ISAC Update: 2.27.15
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86th Iowa General Assembly, First Session, Week Seven
Week seven was primarily dedicated to subcommittee activity to set things up for the first funnel next week, when House and Senate bills need to pass out of the full standing committees in each chamber to remain eligible this session. Tuesday, however was historic as a 10 cent increase was passed in Iowa’s fuel tax for the first time since 1989.
· Road and Bridge Funding
· Electronic Records Requests
· Mental Health Beds
· Mental Health Advocates
· Food Fees
· Kelsey Smith Law
· Rural Improvement Zones
· Broadband Expansion
· Wireless Expansion
· County Day at the Capitol
· Weekly Legislative Forums
New and Noteworthy
· Spring School Pre-registration Closes Today!
· Free Media Awareness and Response Course for First Responders
· Iowa Employment Conference
Road and Bridge Funding
It was a great week for infrastructure funding as the gas tax bill passed both chambers on Tuesday and received the Governor’s signature on Wednesday. As expected, this legislation received bipartisan support and bipartisan opposition in both chambers. To see how your legislators voted see pages four and five of the Senate Journal, and pages 26 and 27 of the House Journal. The bill provides for a 10 cent increase in the per gallon user fee, along with fee increases for the permits required for oversize and overweight loads. To read the enrolled bill in its entirety click here. The fuel tax increase will take effect March 1, 2015. For an estimate of your county’s increase in revenue as estimated by the Department of Transportation click here. This weekend is a great opportunity to reach out to your legislators that voted for this legislation and thank them for their support.
Click here to comment on road and bridge funding.
Electronic Records Requests
Another of ISAC’s top legislative priorities advanced this week as HF 338 passed out of a House State Government subcommittee on Thursday. County offices are being increasingly challenged by electronic records requests by companies who are seeking Iowa taxpayer data for resale. In these requests, companies would like the data in a specific format which counties may not be able to provide or would take significant resources by a third-party vendor to manipulate to provide. HF 338 clarifies that counties will accept these electronic records requests but provide them in format that is easily accessible by the counties. If the company would still like the data in a specific format that isn’t accessible, counties would still provide the data but would be able to let the company know and charge what the upfront costs would be for the third party manipulation.
Click here to comment on electronic records requests.
Mental Health Beds
Finding access to beds for Iowa’s mental health patients continues to be a challenge for regions and county law enforcement and several bills are being considered before the legislature that look to address this. On Thursday, the House Human Resources Committee passed HF 263, a bill that would create an online system in the Iowa Department of Human Services that would track the availability of beds statewide in Iowa. Also on Thursday, a House Human Resources subcommittee passed HF 251, a bill that would allow counties to contract with a private entity for transportation of patients to ease the burden placed on sheriffs. Finally on Thursday, a House Human Resources subcommittee passed HSB 160, a bill that would create a compact with surrounding states that would provide access to additional beds if they were available in those states.
Click here to comment on mental health beds.
Mental Health Advocates
The House Human Resources Committee approved on Thursday, HF 91, an ISAC requested bill that places the employment responsibilities for mental health advocates specifically with the counties. It has now passed the first funnel deadline.
Click here to comment on mental health advocates.
Food Fees
SF 265, a bill that modernizes the fee structure for food inspection in Iowa passed out of a Senate Human Resources subcommittee (Senators Dotzler (D-Black Hawk), Allen (D-Jasper), and Segebart (R-Crawford)) on Thursday and now moves to the full committee. HF 344, the House companion bill has been assigned to subcommittee in House State Government Committee (Representatives Hein (R-Jones), Stutsman (D-Johnson), and Wills (R-Dickinson)). Please contact members of these committees to encourage additional resources for our county food inspection programs.
Click here to comment on food fees.
Kelsey Smith Law
A bill modeled after the Kelsey Smith Act was passed out of the House Public Safety Committee on Thursday. HF 54 would require cellular service providers to give the location of a cell phone to law enforcement in emergency situations such as a kidnapping or missing person. ISAC is registered in favor of this bill.
Click here to comment on Kelsey Smith Law.
Rural Improvement Zones
ISAC, the supervisor’s affiliate, and other stakeholders have met a couple times over the last couple weeks to reach an agreement on Rural Improvement Zone (RIZ) legislation. Topics of discussion have included the approval of a petition for the establishment or renewal of a district, the division of revenue between the district and other taxing jurisdictions, and the allowed uses of RIZ revenue. The groups are close to an agreement, and we will keep you up-to-date when the final language is available.
Click here to comment on rural improvement zones.
Broadband Expansion
On Thursday, a Senate Economic Growth subcommittee met to discuss broadband expansion. Both the Governor’s broadband proposal SSB 1146, and a bill sponsored by committee vice chairman Senator Steve Sodders (D-Marshall), SF 60, exist. The subcommittee decided to focus on the Sodders bill which focuses more heavily on the installation of fiber-optic cable, provides a five year property tax exemption for new infrastructure, and does not include a grant program for installation found in the Governor’s bill. SF 60 is now eligible for debate in the full Economic Growth Committee.
Click here to comment on broadband expansion.
Wireless Expansion
Also on Thursday, a House Commerce subcommittee meeting was held on cell tower siting. Last year, the broadband bill included cell siting, but this year the issues are being considered separately. HSB 167 would significantly reduce local control over the siting of cell towers in counties that have zoning ordinances. It contains restrictions on what an authority (county) can consider when evaluating an application and reduces the amount of information the applicant is required to provide. It also lays out requirements for the lease of public land for cell tower siting. ISAC will continue to work with stakeholders to see if an agreement can be reached, but we are registered against the bill in its current form.
Click here to comment on wireless expansion.
County Day at the Capitol
ISAC will hold County Day at the Capitol on Wednesday, March 11 in conjunction with the 2015 ISAC Spring School of Instruction. Please be sure to pre-register today for this FREE event so that we are sure to have enough food for everyone. The pre-registration deadline is 4:30 pm today, Friday, February 27. Click here for more information and to register.
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. Please print out and share ISAC’s legislative priorities handout with your legislators. 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 your 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 2015 Legislative Priorities.
http://www.iowahouserepublicans.com/forums
http://iowahouse.org/events/
http://www.iowasenatedemocrats.com/events
http://www.iowasenaterepublicans.com/events/
***Please note that some of these forums are out-of-date.
Spring School Pre-registration Closes Today!
Pre-registration for the spring school will close today, Friday, February 27. After 4:30 pm you will be forced to register at the door and pay a higher registration rate. Click here for all spring school information and to register. We look forward to seeing you at the conference!
Free Media Awareness and Response Course for First Responders
The Rural Domestic Preparedness Consortium (RDPC) is offering a FREE U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)-certified media awareness course that provides valuable insight into helping to understand how the media works and how best to work with available media outlets. This six-hour instructor-led course, AWR 209 - Dealing with the Media: A Short Course for Rural First Responders, will be offered from 8:30 am to 3:30 pm on April 7, 2015 at Southwestern Community College, Instructional Center, Room 180, 1501 West Townline Street, Creston. Registration is required for this course - Registration deadline is 5:00 pm on March 24. To register, contact Jo Duckworth, EMA Coordinator, Union County Emergency Management Agency, at or 641.782.1622.
Iowa Employment Conference
The 8th Annual Employment, Training, Benefits, and Wellness Conference will be held on April 22-23, 2015 at The Meadows Events and Conference Center in Altoona. This conference is the largest of its kind, offering over 50 informative, interactive and educational sessions delivered by some of the top employment lawyers, payroll professionals, workforce development leaders and many others in Iowa and surrounding states. Click here for the full conference brochure and agenda. Click here for more information including an early bird registration form.
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
www.iowacounties.org
This ISAC Update is being sent to all ISAC members.