This Week at the Statehouse - Week 5

Five weeks of the legislative session are done and new bills continue to be filed daily for consideration. This link will provide a complete list of bills the Board of Regents are tracking that affect higher education: https://www.legis.iowa.gov/lobbyist/reports/declarations (in the box marked as lobbyist, type in Mary Braun).

This week was shorter as lawmakers stayed home on Monday to participate in the Iowa Caucuses that evening. The rest of the was filled with a lot of subcommittee and committee work on policy bills. Wednesday was STEM Day at the Capitol. There were students from across the state showcasing their STEM projects to lawmakers. Governor Reynolds and four lawmakers gave remarks. A big thank you to the UNI employees who work for the Governor’s STEM Advisory Council for all their work in putting this event together every year.

Next Friday is the Legislature’s first funnel date, when Senate policy bills need to come out of a Senate committee and House policy bills need to come out of a House committee to remain eligible for debate this legislative session. This date does not apply to tax, spending and government oversight bills. After Feb. 18 we’ll have a better sense of which bills are still alive that would have implications for UNI.

Any work by the lawmakers on the budget bills is happening behind the scenes. No budget bills that pertain to UNI have been introduced to date.

Upcoming Dates

February 18 – First Funnel – Bills not reported out of their originating committee by this date are no longer eligible for consideration (does not apply to budget, tax or oversight bills)

March 7 – UNI Day at the Capitol

March 18 – Second Funnel – House bills not passed out of Senate committees and Senate bills not passed out of House committees are no longer eligible for consideration (does not apply to budget, tax or oversight bills)

April 19 – 100th Calendar Day (lawmaker per diem expenses end)

If you have any questions, please email me at mary.braun@uni.edu.