Capitol Comments

House Approves $60 Million in Tax Cuts for Middle Class, Small Businesses

The Iowa House approved the first bill of the session this week that will provide $60 million in tax cuts. The bill couples state income taxes with changes made at the federal level. It provides tax relief for working families through the Earned Income Tax Credit, extends tax deductions for teachers, and allows small businesses to expense more of their needed equipment. It also continues the state Research Activities Credit.

After approval by the Senate, the bill now goes to the Governor.

Expanding Affordable Health Care to More Iowans

According to a recent non-partisan poll, nearly 60% of all Iowans support expanding health care coverage to cover uninsured and underinsured adults who do not have private health insurance.

Every state has the option to expand Medicaid and provide access to affordable health care for an estimated additional 100,000 to 150,000 working Iowans. The federal government will pay for the expansion at 100% for the first three years and then pick up no less than 90% of the costs after that.

Medicaid helps children who need to go to the doctor, people with disabilities, pregnant women, and seniors who need in-home care to stay in their home longer or nursing home care. If Iowa expands Medicaid, working adults with no insurance making less than $15,414 a year would now have access to quality, affordable health care.

A coalition of 50 different groups, like Iowa hospitals and the American Cancer Society, are encouraging lawmakers and the Governor to expand Medicaid. According to the Iowa Hospital Association, Iowa hospitals provide more than $600 million in uncompensated care, mainly from services provided to individuals who would qualify under the Medicaid expansion. It’s called a “hidden tax” because that uncompensated care is absorbed by Iowans and businesses with private health insurance through higher insurance premiums.

If Iowa does not expand Medicaid, 63,500 Iowans currently using a state/local health care program launched decades ago, called Iowa Care, would lose their insurance because the state program is set to expire. This year, Iowa Cares will cost about $160 million through a mix of state funds, federal funds, and local property taxes.

House File 83 was introduced in the Iowa House and Senate File 71 was introduced in the Iowa Senate to expand Medicaid.

House Discussion Continues on Education Reform

After hearing from superintendents, school board members, parents, and teachers from home, representatives raised several questions about changes to teacher evaluations and teacher compensation. Some of the issues raised include:

Should parents be concerned about an experienced teacher moving out of the classroom to mentor other teachers?

Is the new minimum teacher salary level of $35,000 fair for career teachers who still make below $35,000 level but have several years of experience?

The bill does nothing to address how schools deal with the rising number of students on free and reduced lunch.

It does not address the development of basic education requirements known as the “Iowa Core” or underachieving students.

Legislators hope many of those questions will be answered when the bill is discussed by the full House Education Committee next week.

I am hosting a

Public Forum on Education Reform
A review of the Governor’s proposal and the Education Committee’s work – with Q & A
Kennedy High School Library
4:00 PM to 5:00 PM
Friday, Feb. 8th

$11.6 Million for Transition Cost of Mental Health Reform

Some Lawmakers reached a tentative agreement, filed as HSB 103, this week to provide $11.6 million to assist counties with transitions costs related to the mental health reforms enacted last session. Under the reforms approved last year, mental health and disability services will transition away from a county system of services to a regional service delivery system with the state picking up the Medicaid funded portion of services.

Last session, the Legislature created a Transition Fund for one-time assistance for the continuation of county mental health and disability services not funded by Medicaid. Over the interim, the Department of Human Service was directed to develop and complete an application process for Transition Funds and recommend to the Governor and the Legislature an amount to be appropriated to the fund.

The Department offered three scenarios in their review of how to expend the funds that ranged from $1.4 million to $11.6 million, but made their recommendation to fund at the $1.4 million. A Legislative panel that met in January recommended $20 million to provide transition assistance and the Governor recommended $3.8 million.

Only 32 counties applied for transition funds.  In the $11.6 million plan proposed by the Department of Human Services, only 26 of the 32 counties that applied would receive funding. The compromise is $8.4 million less than the January Legislative panel had requested.

Several counties complained that they were being shortchanged and might have to cut some services that the mental health reform effort is supposed to expand along with some optional services, including pre-vocational services and assistance to people with autism or other developmental disabilities, if no more state money was offered this fiscal year.

Representative Staed greets Lottie Miller and Jason Huber of Millhiser Smith Insurance at the Insurance Industry of Iowa Reception at the Capitol on Feb. 5.

The Alzheimer’s Association was well-represented with advocates from Cedar Rapids. Pictured here: Kathy Good and Debbie Craig. My mother died from the disease, and currently 5.4 million Americans are living with Alzheimers. For more information on how you can help, go to http://www.alz.org/

Meeting with Alzheimer’s Association members Abby Miller and Shar Jones at the Iowa State House.

With Sheryl Jahnel of Iowa Realty and Bob Mitchell of Mitchell Property Management.

An informative visit with Findley Elementary School Principal, Tara Owen. The House Education Committee toured the school and learned more about the wonderful work Findley is doing with education.

Enjoyed visiting with Iowa’s Teacher of the Year, Cedar Rapid’s very own, Tania Johnson! Tania had some great common-sense suggestions for improving an already terrific educational system in Iowa.

Discussing Education Reform and Allowable Growth with CR Schools Superintendent, Dr. David Benson, Mrs. Donni Benson and CR School Board members, John Lafferty and Allen Witt.

Discussing cyber bullying with the president of Iowa Youth Congress, Aditi Dinakar and her colleagues, Arham Pasha and Umar Farooq.

With Jonathon Ice, Rehab Teacher with Iowa’s Dept for the Blind. We discussed funding, rehabilitation and independent living options for those with disabilities.

STEM students’ robot: 10 points Representative Staed: 0 points.

Read More from the Iowa House

To read the rest of the Statehouse News go to: http://iowahouse.org/StatehouseNews/2-8-13.html