Hard to believe that seven years have passed since I promised that I'd be posting my thoughts and fears once again.  A buddy of mine tells me that I should stop bugging them (note the gender-neutral pronoun) with my hallucination and post them on the web.  How about a blog, they said?  So, here I am.  This may or may not be interesting.  However, I'm going to try and have fun.

After five serious spinal surgeries, a gym mishap, and years of physical, occupational, and speech therapy maybe this sort of activity will perk me up a bit.  The physical therapists have spent the most time with me.  Usually, they're lots of fun:  I get to stand on one foot, climb and descend stairs, splash around in the pool and practice heel kicking my tush.  Sometimes, the PTs overdo it, maybe trying to shut me up.  If so, they're good.  Several times I've ended a session incapable of more than a couple of consecutive steps.  Sigh.  I find myself gasping about how I'm "just fine.  Please let me sit for a bit."  Doing so is like pouring gas on a fire.  Anxious women of all ages circle my precarious perch (maybe wondering if alliteration signals a geezer's death rattle?) After a while I get my bearings, stagger to the SUV in the parking lot, and make my way home.

The occupational therapists are also cool.  Spending a morning learning to make Ramen Soup with an OT and her assistant carefully taking notes can be sobering.  More fun, was the test of balance and cognition which requires me to stand on one foot while sorting knives, forks, and spoons into the appropriate slots.  My protestations that I couldn't do that even when I had all my marbles didn't even draw a grin.  Some very sober girls.  It's possible that they exaggerate the importance of Ramen Soups.

Last is the speech therapist.  She had a pile of poorly photocopied worksheets from the 1960s with all sorts of puzzles, animals, flowers, airplanes, cars, etc.  Not being able to tell shit from shortcake (thanks to my boyhood mentor, the late Orville H.) I set those aside.  We then spent our sessions talking about her terrible boyfriend.  I commiserated about dating as single women were such clingy bitches.  She had no sense of humor.  She didn't cry, but her affect stiffened.  She had this enormous tote bag that she at least twice left in my room requiring her to return.  I hope that her sessions with me helped her love life.

My blogging thus far is fairly wordy, maybe pointless.  However, I see the thread(s) and will work to make them more obvious, or maybe abandon them in future blogs.  I'm contemplating a post about a 101 year-old Aqua flex lady was the Lincoln School (Cedar Falls) nurse in the early 1960s.  She remembers me and it's not good.  Good night.

Hi.  Remember me?  I put a lot of work into this blog about a decade ago, discovered Facebook, and left this venue to gather dust.  

On the cusp of retirement, I'm back.  Might be a good place for modern journal by a retired librarian.

Stay tuned for details.

--mike

Election Year Advocacy 2008

Hello-- Yes, I'm back. The Olympics are over and it's time to think politics. I'm asking each of you, as members of Iowa's library community, to use this autumn's election campaign to advocate for Iowa's libraries.

To help with your advocacy efforts, the Iowa Library Association Government Affairs Committee (ILA/GAC) has prepared Election Year Advocacy: 2008! which is posted to the ILA website: http://tinyurl.com/5pjlx8.

Our libraries faced severe budget challenges in the 2008 legislative session and it's important that we hit the ground running early next winter. Contacts made now, in the midst of the campaign season, will make us more effective in January when the new legislature convenes.

Be especially sure to attend your local candidates' election-year functions, introduce yourself, and tell great stories about what your library has done for his or her constituents. Give out business cards and follow up with a thank-you message.

Most legislators represent districts with several libraries; let's make sure that we get 110% coverage!

Thank-you for supporting Iowa's libraries. I look forward to seeing you in Dubuque!
-- Michael J. DarganILA/GAC Chairperson

Day One in the Twin Cities: MLTC 2008

Congrats to the organizers of MLTC 2008! Macalester College librarian Ron Joslin and his colleagues fine reputation for running successful Minnesotat Innovative User Group events was greatly enhanced last week when about 250 geek librarians spent two days listening to speakers and participating in hands on workshops. Transcripts of meetings can be found on the MLTC Ning site, itself an example of a Web 2.0 application, but I'm going to add a few comments based on my notes.

Computer science professor John Riedl keynoted the conference with a 90 minute talk on "Creating the Social Web." Dr. Riedl, who is definite more patron than librarian, spoke about the Web 2.0 (that's what we mean by "Social Web") characteristics of the 10 (really 13, as he combined a couple) websites. Number one, of course, is Google. Riedl went into some detail about the cat and mouse games between "link farms" and Google's rating system--what establishes the priority of search result displays. Google's system is viral in nature because it allows users to add value to Google's database by making links to other sites. The more links a site has, the greater the priority in search results. This gives rise to the so-called "link farms" which contrive links--for a fee--to sites wishing to sell their wares on the Internet. Google is on the lookout for this practice and regularly pulls their plug--so to speak.

For some reason I didn't take many notes from Riedl's discussion of #2, Yahoo, but did find his discussion of the #3 and #5 sites, Facebook and MySpace (which he combined as #3) fascinating. Both are classic examples of user-added value, with Facebook vaulting past MySpace by opening up its API to allow software writers to add still more functionality, hence value, to the product. Sounds like these sites have become the focus of adolescent bullying. Let's hope that the case of Lori Drew, the 37 year-old mom who bullied 13 year-old Megan Meir into committing suicide by impersonating a 16 year-old boy, Josh Evans, is unsuccessful. If she's convicted, we'll all have to use our real names on the Internet! That's no fun.

YouTube, #4 on Riedl's hit parade, claims to be aimed a providing access to videos by amateurs. However, he points out the obvious: the most popular videos are pirated versions of copyrighted material. YouTube recently settled a lawsuit with CBS by agreeing to let CBS run software against the YouTube database to detect copyrighted materials, for which CBS gets a small payment. A win-win situation. During his discussion of the YouTube phenomenon, Riedl observations about its acquisition by Google may have the key to the whole Web 2.0 concept: Despite having superior web-based video technology, Google spent 1.65 billion dollars to acquire YouTube. Why? Google wanted to acquire the YouTube Community!

The next most popular site, Windows Live at #6, looks like an aggregator for Microsoft's web-based services, such as Hotmail. Hard to believe that it's been 12 years since Bill Gates shut Microsoft down for a week to change the focus of the company from PC-centric to Web-centric. Some of their products have been crude and unnecessarily proprietary, but he clearly saved the company from oblivion.

Number 7? Wikipedia, the ultimate in Wikiality! People are tracking Wikipedia traffic to determine who's adding value (i.e., heavily used content) to the site. Turns out that some guy who goes by Maveric149 has produced 0.5% of the total value of Wikipedia. Amazing. The big threat to Wikipedia? Vandals. Finding and repairing vandalism has become a major headache. Some have speculated that 25,000 librarians, working about 5 minutes a day, could fend off the most serious problems.

Online auction house Ebay comes in at #8 and my beloved Blogger is number 11. Sociologists contend that blogging allows otherwise widely separated people to concentrate into extremist communities. Those bastards!

The leader in online advertisements, Craig's List, is yet another example of the "viral application" concept. All the value is added by the users who have demanded that the site charge $10 per advertisement to keep out the spam. This site is so busy that the owners have been offered $500 million a year to run banner ads on search results. Thus far, they've been satisfied with the paltry $2.5 million they generate from classified sales. The big threat? Local newspapers make a lot of money off of classified advertisements. Online database type services are a lot cheaper and more effective than traditional newsprint. Newspapers are scrambling to get on board the Web based train (just like Gates in 1995?).

Bookseller (and a whole lot more) Amazon is rounds out Riedl's list of top websites. Again, Amazon's greatness comes from its users. They rate the sellers as well as the merchandise. Amazon invites its customers into its store ands asks them for content and advice.

Why are librarians so wary of their users? Are we concerned that we'll lose our traditional status as gatekeepers for information? In my opinion, we should be. Instead of griping about inaccuracies in Wikipedia, we should roll up our sleeves and start fixing it. Same thing with our OPACs. We should list our holdings, then invite patrons (card holders or not) to tag with abandon. Oddly, OCLC is leading the pack with it's Worldcat.org and WorldCat.local products.

The concept of librarians as information hegemons is hopelessly obsolete; we must adapt or wither away.

Key concepts gleaned from Riedl's talk:

• Web 2.0 is people connecting to people via the Internet.
• We're moving to an "always on" society.
• Faster, better and more portable devices are rapidly evolving.
• Building communities is far more difficult (and important) than devising the technology.
• Conclusions of "fact" will rely more on consensus.

The notion of consensus determining fact is eerily reminiscent of post modern literary discussions of the formation of meaning. The coordinated management of meaning predates Web 2.0 applications by thousands of years. The advent of the Internet merely makes it faster and more powerful.

This entry is getting a bit long. I'm going to give it a rest for now and will comment on the Creating and Sharing Local Digital Collections session in another article.

2008 Legislative Bill List

May 23, 2008
Final 2008 ILA Bill List
The Governor recently disposed of all legislation sent to him by legislators during the 2008 Legislative session. The final ILA bill list begins below. But first, a few observations:

The Governor vetoed only two bills this year - HF 2645 & SF 2364 (emancipation of a minor & the collective bargaining bill). The Governor exercised his line-item veto to strike sixteen items from seven bills. In 2008, 1986 bills were introduced - about 17% (417 bills) less than in 2007 thanks to the 10-day shorter session. The legislature passed 196 bills this year, 9.9% of those that were introduced. The Governor signed all but two of these, so 9.8% of the bills introduced this year were signed into law.

HF 2663 - School Infrastructure Local Option (SILO) (Status: Signed) - This bill replaces the local option sales and services tax for school infrastructure purposes by increasing the state sales and use taxes from 5 percent to 6 percent, effective July 1, 2008. The increased use tax rate does not apply to the sale or lease of motor vehicles. The state sales and use tax rates are reduced from 6 percent to 5 percent on January 1, 2030. The increased state sales and use tax revenues are deposited into a new Secure an Advanced Vision for Education (SAVE) fund to be distributed to all school districts. A statewide amount per pupil would be computed each fiscal year based upon the estimated amount that would have been generated by a 1 percent local sales and services tax divided by the combined enrollment of all school districts. Each district will receive an amount equal to the amount that it would have received under the formula if the local sales and services tax for school infrastructure was still imposed. The bill contains several related provisions. Effective 7/1/2009. Position: Monitor

HF 2679 - Education Budget (Status: Signed) - Appropriates $988.9 million from the general fund to various educational services and programs, an increase of $5.5 million over the FY08 level. Maintains current funding levels for the State Library ($1,879,827), Library Services Areas ($1,586,000), and Enrich Iowa ($1,823,432). Adds media specialists to community college "Quality Faculty Plans." Requires the Department of Education to establish an Ad Hoc Accreditation Quality Faculty Plan Protocol Committee to advise them on the development of protocols to be used by accreditation teams during site visits. Effective 7/1/2008. Position: Monitor
Line Item Veto: The Governor did veto some things in this bill, but the items noted were not affected these line-item vetoes.

HF 2699 - Economic Development Budget (Status: Signed) - Appropriates a total of $48.3 million from the General Fund, an increase of $7.4 million primarily used to replace lost federal dollars. Maintains funding for the Department of Cultural Affairs' Historical Division and Governor's Archives. Adds a new appropriation for the Iowa Cultural Caucus Project ($20,000), which takes place every four years. Effective 7/1/2008. Position: Monitor

SF 2176 - Cultural Affairs Changes (Status: Signed) - 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 teams (CHAT) to coordinate cultural efforts. Clarifies that these teams are local organizations. Establishes a Civil War Advisory Committee to help the Historical Division plan a sesquicentennial commemoration of Iowa's role in the American civil war. Effective 7/1/2008. Position: Monitor

SF 2400 - Administration & Regulation Budget (Status: Signed) - Makes appropriations to various state agencies. Requires privately owned libraries and art galleries to file a claim in order to receive a property tax exemption if the library or gallery is used for public purposes and not for private profit. Effective 7/1/2008. Position: Line Item Veto: The Governor did veto some things in this bill, but the items noted were not affected these line-item vetoes.

SF 2417 - Healthy Iowans Tobacco Trust Appropriations (Status: Signed) - Allocates money generated from the Iowa's tobacco settlement. Spends at current levels, but includes a $200,000 increase in funding for Before & After School Grants ($505,000). Effective 7/1/2008. Position: Monitor Line Item Veto: The Governor did veto some things in this bill, but the items noted were not affected these line-item vetoes.

SF 2424 - State Retirement System Changes (Status: Signed) - 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. Effective 7/1/2008. Position: Monitor

SF 2425 - Health/Human Services Budget (Status: Signed) - Appropriates funds to various health & human services programs. Establishes an Early Childhood Iowa Council to function as an alliance of stakeholders for early care, health and education systems that affect children ages 0-5 in order to oversee the development of an integrated early care system. The Council will advise the Governor, Legislature, and public and private agencies on these matters. Establishes as the vision of the Council as "Every child, beginning at birth, will be healthy and successful." Invites anyone with an interest in furthering this vision to be a member of the Council. Establishes a steering committee of the council to organize & manage the efforts and a "state liaison team" to include the following state agencies that have an impact on children's lives - Child Health Specialty Clinics, Community Empowerment Office, Department of Education, State Librarian, Governor's Office, Department of Human Rights, Department of Human Services, ISU Extension, and Department of Public Health. Duties and reporting requirements are outlined. Effective 7/1/2008. Position: Monitor
Line Item Veto: The Governor did veto some things in this bill, but the items noted were not affected these line-item vetoes.

SF 2432 - RIIF (Rebuild Iowa Infrastructure Fund) Budget (Status: Signed) - Spends $484.1 million on various infrastructure projects, and authorizes $130.7 million in bonds to build a new prison. Maintains Enrich Iowa library funding ($1 million, of which $50,000 is distributed equally among the LSAs). Effective 7/1/2008. Position: Monitor
Line Item Veto: The Governor did veto some things in this bill, but the items noted were not affected these line-item vetoes.
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
Þ November 4th, 2008 – Election Day 2008. All 100 Iowa House seats and one-half of Iowa’s Senate seats (25) are on the ballot. VOTE !!!!
Þ January 12th, 2009 – First Day of the 2009 Legislative Session.

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

ILA @ALA

Hello--

State Library Council member Tom Martin, ILA President Barbara Peterson, State Librarian Mary Wegner, and I, ILA GAC Chairman Mike Dargan, spent the early part of last week participating in ALA Legislative Day activities. I've posted a few pictures of our visit to a Flickr site and invite you to view and "tag" them. (I'm a recent immigrant to Flickr; after about two years of Picasaweb I've been advised that I'm on an evolutionary dead end!)

ALA Legislative Day activities started at 9:00 a.m May 13 with a briefing in the Liaison Capitol Hill Hotel banquet room. During a break we met with Senator Harkin's staff person, Adrienne Hallet, who advised us on the technical aspects and status of funding for LSTA programs as well as the need for library language in a school facility upgrade bill. Armed with this imformation, we then proceeded (on foot!) to the Longworth House office building where we met with a staff person (April?) for Representative Boswell, who took notes while we expressed our support for full LSTA funding and other issues.

Over the next day and a half we repeated the process with Rob Goldsmith (Representative Bruce Braley), Senator Charles Grassley, Representative Dave Loebsack, Senator Tom Harkin (at the weekly Iowa Breakfast), a staff person for Representative Steve King, and finally, staff person Aaron Burnett (Representative Latham).

As you might expect, everyone was attentive when we expressed our pro-library sentiments and responded positively. However, probably wisely, no one made any promises. The commonest observation was that this is a highly partisan year and that the next budget will likely be determined by a Continuing Resolution. If so, it's likely that LSTA funding will be flat for FY2009.

What's the upshot? For FY2009, President Bush has proposed funding LSTA at $171,500,000. A Continuing Resolution would maintain (maybe!) funding at the FY2008 level: $160,900,000. Full funding would result in larger allocations to state libraries. However, my prediction is that the budget logjam will not be broken, we'll be stuck with FY2008 funding, and we'll have to hope that the next President and Congress can get along, that they will be library supporters, and that they'll have the money available to spend on LSTA funding. (The war in Iraq is having a major impact on the budget.)

Our lobbying focused largely on LSTA funding. However, we also expressed interest on improved broadband Internet, especially in rural areas, as well as language ensuring that school libraries would be included in legislation intended to upgrade school facilities.

We weren't able to meet with every elected official, but we at least got to visit with senior staff members--which may be more important in the long-run. So, I judge this trip to have been a worthwhile effort. None of this would have been accomplished with out the leadership of State Librarian Mary Wegner and ILA President Barbara Peterson. I thank them and the Iowa Library Association for the opportunity to promote library services in our nation's capital!

If you have any questions, comments, corrections, and/or suggestions, please contact me at MikeDargan@iowalibraryassociation.org.

I look forward to seeing all of you at ILA 2008!

April 30, 2008 Advocacy Hotline

April 30, 2008
News from the Capitol Steps
Welcome to the final 2008 edition of the ILA Advocacy Hotline. We will publish one more bill list following the end of the Governor’s 30-day bill review period to show you the final disposition of all bills being tracked for the ILA.

The 2nd Regular Session of the 82nd General Assembly officially completed its work just after 2:30 AM on Saturday, April 26th. Now, legislators will head back to their districts to prepare for what is predicted to be a bruising campaign season leading up to Election Day on November 4th, 2008.

Obviously, each party has a different take on whether the session was a glowing success, a colossal failure, or somewhere in between. It will be up to Iowans to make that judgment themselves based on the major legislation passed by the Legislature this session. That list includes the following:

SILO – Turns the local option sales tax for education into a statewide program and increases the sales tax on some items that previously were taxed at 5% instead of 6%.
Core Curriculum Standards – Requires the establishment of a core curriculum for public and private schools for implementation in 2012.
Collective Bargaining Bill – This bill has been in the news a lot and has now been sent to the Governor for his veto or signature. The bill would greatly expand the list of items public employees could demand be discussed during negotiations.
Health Care Reform – A bill that dramatically increases the number of Iowans covered by health insurance, particularly children.
TIME-21 – Through an increase in a number of registration and license fees, this bill will eventually mean an increase of about $140 million in funding for transportation infrastructure.
Statewide Public Smoking Ban – Places many limits on where cigarettes can be smoked; exempts casinos.

The Governor is anticipated to sign all of the above, except for the Collective Bargaining bill which we would give EVEN odds.

A Word of Thanks – We rely on the hard work of several legislators throughout the session to drive ILA’s priorities. However, this job would be way more difficult without the countless unsung heroes on the House and Senate caucus staffs as well as the experts at the Legislative Services Agency. They toil in the shadows way before the Legislature gavels in and they remain at their desks far beyond each day’s adjournment. One misplaced comma could destroy your provision or turn your program upside-down, but luckily these folks are professionals who take their jobs very seriously and strive for perfection with every assignment. We hope now they all take some time to get some sleep and spend some time with their loved ones!

Status Quo Library Budget
We never thought the words “status quo budget” would be as welcome as they were this year. The library community spent much of the legislative session dodging potential cuts to the budget and your input with legislators and the Governor paid off.

When the Revenue Estimating Conference announced their updated budget projections on April 4th, the Governor immediately released a press announcement that called for investing more in libraries, along with community colleges and private colleges. He heard from libraries all across the state and he clearly responded.

Going forward, this means we have a lot of work to do in preparation for next year. The Legislature will see a huge number of new members due to this year’s legislative retirements, so ILA members need to be out meeting candidates and incumbent legislators and telling them about libraries.

« Invite your legislators to coffee.
« Invite legislators from your region to have their forums in your library.
« Invite the Governor to come and visit your facility and to hold a public meeting there.
« Make sure you tell them all what services the library provides and why you are an important piece of the education and economic development puzzle for your community.

Start laying the groundwork for November’s election and for next session right now! Both will be here before you know it!

Early Childhood Iowa Council
The Health and Human Services budget bill included language creating an early childhood Iowa council to oversee the development of an Iowa early childhood system by integrating the early care, health, and education systems addressing the needs of children ages zero through five and their families. The council will advise the governor, general assembly, and public and private policy and service providers in coordinating activities throughout the state to fulfill its purpose.

The new council will be led by the Iowa Department of Public Health and will include many stakeholders. The state agency liaison team which shall provide input to the council will include the State Librarian, along with several other members.

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

Bills of Interest – As of April 25, 2008

Bills being tracked by IFA that have been sent to the Governor for his signature or veto
On appropriations bills, the Governor also has the option of using a line-item veto to strike specific sections.

HF 2663 - School Infrastructure Local Option (SILO) (Status: Sent to Governor) - This bill replaces the local option sales and services tax for school infrastructure purposes by increasing the state sales and use taxes from 5 percent to 6 percent, effective July 1, 2008. The increased use tax rate does not apply to the sale or lease of motor vehicles. The state sales and use tax rates are reduced from 6 percent to 5 percent on January 1, 2030. The increased state sales and use tax revenues are deposited into a new Secure an Advanced Vision for Education (SAVE) fund to be distributed to all school districts. A statewide amount per pupil would be computed each fiscal year based upon the estimated amount that would have been generated by a 1 percent local sales and services tax divided by the combined enrollment of all school districts. Each district will receive an amount equal to the amount that it would have received under the formula if the local sales and services tax for school infrastructure was still imposed. The bill contains several related provisions. Position: Monitor

HF 2679 - Education Budget (Status: Sent to Governor) - Appropriates $988.9 million from the general fund to various educational services and programs, an increase of $5.5 million over the FY08 level. Maintains current funding levels for the State Library ($1,879,827), Library Services Areas ($1,586,000), and Enrich Iowa ($1,823,432). Adds media specialists to community college "Quality Faculty Plans." Requires the Department of Education to establish an Ad Hoc Accreditation Quality Faculty Plan Protocol Committee to advise them on the development of protocols to be used by accreditation teams during site visits. Position: Monitor

HF 2699 - Economic Development Budget (Status: Sent to Governor) - Appropriates a total of $48.3 million from the General Fund, an increase of $7.4 million primarily used to replace lost federal dollars. Maintains funding for the Department of Cultural Affairs' Historical Division and Governor's Archives. Adds a new appropriation for the Iowa Cultural Caucus Project ($20,000), which takes place every four years. Position: Monitor

SF 2400 - Administration & Regulation Budget (Status: Sent to Governor) - Makes appropriations to various state agencies. Requires privately owned libraries and art galleries to file a claim in order to receive a property tax exemption if the library or gallery is used for public purposes and not for private profit. Position: Monitor

SF 2417 - Healthy Iowans Tobacco Trust Appropriations (Status: Sent to Governor) - Allocates money generated from the Iowa's tobacco settlement. Spends at current levels, but includes a $200,000 increase in funding for Before & After School Grants ($505,000). Position: Monitor

SF 2424 - State Retirement System Changes (Status: Sent to Governor) - 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. Position: Monitor

SF 2425 - Health/Human Services Budget (Status: Sent to Governor) - Appropriates funds to various health & human services programs. Establishes an Early Childhood Iowa Council to function as an alliance of stakeholders for early care, health and education systems that affect children ages 0-5 in order to oversee the development of an integrated early care system. The Council will advise the Governor, Legislature, and public and private agencies on these matters. Establishes as the vision of the Council as "Every child, beginning at birth, will be healthy and successful." Invites anyone with an interest in furthering this vision to be a member of the Council. Establishes a steering committee of the council to organize & manage the efforts and a "state liaison team" to include the following state agencies that have an impact on children's lives - Child Health Specialty Clinics, Community Empowerment Office, Department of Education, State Librarian, Governor's Office, Department of Human Rights, Department of Human Services, ISU Extension, and Department of Public Health. Duties and reporting requirements are outlined. Position: Monitor

SF 2432 - RIIF (Rebuild Iowa Infrastructure Fund) Budget (Status: Sent to Governor) - Spends $484.1 million on various infrastructure projects, and authorizes $130.7 million in bonds to build a new prison. Maintains Enrich Iowa library funding ($1 million, of which $50,000 is distributed equally among the LSAs). Position: Monitor

Bills being tracked by IFA that have already been signed by the Governor

SF 2176 - Cultural Affairs Changes (Status: Signed) - 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 teams (CHAT) to coordinate cultural efforts. Clarifies that these teams are local organizations. Establishes a Civil War Advisory Committee to help the Historical Division plan a sesquicentennial commemoration of Iowa's role in the American civil war. Effective 7/1/2008. Position: Monitor

DEAD Bills – Bills being tracked by ILA that DID NOT advance to the Governor for his signature or veto

HF 2516 - Property Tax Changes (Status: DEAD) - 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. Position: Undecided

HF 2659 - Property Tax Reform (Status: DEAD) - This bill makes several changes to laws relating to property taxes, assessment of property, city and county budgets funded primarily by property taxes, and school district budgets funded primarily by state and local taxes. Division I of the bill makes several changes relating to local budgets and property taxes, including but not limited to: Requiring all state mandates to be fully funded, increases the regular program foundation base per pupil from 87.5 percent to 95 percent, and reduces the $5.40 foundation levy to $4.32. The division also provides that a school district cannot levy property taxes, other than foundation and additional property taxes, in excess of .25 percent of the taxable value of residential and agricultural property and .75 percent of commercial property and .5 percent of industrial property. The division contains transition provisions for tax levies for the next three fiscal years. The division also contains several other levy provisions and limitations, as well as rules pertaining to county ending fund balances. The division allows a city or a county to impose, by ordinance, a service charge against property located in the city or county, as applicable. The division increases from 50 percent to 75 percent the portion of base year expenditures paid by the state for mental health, mental retardation, and developmental disabilities, removes the square footage tax on mobile homes and manufactured homes and replaces it with the ad valorem tax imposed on other residences. Division II of the bill, relating to assessment of property, provides that the sale price of property sold in the calendar year prior to the assessment year shall be presumed to be the market value of the property for that assessment year if the buyer and the seller were not immediate family members, as well as several other sections pertaining to county assessors, value of new construction, removal of assessment limitations and many other issues. Division III of the bill makes several changes to property tax credits and exemptions, including the homestead property tax credit, the military property tax credit, the elderly, disabled, and the low-income property tax credit. The division provides that any land in a forest reservation is exempt from school district levies only and requires the owner of land in a forest or fruit tree reservation to annually certify that proper management techniques are being followed. The division repeals the family farm property tax credit and the agricultural land property tax credit. Division IV of the bill establishes an implementation committee to study the effects of implementation of the bill and report to the general assembly. Position: Monitor

HF 2670 - Tax Code Updates (Status: DEAD) - Requires privately owned libraries and art galleries to file a claim in order to receive a property tax exemption if the library or gallery is used for public purposes and not for private profit. Position: Monitor

HSB 715 & SSB 3236 - Combined Corporate Reporting (Status: DEAD) - 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. Position: Monitor

SF 2402 - Tax Code Clean-Up (Status: DEAD) - 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. Position: Monitor

SF 2411 - Open Records & Public Meetings (Status: DEAD) - 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. Language that had been in the bill requiring libraries disclose a minor's library records to their parents upon request was eliminated (so there is no change in law related to this - it continues to be a local decision whether parents should have access to their kids' records). Position: Monitor

SSB 3243 - Local Income Surcharge (Status: DEAD) - 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. 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
Þ November 4th, 2008 – Election Day 2008. All 100 Iowa House seats and one-half of Iowa’s Senate seats (25) are on the ballot. VOTE !!!!
Þ January 12th, 2009 – First Day of the 2009 Legislative Session.

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