Jan 17, 2020

This Week at the Statehouse – Week 1

Monday, January 13, 2020, started the second session of the 88th Iowa General Assembly. The majority of the week was spent convening organizational committee meetings and holding three joint sessions to hear from Governor Reynolds giving the Condition of the State, Acting Chief Justice Wiggins giving the State of the Judiciary, and Major General Corell giving the Condition of the National Guard.

The Iowa House leadership has changed. Monday started with the swearing in of the new House Speaker Pat Grassley. Former Speaker Linda Upmeyer decided not to seek re-election this November so stepped down. There is also a new House Majority Leader, Matt Windschidtl, who has replaced Representative Chris Hagenow. House Minority Leader Todd Prichard remains in his position. The Senate has the same leadership as last year, Senate President Charles Schneider, Senate Majority Leader Jack Whitver, and Senate Minority Leader Janet Petersen. This is the fourth year that the Republicans hold what is called a tri-fecta: the Governor, the Senate (32 Republicans and 18 Democrats) and the House (53 Republicans and 47 Democrats).

With 2020 being an election year, we anticipate most members will want to be done early to start campaigning. This is a 100-day session, which means the last day lawmakers will receive their daily per diem is April 21.

Governor Reynolds released her budget recommendations on Tuesday. She fully funds UNI's request for a major renovation and expansion of the Industrial Technology Center, a project that would expand the university's capacity to provide qualified applicants to industries struggling to meet Iowa's employment needs in high-demand fields. UNI requested the state fund $39.7 million, of the $43.9 million project, with a three-year investment including $1 million funded in the first year, $15.9 million in the second and $22.8 million in the third. This is the third year we've been requesting this funding so THANK YOU to EVERYONE who has helped in our lobbying efforts!

Governor Reynolds also recommended $3 million of our $4 million request that UNI would use to prevent tuition increases for Iowa students in the coming year.

Reynolds' budget proposal is the first step in creating the state's budget. In total, the governor's budget proposal includes:

  • $102.7 million for general education (a $3 million increase)
  • $39.7 million over three years for the ITC renovation and expansion
  • $6.4 million for STEM education (no change)
  • $1 million for economic development (no change)
  • $400,000 for Additive Manufacturing (no change)
  • $900,000 from the Regents Innovation Fund (no change)
  • $175,256 for the recycling and reuse center (no change)
  • $125,302 for real estate education (no change)

Additional information can be found in Governor Reynold’s Budget brief and Governor Reynold’s Budget book.

Details of UNI’s funding priorities can be found on our Panther Caucus website.

The Board of Regents also held their legislative breakfast on Wednesday with the nine board members, three university presidents and their student government leaders, and the superintendent of Iowa Education of Deaf & Blind. Here are photos of President Nook and our NISG student leaders with some of the lawmakers that stopped down to visit.

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