we’re going to be back next week.”

Senate Democratic Leader Mike Gronstal, a Democrat from Council Bluffs, brushed aside questions about when a vote on the tax plan might happen.

“My job as majority leader is to figure out what makes things harder and what makes things easier. I’m going to make those calculations,” Gronstal said this morning. “You’ll see the results when I make ‘em.”

The Iowa House debated for about 20 minutes today, passing a bill that details spending plans for state gambling taxes. That money is primarily reserved for construction projects. The Senate debated the same bill about an hour later, passed it and sent that spending plan to the governor.

Both the House and the Senate have adjourned for the week, with plans for rank-and-file lawmakers to return to Des Moines on Tuesday.

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Five year extension for tax break targeting five Iowa border cities

May 17, 2013 By

The governor has approved the renewal of a tax incentive for businesses that set up shop in five cities situated along Iowa’s borders.

All but five legislators voted for the legislation and Governor Terry Branstad signed it into law Thursday afternoon.

“Many of our neighboring states, unfortunately, have lower taxes than we do,” Branstad said during a bill signing ceremony in his statehouse office. “The Targeted Jobs Program allows some of our border communities to better compete with surrounding states by giving them a much better tool for off-setting Iowa’s uncompetitive income tax rates.”

Paul Eckert, the city manager for Sioux City, says 1500 jobs in Sioux City can be traced back to the tax break established when the program began in 2006.

“It was our top legislative priority in Sioux City. We think it’s incredibly important. We greatly appreciate the bipartisan support,” he said. “Ninety-eight million dollars of value has been created in Sioux City because of this legislation, so it was essential for us to complete — to bring jobs (and) retain jobs in Sioux City.”

The program is only available in Sioux City, Council Bluffs, Burlington, Fort Madison and Keokuk and the bill the governor signed into law yesterday extends the program for five more years. Businesses that promise to locate or expand in those five cities may qualify for a state withholding tax credit under the program. The business can claim a tax credit that amounts to three percent of the gross wages it pays to newly hired employees. The cities also get an equal amount from the state. It can be used on projects, like streets, that benefit the business involved.

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Salary hikes for elected Iowa officials in 2014? Unlikely

May 16, 2013 By

Legislators from both political parties are rejecting Republican Governor Terry Branstad’s proposal to raise his own salary as well as the pay for other statewide elected officials and judges. House Speaker Kraig Paulsen, a Republican from Hiawatha, is a thumbs down.

“I don’t expect us to take up that proposal,” Paulsen said today.

Senate Democratic Leader Mike Gronstal of Council Bluffs indicated Democrats aren’t interested, either.

“We’re not moving forward on the governor’s proposal,” Gronstal said. “Number one, it’s more of a political document than an actual proposal, so he filled it up with a bunch of junk, sent it up to us and then he gets to tell people he tried to do something.”

The plan would raise the governor’s pay by about $12,000, after the 2014 election. The attorney general’s annual salary would go up by about $11,000. The other statewide elected officials — the lieutenant governor, state auditor, treasurer, secretary of state and state ag secretary — all would get an $8300 raise. Branstad told reporters late this afternoon that he has “the courage to do what’s right” and make the recommendation.

“Our judges and state officials have not received a raise in a long period of time,” Branstad said. “…I think it’s just a matter of fairness that they deserve this kind of a raise.”

2005 was the last time statewide elected officials and judges got a pay raise.

Branstad’s salary plan also included money for state agencies to cover the negotiated pay raises for union employees and to extend raises to employees who aren’t working under a union contract. Republican legislators have said all year they aren’t interested in that approach and will expect state agency managers to find ways to adjust their budgets to cover salary hikes. Democrats weren’t interested in the part about requiring non-contract state employees to pay 20 percent of their health care premiums. Branstad’s staff says the governor has the authority to order that payment on his own, without the legislature’s action on that.

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Tentative tax deal struck! Votes may come soon in Iowa legislature

May 16, 2013 By

After two and a half years of negotiations, legislators have tentatively agreed on a plan that will reduce commercial property taxes in Iowa, set a slightly lower limit on future property tax increases for homes and farms, and reduce income taxes as well.

“Part of the reason that we got here this year is because people realized, twice now, that the voters made a choice to keep Democrats in control of the Senate with Republicans in the House and a Republican governor and I think everybody on both sides said, ‘In that case, we ought to work together,’” says Senate Democratic Leader Mike Gronstal of Council Bluffs,” …which is what we did.”

Commercial property tax rates will be cut by 10 percent within three years, a roll-back Republicans sought, and a new tax credit will be created for all commercial property owners, something Democrats proposed.

“We fought long and hard to make sure this bill focused on small businesses in the state of Iowa and we got that in this, so I think this is a victory for small businesses in Iowa who usually when it comes to tax cuts or incentives or all of those kind of things, they’re kind of the last folks who get thought about around here,” Gronstal says.

The Democrats’ call for increasing a tax credit for low-income Iowans is included in the package, as well as a new tax credit of up to $60 a year for Iowa income taxpayers – something Republicans like House Speaker Kraig Paulsen of Hiawatha wanted as a way to deal with unspent or surplus money in the state budget.

“That will return some of the overpayment to Iowans through a mechanism on their income tax forms,” Paulsen says. “It’ll be similar to how you have the Child or Dependent Tax Credits on there. There’ll be another Taxpayer Trust Fund Credit and the taxpayer will just be credited that amount. It’s a very efficient way to handle it.”

The plan also sets a slightly lower, three percent limit on how much assessments on residential and farmland can go up each year. The present limit is four percent. Paulsen says that means the package deals with all classes of property in Iowa.

“I think it met the objectives of the House. It met the objectives of the Senate and met the objectives of the governor,” Paulsen says. “….All parties have something in there…We’re looking forward to passing it and getting it on the governor’s desk.”

The package must first be considered and passed in the Senate, then it can go to the House for debate.

(This story was changed at 6:46 p.m. after sources confirmed the senate would not be voting on the measure this evening.)

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Iowa authorities to expand collection of criminals’ DNA

May 15, 2013 By

Convicts who’re guilty of many aggravated misdemeanors in Iowa will have to submit a DNA sample after July 1, 2013. That’s when the bill Governor Terry Branstad signed into law today goes into effect.

“Justice is a balance and I believe that DNA is a valuable tool that can help us both convict people that have committed dangerous crimes and also exonerate people that have been convicted of crimes they didn’t commit,” Branstad told reporters.

Representative Clel Baudler, a Republican from Greenfield who is a retired state trooper, has been trying to pass this law since 2003.

“I’ve been opposed by the extreme left and the extreme right and this year we kind of whipped ‘em,” Baudler said after the bill was signed into law.

Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller predicted a “significant number of cases” will be solved with the DNA evidence that will be collected.

“We can look a little bit to New York. It’s a little different state, but it gives us some idea,” Miller told reporters. “Since 2006 when they went into the misdemeanor field, they solved and had matches for 965 cases — 51 of which were murder cases.”

People convicted of third offense drunk driving and aggravated misdemeanors involving assault, drug crimes and burglary in Iowa courts will now have to submit a DNA sample to authorities.

“The experience has been that for some sort of property crimes — larceny crimes — for some reason there is a significant match to violent crimes,” Miller said.

Felons in Iowa’s prison system have been required to submit their DNA for years. Supporters of expanding DNA collection to those guilty of aggravated misdemeanors say it may help solve some future crimes. Critics call it a violation of civil liberties, as the DNA evidence won’t be erased from the database once a criminal has paid his or her debt to society by serving their time, paying their fines to the court and paying restitution to their victims.

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Branstad says patience about to pay off in tax deal

May 15, 2013 By

Governor Terry Branstad says he thinks the details are nearly hammered out on a plan to reduce both income and commercial property taxes in Iowa.

“Property tax is the biggest and most significant part of it, but there are priorities for both the House Republicans and Senate Democrats as well as the property tax that we’ve been working on for a long time,” Branstad told reporters late this afternoon.

Branstad, a Republican, made commercial property tax relief a cornerstone of his 2010 campaign. The governor and legislators of both parties have been wrangling over the proper way to accomplish that goal for the past two and a half years.

“People never quit this time,” Branstad says. “They stayed with it and, I mean, I think it takes patience and tenacity to get significant things accomplished.”

Senate Democratic Leader Mike Gronstal is not ready to declare the deal done. He won’t he discuss the details, either, but his public statements suggest there’s progress.

“Closer than last week,” Gronstal told reporters this morning.

In addition to a reduction in commercial property tax rates, legislators have been considering a new, two percent limit on future property tax increases for homes and farmland. Under current law the increase can be four percent. House Republicans have been pressing for a new income tax credit that would return part of a state budget surplus to taxpayers. Senate Democrats have been pressing for an increase in an income tax credit that helps low-income Iowans.

Last year’s tax-cutting discussions included the idea of reclassifying apartments as residential rather than commercial property, providing a 50 percent reduction in assessments.

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