Mar 25, 2022

This Week at the Statehouse – Week 11

The House proposed education budget, HF 2575, freezes all three Regent universities’ operating budgets for the next fiscal year, FY 2023, which starts July 1, 2022. Instead, the bill creates a new scholarship program for Iowa resident students who attend a Regent university. The House is appropriating $12 million to the Iowa College Student Aid Commission to administer this new scholarship program. All the funds will be for students in "high demand" fields as determined by College Student Aid and Iowa Workforce Development, in consultation with the Regent universities. Half of the scholarship funding would be available for students who want to be teachers.  Full-time students can receive $2,500 per semester for 3 semesters and an additional $2,500 if they are employed in a high demand field in Iowa for a year.

As it relates to UNI’s budget line-items, the House proposed education budget bill HF 2575 and their economic development budget bill HF 2564 do the following:

  • Freezes UNI’s general operating budget; UNI had requested an additional $4 million investment (HF 2575).
  • Appropriates $300,000 for the new degree attainment program UNI@IACC (Iowa Community Colleges); UNI had requested a total of $1.6 million (HF 2575).
  • Status quo appropriation of $6.35 million for STEM education (HF 2575)
  • Status quo appropriation of $172,768 for the recycling and reuse center (HF 2575)
  • Status quo appropriation of $123,523 for real estate education (HF 2575)
  • Status quo appropriation of $1.1 million for economic development (HF 2564)
  • Status quo appropriation of $394,321 for UNI’s additive manufacturing (HF 2564)
  • Status quo appropriation of $900,000 from the Regents Innovation Fund (HF 2564)

There are no agreements with the Senate at this time. We have not seen any Senate budget bills. The House education budget bill has been voted out of the House Appropriations Committee and is eligible for debate by the full House next week. The House economic development budget bill passed the House on Thursday by a vote of 74-18 and was sent to the Senate Appropriation Committee for consideration.

Upcoming Dates

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

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