Government Affairs Weekly Report - Week 2: Jan. 15-18, 2018

by CBI Lobbyist Jeff Boeyink - Partner, LS2 Group
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The second week of Session contained very little news regarding forthcoming major initiatives but did see a great deal of activity as subcommittees were meeting at a fever pitch as there is clearly a sense of urgency in the Chambers and in the lobby regarding the need to move quickly.

That said, there are two significant issues that will likely be introduced in the next seven to 10 days that will have major implications for the telecommunications and energy sectors in Iowa:

• Legislation to codify two recent rulings from the Iowa Utilities Board regarding state jurisdiction over VoIP services on the Internet (defining VoIP as an information service rather than a communications service) and sweeping deregulation of the local telephone industry.
• Legislation designed to assist in the further development of the Iowa Energy Plan through a series of modernizations regarding utility ratemaking, encouraging the build out of more natural gas access in rural Iowa, and transmission lines.

Both of these efforts are expected to have broad industry support.
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Campaign Finance Reports due Today
Statewide candidates, legislative candidates, and political action committees in Iowa all have campaign finance reports due today (1/19) that detail their contributions received, money spent, and remaining cash on hand heading into the 2018 election year.

Most anticipated among the reports are those for the major gubernatorial candidates. While money is not the only measure of candidate strength, it is certainly an early test regarding the candidate’s appeal and work ethic.

While most campaigns will wait to actually file their reports until later in the day tomorrow, here are some highlights from campaign news clips that give us a glimpse of what we will find (all these numbers are for the 2017 calendar year):

Republicans

• Governor Kim Reynolds: Raised $3.7 million / cash on hand of $4.1 million
• Ron Corbett: Raised $856,000 / cash on hand of $575,000
• Steven Ray: Raised $3,100 / cash on hand of $445

Democrats

• Fred Hubbell: Raised in excess of $3 million/cash on hand not yet available
• Cathy Glasson: Raised in excess of $1.1 million/cash on hand not yet available
• Nate Boulton: Raised in excess of $1.0 million/cash on hand not yet available
• Reports for the other Democrat candidates not yet available

State Revenues run ahead of projections through first six months
Six months into the FY18 budget year and total revenues into the state’s general fund are running ahead of original budget projections. The revenue estimate for revenue growth in FY 18 is 3.7% and through December state revenues had growth by 5.0%.

While personal income taxes (+4.3% YTD) and sales/use taxes (+4.1% YTD) are growing just slightly above estimates, corporate income tax collections are growing at more than double their estimate (+17.1% YTD, compared to an estimate of 7.8%).

The state’s Revenue Estimating Conference will meet again in March of this year to review and issue a revised estimate at that time.

Efforts on Behalf of Community Bankers of Iowa:

• Met with Senator Feenstra to discuss tax equity issues amongst financial institutions. The Senator expressed an interest in addressing this issue in the Senate version of tax reform this session. The number one priority for CBI and IBA this year is tax parity with credit unions.​
• Presented to the CBI Board and provided an update on CBI priorities for the 2018 Session and prospects for tax reform.
• Attended subcommittee for SSB 3014, a bill that is being amended to change provisions regarding mortgage releases (codifies a recent court ruling). This bill is very friendly to community banks.

View the Legislative Bill Tracker.