This past Friday marked the passing of the second legislative funnel deadline, which again narrows down the legislation currently circulating in the Capitol. Going forward, any bills that have passed out of one chamber and through a committee in their opposite chamber are still eligible. Bills in the Ways & Means Committee are exempt from this deadline, along with any bills that involve tax and spending elements or that have been placed on the “unfinished business” calendar.
With roughly one month left in the session, legislators have highlighted their top priorities as property taxes, eminent domain, and the creation of a budget plan for FY 2027 following the Revenue Estimating Conference (REC) held earlier this month. Though progress has been gradual, legislators say they are continuing to engage in conversations and are confident that property tax legislation will be passed by the end of the session.
Both the House and Senate have amended their property tax bills, with the House bill (HF 2745) now adding portions from the governor’s proposal, both of which include a 2% revenue cap for local governments with some exceptions. The Senate’s approach focuses more on structural changes by eliminating the state’s rollback system and seeks to provide local governments access to new revenue streams through local option sales taxes and indexing the state’s gas tax to inflation (SF 2472).
Updates on other bills that Greater IC has been tracking:
- (HF 2325), the bill that would have allowed localities to create social “entertainment” districts, did not pass the funnel deadline. However, a similar bill (HSB 734), will be considered by the Ways and Means Committee. This bill allows local governing bodies to create “tourism districts” which apply a levy to lodging businesses to encourage business activity and tourism within a set area.
- (HF 2466), also known as the Iowa Skilled Workforce Act, has been referred to the Appropriations Committee and is recommended for passage. This bill would increase funding for registered apprenticeship programs, encourage schools to expand their pre-apprenticeship programs, and create changes to who can provide apprenticeship training.
Below are resources that provide a more comprehensive list of bills that will advance and bills that have died:
While there is still significant work to be done before the scheduled adjournment on April 21, legislators are also looking ahead to the June primary and November general election. Now that the March 10 candidate filing deadline has passed, we know which current state legislators are running for reelection, retiring, or running for a different office, along with the Republican and Democratic candidates for statewide and federal office.
For a comprehensive list of statewide and federal candidates running in the upcoming November election, please refer to this list here.
