This Week at the Statehouse – Week 3

On Wednesday, January 29, Randy Pilkington, Director of Business and Community Services, and Jerry Thiel, Director of the Metal Casting Center and Additive Manufacturing Center, presented our fiscal year 2021 budget requests to the Economic Development Appropriations Subcommittee. For the 20th consecutive year, UNI’s Business and Community Services (BCS) has provided assistance in all 99 counties.  In 2019, BCS served 3,362 clients, engaged 3,430 students, and 161 faculty and staff were involved in delivery of their services. Every $1 provided by the state is leveraged with $5 in private grants, fees or federal funding.

Our requests for FY 2021 are status quo funding:

• The Skilled Worker and Job Creation Fund (SWJCF) appropriation of $1,066,419 to UNI is for ongoing economic development efforts related to the Metal Casting Center, the Institute for Decision Making, the Center for Business Growth and Innovation and Advance Iowa (UNI’s economic gardening program). UNI is required to focus expenditures on projects that will provide economic stimulus in Iowa and emphasize providing services to Iowa-based companies.
• The expansion of the Additive Manufacturing Center related to investment castings technology and industry support started in FY 2020 with a $400,000 appropriation. To continue our efforts, we are again asking for $400,000 in FY 2021. The funds allow for engaging in higher levels of technology training and allow current staff members to concentrate more time on applied research and industry adoption. The funds support new full-time and student employee salaries to engage in higher levels of technology training.
• A total of $3 million is appropriated to the Regents Innovation Fund for all three universities (UNI receives $900,000). The Regents universities invest these funds in opportunities that yield successful startups, innovative business assistance and critical research leading to commercialization.

A copy of the presentation can be found here.

Legislative committee and subcommittee meetings continued this week. New bills continue to be filed.  This link will provide a complete list of bills we are tracking (in the box marked as lobbyist, type in Mary Braun).

A few bills of interest that were either introduced this week or subcommittee meetings were held:

SF 316 – requesting the establishment of a special education interim study committee. Passed out of subcommittee with an amendment that would add a higher education institution representative (i.e. UNI). The bill and amendment are eligible for consideration in the House Education Committee.

SF 2052 – in lieu of instruction by a licensed physical education teacher, instruction for the water safety component of a physical education course may be provided by a certified swim instructor. After public several comments during the subcommittee meeting with concerns, including my comments from UNI, the bill was indefinitely postponed for consideration.

SF 2057 – requiring public and private accredited elementary, secondary, and postsecondary institutions to establish a process by which students may appeal coursework grades based on alleged political bias. Passed out of subcommittee and eligible for consideration in the Senate Education Committee.

SSB 3017 – limiting which flags can be displayed on public buildings. Passed out of subcommittee and eligible for consideration in the Senate State Government Committee.

SSB 3080 / HSB 598 – addressing violent student behavior in the K-12 classroom.  Both bills are in their respective Education Committees.

HSB 585 – requiring a study, plan and report by the Board of Regents concerning emergency preparedness and response at stadiums. Introduced in House State Government Committee.

HSB 586 – allowing alternative project delivery contracts for public construction bidding, including design-build or construction manager-at-risk contracts. Introduced in House State Government Committee.

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, is February 21. This date does not apply to spending and tax bills.

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

Upcoming events in the legislature:

Feb. 17 – UNI Day at the Capitol, first floor rotunda, 11:30am – 2:30pm

Feb. 19 – Regents institutions presenting infrastructure requests to the Transportation, Infrastructure & Capitals Appropriations Subcommittee (including UNI’s Industrial Technology Center request)