ILA Advocacy Hotline, March 23, 2008

Hello--

Below is the most recent edition of the ILA Advocacy Hotline. This hotline, along with previous editions, is archived on the ILA website. Thanks to Craig and Amy for keeping us up-to-date on issues of concern to Iowa's library community!

Happy Easter! - March 23, 2008
News from the Capitol Steps
Things are heating up at the Capitol – both literally and figuratively! As is the case every spring, the temperature inside the Capitol becomes a constant headache – extremely hot all morning and early afternoon and then frigid by the time night debate rolls around. If you are lucky enough to be in the Capitol after 11PM, be sure to pack your parka and keep an eye peeled for polar bears.

Monday, March 24th will be the 71st day of the 100-day session – less than 30 scheduled days to go. This next week will be the second funnel week. This means that most bills will need to be passed out of committee in the opposite legislative chamber in order to stay alive (i.e. a House Education bill would need to be approved by the Senate Education committee). Bills exempt from funnel deadlines include bills in the committees on Oversight, Appropriations and Ways & Means.

The effect on the legislative schedule the funnel will have is to temporarily shift the focus this week back to committee work. For the most part, after this week, committees other than Appropriations and Ways & Means will not meet for the rest of the year. The Legislature will follow this week with an honest look at what they will get enacted prior to adjournment and then they will get to work in moving all the legislation they have selected in addition to the numerous bills enacting the budget for next year.

Political Scene
While policy discussions are the big news in the Capitol, there are also a few political issues in the news. Friday, March 14th was the deadline for candidates for the Legislature to have their paperwork on file with the Secretary of State's office, so now we can begin to make assessments about retirements as well as who will have contested elections. Regardless of how the November elections go, the Legislature will have at least 18 new faces – 12% – an astonishing number considering that incumbents historically return to office over 95% of the time.

Announced Legislative Retirements – as of 3-19
House Republicans (9): Carmine Boal of Ankeny, Dan Clute of Clive, Chuck Gipp of Decorah, Polly Granzow of Eldora, Sandy Greiner of Keota, Clarence Hoffman of Denison, Libby Jacobs of West Des Moines, Bill Schickel of Mason City and Walt Tomenga of Johnston.House Democrats (4): Ro Foege of Mt. Vernon, Swati Dandekar of Marion (running for Senate), Pam Jochum of Dubuque (running for Senate) and Phil Wise of Keokuk.Senate Republicans (6): Jeff Angelo of Creston, Thurman Gaskill of Corwith, Mary Lundby of Marion, Larry McKibben of Marshalltown, Dave Mulder of Sioux Center and John Putney of Gladbrook.Senate Democrat (1): Mike Connolly of Dubuque.

ILA Legislative Day at the Capitol was held on March 11th and by most accounts was a huge success. About 85 of the 150 legislators were able to pull themselves away from other activities to attend ILA's reception.

Thank you to all ILA members who attended and showed your support for library services in Iowa. To those who weren't able to attend, we hope you are able to join us next year!

Crunch Time, Broken Record
It IS Crunch Time and we ARE a broken record! The Legislature has not set the budget target for the Infrastructure (RIIF) Budget yet. They are reportedly waiting until another budget estimate that should be issued shortly after an April 4th meeting of the Revenue Estimating Conference (REC). The advocacy steps that ILA members, friends and supporters take between now and the next issue of the Advocacy Hotline two weeks from now could mean the difference between level funding for library programs and a MASSIVE cut to Enrich Iowa. We need $1 million from the RIIF Budget to keep everything whole.

Over the next two weeks, we need you to keep contacting your legislators and the Governor about library funding. Ask them to ensure libraries are level-funded with $1 million from the Infrastructure Budget. We are about two-thirds of the way there – do not give up now!

Contact Governor Culver at www.governor.iowa.gov/administration/contact/
Contact your legislators at http://www.legis.state.ia.us/aspx/Legislators/LegislatorInfo.aspx

*The information in this update is prepared for ILA by Campbell/Patterson Consulting, LLP.

Bills of Interest – As of March 23, 2008
HF 2396 & SF 2176 - Cultural Affairs Changes (House Floor/House Floor)
Requires the Historical Division of the Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA) create a digital collection of records for research purposes and make the collection available to the public. Requires DCA establish a statewide culture, history, arts, and tourism program, and to implement the program by creating regional committees for the coordination of cultural efforts. Establishes a Civil War Advisory Committee to help the Historical Division plan a sesquicentennial commemoration of Iowa's role in the American civil war. Subcommittee/Floor Manager: Rep. Miller (Floor Manager) Position: Monitor
Amendment: By Sen. Black: Takes out "Tourism" from the regions (because there are already tourism regions) and replaces it with "Teams" so that the CHAT acronym remains (Culture, History & Arts Teams). Clarifies that these teams are local organizations.

HF 2516 - Property Tax Changes (House Ways & Means Committee)
Division I of the bill makes the assessment limitations of residential, agricultural, and commercial property mutually dependent by limiting the percentage increase in all of those classes of property to the percentage increase of that class of property that is the lowest percentage increase under the allowable (4 percent) limit. Division II of the bill requires that if an equalization order issued to an assessing jurisdiction that is a percentage increase in assessed values, then property taxes are limited to the amount certified in the previous year, unless the city or county adopts a resolution declaring that it does not intend to reduce its levy rates to compensate for the increase in valuation due to the equalization orders. Division III of the bill provides that if an increase in allowable growth causes an increase in property taxes the state shall pay that increase rather than property owners. Subcommittee/Floor Manager: Not yet assigned Position: Undecided

HSB 656 & SF 2194 - Oversight of Nonprofits (House Government Oversight Committee/Senate Floor)
This bill creates a charities oversight fund and establishes an appropriation from the fund to the attorney general to support the oversight, including regulation, of persons organized or doing business in this state on a nonprofit basis (domestic nonprofit corporations and domestic charitable trusts). The fund would be supported by moneys collected by the secretary of state from domestic nonprofit corporations who must file a report each odd-numbered year with the secretary. The amount of the fee, determined by the secretary in consultation with the attorney general, would be based on the amount necessary to support the attorney general's efforts. Subcommittee/Floor Manager: Rep. Swaim (Chair), Lensing & Baudler; Sen. Connolly (Floor Manager) Position: Monitor

HSB 715 & SSB 3236 - Combined Corporate Reporting (House Ways & Means Committee/Senate Ways & Means Committee)
This bill is a major revenue raiser ($70-75 million) in the Governor's budget proposal, however legislators do not believe they have the votes to pass this proposal. This bill requires that the net income of affiliated groups of corporations engaged in a unitary business be computed on a combined return basis for corporate tax purposes if the group meets the requirements for filing a consolidated return for federal tax purposes. The affiliated group would include corporations with common ownership whereby one or more corporations own 80 percent or more of another corporation. The bill would require that one Iowa corporate income tax return be filed that would include all unitary members of an affiliated group. Any nonunitary member that is subject to Iowa tax would file its own separate corporate return. Only Iowa sales of those corporations doing business in Iowa would be included in the numerator of the Iowa sales ratio. The bill also provides that only those corporations doing business in Iowa are jointly and severally liable for the tax of the combined return. Subcommittee/Floor Manager: Rep. Shomshor (Chair), Reasoner & Sands; Sen. Bolkcom (Chair), McCoy & McKibben Position: Monitor

SF 2189 - Bingo at County Fairs/Community Festivals (House State Government Committee)
Allows a fair or community festival lasting no more than four days to hold one bingo game per day. Requires the festival to be held by an Iowa non-profit community group that promotes arts, history, culture, ethnicity, historic preservation, tourism, economic development, or municipal libraries (excludes educational institutions, government agencies, fraternal organizations, and churches). Subcommittee/Floor Manager: Not yet assigned Position: Monitor

SF 2373 - State Retirement System Changes (Senate Appropriations Committee)
This bill makes numerous changes to public retirement systems, including the public safety peace officers' retirement, accident, and disability system, the Iowa public employees' retirement system (IPERS), and the statewide fire and police retirement system, as well as other employee benefit matters. Among the numerous other changes in the bill, beginning July 1, 2011, IPERS will determine a required contribution rate for each membership group, including members in regular service, which is the contribution rate the system actuarially determines is the rate required by the system to discharge its liabilities as to that membership group as a percentage of the covered wages of members in that membership category. Code sections concerning annuity contracts for area education agency (AEA) and school district employees, are stricken and rewritten by the bill. If your retirement is under the State of Iowa's jurisdiction, please take a moment to pull up this bill and review its contents. Subcommittee/Floor Manager: Sen. Connolly (Chair), Dvorsky, Kettering, Ward & Wood Position: Monitor

SF 2378 - Open Records & Public Meetings (Senate Floor)
Makes many changes to Iowa's open records and public meetings laws, and clarifies many areas of the law that have been misunderstood or misinterpreted. Library patron records are exempted from open records laws, unless the custodian of the record (the library director) permits the access. This bill adds a sentence to the exemption of library patron records clarifying that the custodian of the records may release records of a minor to the minor's parent. Subcommittee/Floor Manager: Sen. Connolly (Floor Manager) Position: Monitor
Amendment: SENATE COMMITTEE AMENDMENT: Took out library section.

SF 2402 - Tax Code Clean-Up (Senate Floor)
Allows a privately owned library or art gallery being used for public purposes (and not for private profit) to receive a property tax exemption. Effective 7/1/2008. Subcommittee/Floor Manager: Sen. McCoy (Floor Manager) Position: Monitor

SSB 3243 - Local Income Surcharge (Senate Ways & Means Committee)
This bill authorizes a city that is not part of a combined incorporated area to impose a local income surcharge after an election at which it is approved by a majority of those voting. A combined incorporated area is an area that includes all contiguous cities. The bill contains several provisions and stipulates that revenues would need to be deposited into a property tax relief fund for purposes of providing property tax credits, and the remaining revenues, if any, are to be deposited into the city general fund to be used for any lawful purposes of the city. Subcommittee/Floor Manager: Sens. Quirmbach (Chair), McCoy & Angelo Position: Monitor
Top Priorities: Library Issues 2008
Þ Provide statewide access to additional high-demand databases, such as test preparation software through the State Library of Iowa.
Þ Increase funding for Enrich Iowa to raise reimbursement rates of the popular and heavily used Open Access program.
Þ Increase funding for the Library Service Areas (LSAs) to support the Early Childhood Initiative and encourage family literacy, and provide valuable support services to Iowa's libraries.
Þ Support full implementation of the teacher librarian requirement and the end to the two-year waiver period.
Þ Preserve hometown governance in Iowa public libraries by maintaining support for the local decision-making.
Important Dates of the 2008 Legislative Session
Þ March 28th, 2008 – Second funnel deadline. A House bill must have been approved by the committee of jurisdiction in the Senate in order to remain alive (and vice versa). Bills exempt from funnel deadlines include any bills in the Committees on Appropriations, Oversight and Ways & Means.
Þ April 22nd, 2008 – 100th Calendar Day of the 2008 legislative session. Per Diems for legislators expire.

The Best Resources for Your Advocacy Needs:Find Your Legislator - http://www.legis.state.ia.us/findleg/
Contact Your Legislator - http://www.legis.state.ia.us/aspx/Legislators/LegislatorInfo.aspx
Legislative Committee Listings - http://www.legis.state.ia.us/aspx/Committees/CommitteeInfo.aspx
Track Legislation (instantly updated) - http://www.legis.state.ia.us/Legislation.html
Listen to Debate (live) - http://www.legis.state.ia.us/Audio/Audio.html
House & Senate Calendars (weekly & daily) - http://www.legis.state.ia.us/Chambers.html
Session Calendar - http://www.legis.state.ia.us/Current/TimeTable.html
How a Bill Becomes a Law - http://www.legis.state.ia.us/Pubinfo/bill2law.htm
Guide to the General Assembly - http://www.legis.state.ia.us/Central/Guides/gaguide.pdf
2008 ILA Legislative Agenda - http://www.iowalibraryassociation.org/associations/2221/files/ILA%202008%20Legislative%20Agenda.pdf

Your Capitol Team
Mike Dargan, Government Affairs Committee Chair - MikeDargan@iowalibraryassociation.org
Amy Campbell, ILA Lobbyist – amy@campbell-patterson.com
Craig Patterson, ILA Lobbyist – craig@campbell-patterson.com