House Republicans filed a Letter of Dissent with the Speaker of the House today after the passage of SF 376, a proposal to bond for money for projects in the state. Republicans state that the bill is unconstitutional, citing Article VII Section 2 of the Constitution of the State of Iowa, which states:

The state may contract debts to supply casual deficits or failures in revenues, or to meet expenses not otherwise provided for; but the aggregate amount of such debts, direct and contingent, whether contracted by virtue of one or more acts of the general assembly, or at different periods of time, shall never exceed the sum of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars; and the money arising from the creation of such debts, shall be applied to the purpose for which it was obtained, or to repay the debts so contracted, and to no other purpose whatever.

SF 376 bonds for $475 million, which is clearly above the amount in Article VII.

To read the full letter, click here.

Yesterday House Republicans made two efforts to get a vote in the House on marriage but were stopped both times by the Majority party.

Republican Leader, Kraig Paulsen, brought up a motion to pull House Joint Resolution 6 out of committee and to the floor for debate, but was ruled out of order.

Later in the day Representative Christopher Rants filed an amendment to the Health and Human Services Budget bill that would have stripped the language and replaced with the language of House Joint Resolution 6. It was ruled non-germane, which was expected, and then a vote to suspend the rules and debate the marriage issue failed on a party-line vote.

To hear Rep. Rants floor speech on the issue, use the player below:

Today’s scheduled debate is set for around 5:30 pm. The following bills are on the schedule. Some have a bill analysis done for them. To see the analysis, click the bill number below. This schedule may change at any time and this post will be updated when possible.

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SF 254 — A bill for an act requiring the preparation of a report by the department of veterans affairs relating to the activities of county commissions of veteran affairs. (Formerly SSB 1005.) By Veterans Affairs. [SIMILAR/COMPANION To HF 326 ]

SF 291 — A bill for an act providing for the recognition and promotion of certified retirement communities. (Formerly SSB 1245.) By Local Government.

HF 522 — A bill for an act concerning preferential hiring treatment by government for veterans. (Formerly HSB 9) By Veterans Affairs. [SIMILAR/COMPANION To SF 186 ]

SF 360 — A bill for an act relating to the accreditation of school districts and nonpublic schools and the reorganization of school districts. (Formerly SSB 1101.) By Education.

SF 339 — A bill for an act relating to wastewater treatment and providing an effective date. (Formerly SSB 1234.) By Environment & Energy Independence.

See what else is on the debate schedule…

PUBLIC HEARING: Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Location: House of Representatives Chamber, Capitol Building, Des Moines

Time: 7:30 pm-9:30 pm tonight.

If you can attend the public hearing at the State Capitol on Tuesday at please join us.

EMAIL AND PHONE CALLS
If you are not able to make it but still want to make a difference please call and email your elected officials today.

House Switchboard: (515) 281-3221

Senate Switchboard: (515) 281-3371

Email Lookup: http://www.legis.state.ia.us/aspx/Legislators/LegislatorInfo.aspx

LISTEN TO THE HEARING ONLINE
You can listen to the public debate online Tuesday night through this website http://www.legis.state.ia.us/Audio/Audio.html and click on house audio.

Today’s scheduled debate is set for around 2 pm this afternoon. The following bills are on the schedule. Some have a bill analysis done for them. To see the analysis, click the bill number below. This schedule may change at any time and this post will be updated when possible.

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SF 112 — A bill for an act providing for presentation of flags flown at half-staff over the state capitol in recognition of the death of a member of the armed forces of the United States while serving on active duty. By Johnson, Reynolds, Kapucian, et al.

SF 150 — A bill for an act relating to notice of claims and the statute of limitation period in an action involving a claim against a special charter city. (Formerly SSB 1083.) By Judiciary.

SF 187 — A bill for an act providing for the issuance of special deer hunting licenses to residents who are nonambulatory. (Formerly SSB 1174.) By Natural Resources.

SF 207 — A bill for an act relating to the Iowa finance authority by providing immunity for board members, providing administrative authority for the executive director, eliminating duties of the council on homelessness, defining projects under the bond bank program, and defining assets in, and providing for the use of moneys in, the housing trust fund. (Formerly SSB 1165.) By Economic Growth.

SF 253 — A bill for an act relating to the time allowed certain active duty military personnel to file a state income tax return and including a retroactive applicability date provision. (Formerly SF 85.) By Veterans Affairs.

SF 380 — A bill for an act relating to the practices and procedures of the department of public safety including school inspections, gaming floor or wagering area restrictions, interception of communications, and peace officers acting with federal agents, and providing penalties. (Formerly SSB 1253.) By Judiciary.

Today’s scheduled debate is set for around 3 pm this afternoon. The following bills are on the schedule. Most have a bill analysis done for them. To see the analysis, click the bill number below. This schedule may change at any time and this post will be updated when possible.

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HF 687 — A bill for an act relating to certain reporting requirements or actions required of the department of education, school districts, accredited nonpublic schools, and community colleges. (Formerly HSB 26) By Education.

HF 278 — A bill for an act requiring notification of occupancy rates for certain premises licensed to permit on-premises consumption of alcohol. By Ford.

HF 503 — A bill for an act concerning the definition of veteran. (Formerly HSB 65) By Veterans Affairs.

HF 703 — A bill for an act relating to the indicators used to assess the effectiveness of school ready children grants under the community empowerment initiative. (Formerly HF 357) By Education. [SIMILAR/COMPANION To HF 357 ]

HF 758 — A bill for an act relating to damages recoverable for the wrongful or negligent injury or death of a person. (Formerly HSB 172) By Judiciary.

HF 759 — A bill for an act requiring counties and cities with flood hazard areas within their boundaries to participate in the national flood insurance program. (Formerly HSB 181) By Rebuild Iowa and Disaster Recovery.

HF 776 — A bill for an act prohibiting the use of false caller identification for campaign purposes and providing penalties. (Formerly HF 37) By State Government. [SIMILAR/COMPANION To HF 37 ]

HF 801 — A bill for an act relating to the establishment of a searchable budget database website for the public to access the details of the expenditure of state tax revenues and a searchable tax rate database for the public to access the details of each tax rate for all taxing districts in the state. (Formerly HF 74) By State Government. [SIMILAR/COMPANION To HF 410, SF 102, HF 74 ]

HF 213 — A bill for an act relating to electrician licensure by modifying existing provisions and specifying new classifications. (Formerly HSB 52) By State Government. [SIMILAR/COMPANION To SF 159 ]

HF 732 — A bill for an act relating to the duties and operations of the department of education and local school boards. (Formerly HSB 22) By Education.

Updated: Debate is scheduled for this evening at about 6:45 pm. The Schedule of Debate has the following bills listed. This can change throughout the day as we go through debate. This post will be updated when possible to reflect any changes.

Most of the bills have a Bill Analysis written for them by the republican research staff. Click on the bill number to view the analysis if one exists:

HF 580 — A bill for an act relating to reimbursement of nonparticipating providers for eligible services provided to IowaCare program members. (Formerly HF 354) By Human Resources. [SIMILAR/COMPANION To HF 354, SF 11 ]

HF 682 — A bill for an act requiring a postelection audit after each general election and including effective and applicability date provisions. (Formerly HF 396) By State Government. [SIMILAR/COMPANION To HF 396 ]

HF 708 — A bill for an act relating to absentee ballots delivered to applicants who are patients or residents of hospitals or health care facilities. (Formerly HF 274) By State Government. [SIMILAR/COMPANION To HF 274 ]

HF 714 — A bill for an act relating to the uniform athlete agents Act and providing remedies and penalties. (Formerly HSB 169) By Judiciary. [SIMILAR/COMPANION To SF 199 ]
SF 199 PASSED ON FILE – SUBSTITUTE

HF 552 — A bill for an act concerning the appointment of airport commissioners. (Formerly HF 28) By Transportation. [SIMILAR/COMPANION To HF 28 ]

HF 722 — A bill for an act relating to regulation of certain conservation and recreation activities under the jurisdiction of the department of natural resources, modifying fees, and making penalties applicable. (Formerly HSB 136) By Natural Resources. [SIMILAR/COMPANION To SF 388 ]

HF 330 — A bill for an act relating to the authorized uses of local exchange service information by specified individuals and entities. (Formerly HSB 94) By Public Safety. [SIMILAR/COMPANION To SF 154 ]

Find out what else is possibly being debated today…

UPDATED: The following 11 bills are going to be debated starting at 4:00 pm today. Some have a Bill Analysis which you can find by clicking on the bill number. If the bill number isn’t clickable, the bill does not currently have a House Republican Staff Analysis done, but this may be updated through the debate:

HF 672 — A bill for an act relating to individual development accounts available to certain persons with low income and providing effective and applicability date provisions. (Formerly HSB 227) By Human Resources.

HF 315 — A bill for an act creating an Iowa collaboration for youth development council and state of Iowa youth advisory council in the department of human rights. (Formerly HSB 8 ) By Human Resources.

HF 552 — A bill for an act concerning the appointment of airport commissioners. (Formerly HF 28) By Transportation. [SIMILAR/COMPANION To HF 28 ]

HF 735 — A bill for an act providing for the stockpiling of dry manure originating from confinement feeding operations, making penalties applicable, and providing an effective date. (Formerly HF 327) By Agriculture. [SIMILAR/COMPANION To SF 406, HF 327, SF 174 ]

HF 477 — A bill for an act relating to declaration of value forms for the conveyance of real estate by making social security numbers and tax identification numbers confidential. (Formerly HSB 154) By Commerce.

HF 502 — A bill for an act providing for petition and election to approve the use of increased local sales and services tax revenues to fund urban renewal projects. (Formerly HF 111) By Local Government. [SIMILAR/COMPANION To HF 111 ]

HF 562 — A bill for an act relating to the state child care advisory council. (Formerly HF 383) By Human Resources. [SIMILAR/COMPANION To HF 383 ]

HF 580 — A bill for an act relating to reimbursement of nonparticipating providers for eligible services provided to IowaCare program members. (Formerly HF 354) By Human Resources. [SIMILAR/COMPANION To HF 354, SF 11 ]

HF 682 — A bill for an act requiring a postelection audit after each general election and including effective and applicability date provisions. (Formerly HF 396) By State Government. [SIMILAR/COMPANION To HF 396 ]

HF 708 — A bill for an act relating to absentee ballots delivered to applicants who are patients or residents of hospitals or health care facilities. (Formerly HF 274) By State Government. [SIMILAR/COMPANION To HF 274 ]

HF 714 — A bill for an act relating to the uniform athlete agents Act and providing remedies and penalties. (Formerly HSB 169) By Judiciary. [SIMILAR/COMPANION To SF 199 ]

The House has spent the last two days going through a large number of bills on the House floor. Most of these bills require very little discussion on the floor and don’t contain much of controversy.

A number of them have a Bill Analysis up on our website. Please refer to that section of our site to read more on a bill you may be interested in that has received floor action yesterday or today.

Bill Analysis section

On Thursday, February 26, House Republicans offered amendment H-1086 to House File 414, the FY 2009 deappropriations and supplemental spending bill.

Amendment H-1086 would simply require the Department of Administrative Services (DAS) to stop purchasing new vehicles for the state vehicle fleet for the remainder of FY 2009 (which ends on June 30, 2009) and all of FY 2010.

Iowa has 2,956 cars and trucks and on average the state sells off and replaces about 600 of them every year. DAS estimates that it spends $18 million in annual maintenance and other expenses to operate the fleet, which is valued at $17.6 million.

These vehicles are not state patrol cars or DOT road maintenance vehicles – those belong to separate fleets and we did not propose changing the way those fleets are operated.

The DAS fleet is only vehicles for state government bureaucrats. Obviously, state government employees need to travel. However, maintaining a state vehicle fleet is a very inefficient way to accomplish that objective when other options such as mileage reimbursement or package deals from rental car companies are available.

Unfortunately the amendment was voted down along party lines. Had the amendment been approved, the state’s general fund would have saved between $9 million and $12 million over the next 16 months.

You can view the vote details here: House Journal Page 599