WHITVER: End in Sight for the 2013 Legislative Session

The 2013 Legislative session is scheduled for 110 days, which would make the final day Friday, May 3. We started the session with three main priorities: Education Reform, Property Tax Reform, and the State Budget. Both chambers have been working diligently on all three issues and have passed different versions of these bills. To this point, there has not been agreement between the House and the Senate, so these priorities have not been signed into law yet. However, the outlook is promising for all three issues.

When the House and the Senate cannot agree on a particular issue, the bill is sent to a conference committee. This is a special committee, which consists of members from both parties and both chambers, designed to analyze the bills passed out of each chamber and come to a compromise solution that can pass both chambers and become law.

For example, we have been working on property tax reform for three years now. The House has passed a version that includes reductions in commercial, agriculture, and residential property taxes. The Senate has passed a version that only offers a tax credit for commercial property taxes, but does not affect residential or agriculture. Because the two chambers have not agreed on the best solution, it was sent to a conference committee to iron out a compromise.

In order to close session for the year, the only thing we absolutely must do is the budget. However, it appears that both chambers would like to pass both property tax reform and education reform this session. Because of the amount of time it will take to finish these conference committees, it will be extremely difficult to be done by our scheduled end date.

While we have gone past the scheduled end date every year I have been in the Senate, I am hopeful that we complete our work as soon as possible. In 2011, we went until June 30th, which is the final day before the government would shut down if we don't pass a budget. I believe both Democrats and Republicans are working hard to prevent this type of last minute showdown.

The other big issue that has been a major area of discussion is whether or not Iowa should accept Medicaid Expansion from the Affordable Healthcare Act. The Governor has designed an alternative plan that would provide healthcare for low income Iowans, but his plan would need to be approved by the Federal Government because it is based on Federal law. It appears as though we will not know whether or not the Federal Government accepts his plan until later this year. For this reason, we may have to reconvene in a special session to address this issue later this year if a compromise isn't reached before we adjourn.

As always, feel free to contact me at jack@jackwhitver.com with any questions or concerns. I appreciate all of the emails and phone calls with your input!

Sincerely,

Senator Jack Whitver

Senate District 19

jack@jackwhitver.com

Senate Phone: (515) 281-3371