Appropriations – week of April 27, 2015

SF 492 – Disaster case management

SF 493 – Education Budget FY16 and FY17

SF  494 – Ag & Natural Resources Budget FY16 & FY 17

SF 496 – Judicial Branch Budget FY16 & FY17

SF 497 – Justice System Budget FY16 & FY17

SF 498 – Administration & Regulation Budget FY 16 & FY 17

SF 499 – Economic Development Budget FY 16 and FY 17

SSB 1282 – Child Support Recovery

HF 630 – Federal Block Grant Budget FY 16 and FY 17

HF 637 – Transportation Budget FY 16 and FY 17

FLOOR ACTION:

SF 492 establishes a disaster case management fund and program. The Executive Council is authorized to expend funds from the emergency fund for case management services following a gubernatorial or presidential disaster declaration. The Department of Human Services will implement an ongoing contract with a local agency with offices across the state that will be activated in emergencies. The Executive Council may also authorize funds for case management training. The bill incudes limits on administrative and training costs. The language clarifies that an additional $100,000 must be available for use for contract staff support, case management training and continuing training. [4/27: 49-0 (Kapucian, excused)]

SF 493 is the Senate’s Education Budget, which appropriates a total of $1.026 billion and 12,048 FTE positions for FY16 to the Department for the Blind, College Student Aid Commission, Department of Education and Board of Regents. This is an increase of $39.8 million over FY15, and a decrease of 250 FTEs. The bill contains “other funding” from the Skilled Worker & Job Creation Fund, which appropriates a total of $40.3 million for FY16. Most of the Senate Education Budget funding is committed to established initiatives, to maintaining a tuition freeze at state universities, and to making community college tuition and worker training programs more affordable. All FY17 appropriations are made at 50 percent of FY16 levels. A floor amendment makes technical changes, all of which are reflected in summary below. Specific appropriations include:

• Higher Education Institutions
  • Nonprofit Tuition Grant Program – An increase of $2 million, estimated to be $5,000 per student.
  • For-profit Tuition Grant Program – An increase of $100,000 or 5 percent over last year.
  • Teach Iowa Scholar Program – $1.3 million, status quo funding from last year.
  • Community Colleges General Aid – An increase of $8 million for general operations.
  • University of Iowa (UI) – A general increase of $4 million (1.75 percent).
  • Iowa State University (ISU) – A general increase of $5.2 million (3 percent).
  • University of Northern Iowa (UNI) – A general increase of $7 million (7.8 percent).
  • Iowa School for the Deaf and Sight Saving Schools – A general increase of $359,000 (2.7 percent).
• Department of Education
  • Teacher Leadership Grants: $49 million. This is the second year of funding to expand teacher roles and to have the best teacher practices be modeled for all teachers. First year funding has rolled into the school aid formula.
  • Early Literacy: $9.5 million, which is an increase of $1.5 million to implement intensive literacy programs for grades K-3.
  • Early Literacy Warning Assessments: $2 million. Funding for assessment was included in the FY15 appropriation for the Department of Education Administration. The Early Warning System provides reading assessments for Pre-K through grade 6. This year, we made this appropriation its own line item.
  • Iowa Reading Research Center: $1 million, status quo funding.
  • $1 million for Principal/Administrator mentoring.
  • $1 million for AEAs to support schools in developing teacher and administrators in new leadership.
  • $1.5 million for Iowa Learning Online – to provide high-quality online classes to all Iowa students (STANDING).
  • High Need Schools: This is a new appropriation of $10 million for the High Need Schools program to provide supplemental assistance for identified schools with students whose first language is not English, who have special needs and are of low-income backgrounds.
  • Iowa Academic Standards Program: A new appropriation of $1.5 million.
  • Voc-Rehabilitation – Status quo.
• Policy language includes:
  • Allow Shared Visions to use Quality Preschool Program Standards, as well as National Association for the Education of Young Children, for qualifications
  • Early Childhood Iowa – clean-up Code language
  • Request for an interim to discuss per pupil inequities and transportation cost inequities among districts.
  • GAP tuition assistance program
  • Filling school board vacancies
  • Talented & Gifted FTE at Department of Education
  • English Language Learners eligibility increase – extended years (fiscal impact in FY21)
  • English Language Learners for Preschool (FY17 impact)
  • Dropout/At-Risk Prevention Flexibility
  • Preschool administration costs
  • Iowa Tuition Grant cap – raise cap by $1,000 per ITG award, max award $6,000. [4/29: 26-24 (party line)]

SF 494 is a status quo Agriculture & Natural Resources Budget for FY16. The budget appropriates $43,111,995 from the general fund and $42 million from the Environment First Fund. The bill also appropriates more than $41 million from the Fish & Wildlife Trust Fund for conservation programming at the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. For FY17, the bill provides 50 percent funding of  FY16 levels. Highlights include:

• $4.4 million for the Water Quality Initiative to help fund projects and practices to reduce nutrients in Iowa’s waterways. Additional money for the WQI has been proposed to be included in the RIFF/Infrastructure budget.
• $12.85 million in funding for various soil conservation and water quality programs from the Environment First Fund.
• $288,000 for the Midwest Wine and Grape Institute. This institute helps Iowa vineyards and wineries improve the quality of their product.
• A total of $500,000 for forestry health management programs by the Department of Natural Resources. This will enable the department to work with more communities as we face the infestation of emerald ash borer (EAB).
• $4 million for the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory at Iowa State University.
• $1,325,000 for the Nutrient Research Center, which provides support to research activities at state universities that develop new strategies and methods for reducing nutrient levels in our waterways.
• $16 million for REAP with no diversions from the statutory allocation formula.
• $1.23 million for a three-year data collection pilot project to improve tracking of nutrients to water from nonpoint sources within watersheds. Data collected will measure the impact of different agricultural practices on nutrient levels in a watershed. The project is meant to develop a model system for analyzing the impact of agricultural practices on nutrient levels.
• Extends the sunset of the Blufflands Protection Program & Revolving Loan fund. This program was created in 1996 to fund private partners that preserve blufflands in eastern and western Iowa. The program was set to sunset after June 30, but the bill extends it to June 30, 2025. This program also was extended in 2005.
• Allows up to 10 percent of Water Quality Initiative funding to be used for administration of the program. This would open up more funding for technical and planning support within watersheds. There has been a loss of employees around the state who can assist farmers and landowners in designing and implementing soil conservation practices. This would allow some Water Quality Initiative funding to provide that support.
• Fixes language regarding the allocation of money to soil districts around the state to allow counties more flexibility in how they spend the money they are allocated. The amendment clarifies that counties may use as much as $15,000 of their allocation for management practices, rather than being limited to 30 percent of their allocation. [4/27: 26-23 (party line; Kapucian excused)]

COMMITTEE & FLOOR ACTION:

SF 496 appropriates a total of $180,086,612 to the Judicial Branch for FY16. That is $5.5 million over last year’s appropriation, an increase of 3 percent. This is $2,687,377 below the Governor’s proposed budget. There are no significant policy changes in the bill. [Committee 4/23: 12-5 (Bisignano, Chapman, Schneider, Zumbach excused); Floor [4/29: 26-24 (party line)]

SF 497 appropriates a total of $562,127,101 to the Justice System. This does not include the Judicial Branch. This is $5,250,793 over FY15 and $555,000 over the Governor’s proposed budget. Highlights include:

Status Quo Appropriations and same as the Governor:

• Attorney General, including Victim Assistance Grants and Legal Services – $17,124,305
• Civil Rights Commission – $1,169,540
• Criminal and Juvenile Justice Planning (Division of Human Rights) – $1,260,105
• Public Defender and Indigent Defense – $55,784,172
• Law Enforcement Academy – $1,003,214
• Board of Parole – $1,204,583
• Department of Public Defense – $6,554,478
• Homeland Security/Emergency Management – $2,229,623

Increases and highlights:

CORRECTIONS – total for institutions is $280,044,184. This is $3,100,593 over FY15:

• There is an increase of $295,000 over FY15 for the Department of Corrections for County Confinement. County confinement costs are paid to county jails when they hold state prisoners who are awaiting hearings on parole violations, for example.
• There is an increase of $1,421,982 over FY15 for Ft. Madison. Hopefully, this will allow the Department of Corrections to maintain staff and current level of services.
• There is an increase of $678,611 for the Mitchellville Prison. This is the Governor’s recommendation. This is for staffing at the new buildings at Mitchellville.
• There is an increase of $1 million for Oakdale for pharmaceuticals. This also is the Governor’s recommendation.
• This bill does not increase the appropriations to Clarinda and Mt. Pleasant, which is the same as proposed in the Governor’s budget.

COMMUNITY BASED CORRECTIONS – total is $91,540,626. Throughout the CBCs there is a $1,308,420 increase over FY15:

• Most of that increase ($943,159) will go to the fifth District CBC which supervises the most offenders and supervises 29 percent of the high risk offenders. It is hoped that this will help them maintain staff necessary to supervise those who need the oversight.
• Every other CBC is receiving a small increase over FY15 to help maintain current level of services, including drug courts.

DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY – total is $92,457,330. This is $546,780 over FY15:

• An increase of $150,000 and 1 FTE for anti-human trafficking efforts
• An increase of $396,780 for narcotics enforcement to replace expiring federal funds
• An increase of 8.5 FTEs using federal grant money for the Division of Criminal Investigation to reduce the DNA backlog. It currently takes an average of six months to process DNA from crime scenes. Three of the positions will help reduce the backlog in fingerprinting and processing of criminal history requests.

ATTORNEY GENERAL – non General Fund:

• The Attorney General’s office will receive monies remaining in the mortgage settlement fund for anti-human trafficking efforts, estimated to be between $600,000 and $700,000. The money will be used for grants to local law enforcement for overtime efforts related to fighting human trafficking and for training of law enforcement.
• The bill also allows the Victims Assistance Division to use victim compensation fund monies for emergency relocation and housing assistance for victims of crime who are in need of emergency housing. [Committee 4/23: 12-5 (party line; Bisignano, Chapman, Schneider, Zumbach excused); Floor 4/29: 26-24 (party line)]

SF 498 is the FY16 Administration and Regulation Budget. SF 498 appropriates $51.8 million for FY16, which is $1.2 million lower than the Governor’s recommendation. Highlights include:

• Terrace Hill Operations – No shift of $93,000 in funding for Terrance Hill Quarters from the Governor’s Office to the Department of Administrative Services.
• Governor’s Office Operations – No Increase for FY16
• Department of Management – No increase for FY16
• Secretary of State – $47, 225 to implement Safe at Home program
• Public Information Board – An increase of $50,000 for an additional FTE to assist with the increased number of claims.
• Department of Commerce (Revolving Fund) – Gives spending authority
• Banking Division – Increase of $350,000 from the Commerce Revolving Fund for FY16 to allow for the hiring and training of six additional new bank examiners (FY16 and FY17). Covers salary adjustment to compete with private market rates and retirement payouts, and to update training for existing examiners.
• Insurance Division – Increase of $226,000 from the Commerce Revolving Fund for FY16 to allow the Division to be fully staffed.
• Utilities Division – An increase of $231,000 from the Commerce Revolving Fund to cover salaries and training of three positions. Funding for these positions is being requested to cover retirements.
• Department of Human Rights – Transfers $100,000 of the $103,000 carry forward from Professional Licensing and Regulation Bureau to the Individual Development Accounts.
• Confidential Personnel Settlement Agreements – Like last year, language is included to prohibit confidential and financial personnel settlement agreements. [Committee 4/23: 12-5 (party line; Bisignano, Chapman, Schneider, Zumbach excused); Floor 4/29: 26-24 (party line)]

SF 499 is the FY16 and FY17 Economic Development budget, which provides appropriations to the Department of Cultural Affairs, the Economic Development Authority, the Iowa Finance Authority, the Public Employment Relations Board, the Department of Workforce Development, and economic development programs at our state universities. The bill appropriates $44.3 million for FY16, which is $225,000 lower than the Governor’s recommendation but $1.7 million higher than FY15. Also, the bill appropriates $27.9 million in other funds. The FTEs are the same as authorized in the FY15 budget bill. FY17 appropriations are at 50 percent of the FY 16 appropriations.

Highlights include:

• Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA) receives status quo funding.
• Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA) does receive some increases over FY15. There is a $150,000 increase to support international trade assisting Iowa small businesses to expand sales to both national and international markets. In addition, there is a requirement that IEDA transfer $100,000 (new money for FY16) to the Department of Transportation (DOT) for the new Iowa Employment Rides Fund. In addition, IEDA receives a new appropriation for support of the Home Base Iowa marketing and promotion initiative that seeks to increase the hiring of returning veterans by Iowa companies. Even though this a new line item appropriation, Home Base marketing is not new. IEDA has been using some of their current funds for this purpose. The Governor did recommend a new appropriation for a business-to-business portal service; this bill does not appropriate moneys for that purpose. There is an increase of $50,000 to the Iowa Commission on Volunteer Service and $50,000 for Councils of Governments. STEM Internships receive status quo funding of $1 million and the World Food Prize receives status quo at $800,000.
• The Iowa Finance Authority receives status quo funding for the rent subsidy program.
• Iowa Workforce Development is status quo funding except for the increases to the Labor Division. There is a $668,877 increase for OSHA inspectors (Governor recommended). In addition, there is an increase of $175,000 for the Labor Commissioner to hire additional wage investigators and support staff to investigate wage claims.
• The Public Employment Relations Board is receiving status quo funding.
• The bill appropriates $33.9 million in other funds (Skilled Worker and Job Creation Fund, Workforce Development Fund, UI Reserve Fund, and Penalty & Interest). This is the same level as the Governor’s recommendation.

Language of interest:

• Inserts language from SF 234 into the bill (Iowa Employment Rides). The bill establishes an Iowa Employment Rides Initiative to provide funds to public transit systems for programs and services that provide employment transportation to Iowans. The program will be administered by the DOT. Employment transportation can be an urban or a rural program or service that provides an individual with transportation solely to or from a workplace.
• An Employment Rides Fund is created under the control of DOT. The money in the fund will provide grants under the Iowa Employment Rides Initiative. Awards will be granted on a competitive basis. A grant cannot exceed $150,000. The grant application must contain a commitment from the public transit system of at least a dollar-for-dollar match.
• Inserts language from SF 459 into the bill (ALJ merit employment). SF 459 affects the employment of administrative law judges, workers’ compensation commissioners and the administrative hearings division of the Department of Inspections & Appeals.
• Changes language in the Iowa Code regarding brownfield tax credit projects. There are and have been projects in the past that have legitimate reasons to extend their project timelines, instead of coming to the Legislature to ask for a special Code change, we are allowing the Brownfield Redevelopment Advisory Council and the Iowa Economic Development Board to decide on those extensions.
• Inserts language relating to franchise agreements. The Code does not allow a franchisor to require a franchisee to purchase goods, supplies, inventories or services exclusively from the franchisor or from a source of supply specifically designated by the franchisor where the goods, supplies, inventories or services of comparable quality are available from sources other than those designated by the franchisor. The Code does, however, allow a franchisor to publish a list of approved supplies of goods, supplies, inventories or services or require that such goods, supplies, inventories or services comply with specifications and standards prescribed by the franchisor. The bill adds that such specifications and standards must be customary and reasonable.
• The Code currently provides that this limitation on the sources of goods and services in franchise agreements does not apply to principal goods, supplies, inventories or services manufactured by the franchisor. The bill adds an exception to the limitation for motor oil that is labeled in accordance with the requirements of the American petroleum institute.
• Policy language from Senate File 233, which passed the Senate 49-0, is included. The language relates to flood mitigation and reinvestment districts and the creation of a nuisance fund at the Iowa Economic Development Authority to grant loans to cities to eliminate blight and redevelopment abandoned buildings. [Committee 4/23: 12-6 (party line; Bisignano, Chapman, Zumbach excused); Floor 4/29: 26-24 (party line)]

HF 630 is the FY16 and FY17 Federal block grant bill. It appropriates $172 million in Federal Fiscal Year 2016 and $172.5 million in Federal Fiscal Year 2017. The federal funding levels specified are based on projected spending authority yet to be authorized by Congress. [Committee 4/23: 18-0 (Bisignano, Chapman, Zumbach excused); Floor 4/29: 50-0]

COMMITTEE ACTION:

SSB 1282 implements federal law signed by the President on September 29, 2014, requiring all states to enact amendments to the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act “officially adopted as of September 30, 2008 by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL)” (referred to as UIFSA 2008). UIFSA 2008 is widely supported by the child support community because it will improve interstate case processing and ensure that more child support collections are paid to families who live in different states and countries. Iowa is required to pass UIFSA 2008 during the 2015 legislative session.

The federal Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) is requiring states to submit a Title IV-D state plan amendment certifying that the state has enacted UIFSA 2008 verbatim by the effective date noted in P.L. 113-183. A state must have an approved Title IV-D state plan to receive federal funding under Title IV-D of the Social Security Act (Act). State plan disapproval would result in immediate suspension of all federal payments for the state’s child support enforcement program. For FY14, the federal share of expenditures for the Iowa IV-D program, including incentive payments, was $36.9 million. This will result in a loss of 307 FTEs (from current 449 FTEs) and an approximately $200 million reduction in child support recoveries. Additionally, failure to have an approved Title IV-D state plan would mean Iowa’s child support program would no longer have access to federal data systems or be able to use federal enforcement authorities under Title IV-D of the Act, including, but not limited to the Federal Parent Locator Service, National Directory of New Hires, Multi-State Financial Institution Data Match, IRS data, SSA data, passport sanctions and federal tax offsets. All together, the loss of federal funding and access to federal systems and authorities would further reduce the Iowa child support program’s ability to collect child support for Iowans.

In addition, the chief executive officer of a state must certify that the state will operate a child support program under an approved Title IV-D plan as a condition for eligibility for a Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant under Title IV-A of the Act. Therefore, Iowa’s TANF funds of $131 million (reflecting the Governor’s FY16 recommendation), may also be at risk. Losing TANF funds will reduce or eliminate many programs and result in the loss of an additional 472 FTEs.

The final division of the bill relates to genetic testing in proceedings to establish paternity. The amended language will allow the genetic testing specimens or results of the mother and child to be re-used, rather than having the mother and child re-submit samples for actions against each subsequent alleged father, which is more convenient and customer-friendly. [4/29: 21-0]

HF 637  appropriates a total of $365.2 million to the Department of Transportation (DOT) in FY16. This includes $49.9 million from the Road use Tax Fund (RUTF) and $315.3 million from the Primary Road Fund (PRF).  With the exception of certain capital appropriations, the FY17 appropriations are funded at 50 per cent of the FY16 levels. HF 637 passed the House April 21 on a vote of 93-2. Highlights include:

• $1.2 million increase to the Operations Division.
• $500,000 increase to the Planning, Program & Modal Division.
• $1.3 million increase to the Motor Vehicle Division.
• $350,000 increase to the Performance & Technology Division.
• $116,000 increase for DOT payments to the Department of Administrative Services (DAS).
• $730,000 increase for DOT payments to DAS for workers compensation payments.
• $39,000 increase for payments to the State Auditor.
• $300,000 to support the Traffic & Criminal Software (TraCS) and Mobile Architecture for Communications Handling software programs.
• $100,000 increase for the maintenance of field facilities in the Motor Vehicle Division.
• $2.9 million increase to the Highway Division.
• A new $250,000 appropriation for the maintenance of rest areas.
• A new $150,000 for improvements to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
• A new appropriation of $2 million to replace the fire alarm system for the DOT main campus.
• A new appropriation of $5.4 million to create a combined garage facility for Muscatine and Wapello counties. [4/29: 12-9 (party-line, except Bisignano voting “no”)]