by CBI Lobbyist Jeff Boeyink - Partner, LS2 Group Overview / Major Events The Iowa General Assembly concluded its business on Saturday evening, May 5, with House passage of SF 2417, the final version of tax reform / reduction. House, Senate, and Governor agree on tax reform and reduction Late last week the House, Senate, and Governor reached final agreement on the details of their tax reform and reduction effort. That agreement became SF 2417 and it was the last bill to clear the Legislature before they headed home to face the voters. Here are the highlights of SF 2417:
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Here’s a quick list of some of the major legislation that made it through the General Assembly in 2018:
- Tax Reform / Reduction – SF 2417: See earlier details.
- Future Ready Iowa – HF 2458: Creates the Future Ready Iowa program to fill the state’s skills gap between available jobs and existing workforce skill sets.
- Energy Policy Overhaul – SF 2311: Makes various changes to energy efficiency mandates to generate $100 million in annual customer savings, makes it easier to bring natural gas to rural Iowa, and better aligns projected costs to revenue in rate cases.
- Opioid Omnibus – HF 2377: Makes a number of changes regarding the regulation of opioids, the practices of prescribing practitioners, and the prescription drug monitoring program.
- The final tax legislation, HF 2417, did NOT include our language regarding tax equity between banks and credit unions. It did not make the final cut as House leaders did not believe they had the votes necessary to pass a bill with this provision included (it did pass in the earlier Senate bill).
- However, other legislation passed during the last two days of the Session did include two important provisions regarding credit unions: (1) requires the University of Iowa Credit Union to changes its name and prohibits the use of any Regents institutions in a credit union name; and (2) moves collection of the Monies and Credits tax paid by credit unions from their local counties to the Iowa Department of Revenue and clarifies the amount of tax owed (functionally, as an example, the UICU will see their tax increase from $600,000 to $1.8 million).
- Successfully supported legislation (HF 2171) that allows a bank to use an electronic instrument to stop payment.
- Successfully supported legislation (HF 2234) that shortens the time period for redeeming property in a foreclosure situation and allows a bank to get such property on the market for sale more quickly.