Welcome to our first newsletter of the 2021 Legislative Session! We are looking forward to hopefully a productive and safe session. As always, our office is available to those traveling to Des Moines (please wear a mask!) Even if you are not coming to Des Moines, this year offers even more opportunities for engaging with legislators. This year’s protocols offer livestream and Zoom for committees and subcommittees. They also ask constituents to contact legislators by phone and email instead of in person when possible. We hope you will do so and encourage others from your campus and community to ask as well. As always, we will keep you up to date on important issues and calls to action for specific legislation.
Our first call to action is related to the budget. We have requested a 3% increase in state general aid (about $6 million). The good news is that the governor’s budget proposed a $5.2 million increase (about 2.5%). This is a great start, but we still need you to contact your legislators in support of our request by sharing your stories of the important work of Community Colleges in meeting workforce and student needs.
In this issue, you will also find the bills we are currently tracking, more information on the governor’s Condition of the State speech and budget, new legislative leadership and committee assignments, news clips, and information on upcoming events. If you have suggestions for newsletter content in the future, please reach out to Monica at mdclark@iacct.com.
-Emily Shields, IACCT Executive Director