This was a very busy week at the Capitol. The House and Senate finished work on SF2142 State School Aid (K-12), sending it to Governor Reynolds. The bill sets the SSA rate at 2.3%, providing an increase in school funding of about $85.7M. Throughout the week, the House debated, passed and sent to the Senate 30+ bills. Governor Reynolds made a number of appointments to various boards. Among these appointments was Georgia VanGundy to the State Board of Education.
Bills of Interest
SF2366 DHS/SNAP/Medicaid/Cliff Effect
Passed the Senate and on to the House.
Requires 20 hours of mandatory work or volunteer service, which could present problems to recipients.
HF2384 Future Ready Iowa 2.0
House Appropriations Subcommittee met on Thursday.
Several members of the Subcommittee spoke against Division III – Workforce Diploma Pilot.
HF2568 Cyber Crime
Amendment H-8094 adds Community Colleges to the bill.
HF2267 – Practice of Dental Hygiene and Dental Assistants
Passed both the House and Senate and sent to the Governor for her signature.
SF2283 Expansion of EMS Training Providers
Passed the Senate 49-0. Sent to the House for consideration.
Amendment S-5055 would allow the bill to take effect upon enactment.
HF2443 Senior Year Plus Student Eligibility and Assessment Requirements
Passed the House 98-0. Sent to the Senate for consideration.
Have been told there are some questions in the Senate that need to be addressed.
HF2504 Anti-Semitism
Requires government entities and educational institutions to use the definition of anti-Semitism when considering whether there has been a violation of law or policy prohibiting discriminatory acts.
One More Thing
Governor Reynolds released an update regarding Iowa’s postsecondary education attainment goals. Iowa has a goal of 70% of all workforce to hold some postsecondary credential by 2025. At the end of 2019, the State had achieved 60.2% credentialed; a 2.6% increase over 2018. It was noted in the news release that the 2019 data does not yet capture the results of the investments made to date in the Future Ready Iowa programs, such as Last Dollar Scholarship. It is anticipated that those results will first be reflected in the 2020 and 2021 reports.