Minute with Mike, Week Eight

From My Desk

Week 8 is ending here at the State House and with it is the end of funnel week. As you’ve read in the last two newsletters, funnel week is the deadline for bills to be passed out of Standing Committee. Bills that haven’t made it that far are referred to as “dead.” Non-policy bills that go through the committees of Appropriations and Ways and Means do not have a funnel to worry about.

COVID-19 Relief Bill

This week, the Iowa House passed SF 364, a COVID-19 relief package for Iowa taxpayers and businesses affected by COVID-19. This bill provides 128 million dollars in tax relief to Iowans by exempting pandemic-related grants and unemployment benefits from state income tax.

This bill will provide meaningful financial relief for Iowans hit hard by the pandemic. Since it was government that forced shutdowns which led to job and income loss, House Republicans firmly believe that taxing pandemic relief money is not the right thing for Iowa. Here's how we’re paying for it.

1. The funds to pay for this come from the Taxpayer Relief Fund, which has $90.2 million currently in its account in FY 2021.

2. The additional funds will come from the ending balance.

3. After the Dec. 2020 Revenue Estimating Conference, the 2021 fiscal year ending balance was projected to be $443.4 million.

Election Bill

Last week, we passed an election integrity and security bill. The election in 2020 saw a record-breaking turnout in the State of Iowa with smooth administration, due to Iowa’s strong election system. House File 590 builds on Iowa’s strong track record of integrity and security when it comes to elections.

The Republicans did not want to wait for irregularities or cracks in the system to appear before acting. HF 590 ensures the integrity of the election in several ways, but one of the most important is confirming that election officials are held to a high standard of performance and establishing recourse for when an elected official defies the laws of the state or does not act in the best interest of the voter.

HF 590 creates and strengthens election misconduct penalties for any elected official or person who willfully fails to conduct their election duties, fails to perform proper voter registration list maintenance, or interferes with a voter or authorized person at a polling location. During the pandemic and as more and more Iowans are voting by absentee ballots, it is important that the accuracy and validity of each absentee ballot is secured.

This bill increases the amount of reporting on absentee ballot requests received, absentee ballots sent and completed absentee ballots received by all county auditors and the Secretary of State to be published daily once ballots are mailed.

Additionally, each county auditor’s office will have a secure drop box that will be emptied and recorded at least four times a day. The drop box will be on county property with video surveillance to monitor all activity at the drop box.

The drop box will be securely fastened to a stationary surface, and be locked with a tamper evident seal. The bill also changes the period for early absentee voting, early satellite voting, and early in person voting to 20 days before election day, giving Iowans 21 days to be able to cast their ballots in elections.

With that change, Iowa will still have a longer early voting period than 26 other states. Additionally, the bill will conform poll closing times to 8 p.m. for all elections. Even while closing polls at 8 p.m., Iowa’s polls will stay open later than the national average of 7:30 p.m.

With these changes, it is important to think of potential voters who can’t leave work to go vote. Current law entitles voters who cannot get three consecutive hours off work to vote, excused time off work without penalty to vote.

This bill will lower that time, so if a worker cannot get two consecutive hours to vote, they would be entitled to excused time off work to vote. To ensure uniformity throughout Iowa, this bill will apply in law that only absentee ballots received by the county auditor before 8 pm on election night will be counted.

This will not affect military absentee ballots, anyone oversees or who participates in the Secretary of State’s Safe at Home program. If a voter arrives to a polling location after polls are closed they are not allowed to vote, this also applies to absentee voters.

There are plenty of ways for a voter to plan to deliver their ballot with 21 days to vote and a multitude of options of for returning an absentee ballot. By enforcing a strict deadline for the absentee ballots, it guarantees that every county has the same standard for counting ballots.

This policy is not unique, in fact three states who do mail voting only (Colorado, Hawaii and Oregon) use this standard for counting ballots.

Bottle Bill

Many of you have contacted me about the progress of the bottle bill. There are currently two bottle bills — one in the Senate and one in the House. We passed the House version of the bottle bill out of State Government on March 4, so it could survive the funnel.

HSB 252 does a few things. It allows stores to refuse to accept and refund containers if they have a relationship with a nearby redemption center, adds civil penalties and enforcement for violations of this code chapter and makes it easer to start a redemption center.

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Please let me know what you are thinking! Feel free to contact me at my legislative email at mike.sexton@legis.iowa.gov.