This Week at the Statehouse – Week 4

This week was consumed with committee meetings and subcommittee meetings as lawmakers are working on bills to get them voted out a committee prior to their self-imposed first funnel deadline of February 16. This is when a bill needs to be voted out of committee for it to remain eligible this session.

Decisions haven't yet been made to the current fiscal year, FY 18, budget. The state’s budget is currently $35 million short from being balanced, based on the Revenue Estimating Conference estimate from last December.  The Senate Appropriations Committee passed SF 2117 on January 25; the bill awaits debate by the full Senate. The bill cuts the three universities a total of $19.3 million for the remaining five months of the fiscal year (which ends June 30, 2018): $8.7 million from the University of Iowa, $6.9 million from Iowa State University and $3.75 million from UNI. In Governor Reynolds proposed budget, she supports the Board of Regents recommendation that UNI be held harmless from any budget rescissions in FY 18.

This $3.75 million cut with just five months left in our fiscal year will have a huge impact on what we do at UNI. This comes after already withstanding mid-year cuts last year. It's imperative the state continues to provide the state funding needed to ensure the cost of a UNI education continues to be reasonable allowing us to remain competitive and affordable for Iowa families. With nearly 90% of UNI's enrollment coming from Iowa, this truly affects Iowa families! If you want to contact your state legislator, you can find them here.

We await the legislature's FY 18 deappropriation bill in order to determine the impact and challenges on our budget going forward.

Presentations at the State Capitol:

UNI’s Business and Community Services presented our economic development efforts and budget request to the Economic Development Budget Subcommittee this week. A copy of our presentation can be found here. In addition, John Fritch, Dean of College of Humanities, Arts and Sciences, presented our Industrial Technology Center infrastructure request to members of the Transportation, Infrastructure and Capitols Budget Subcommittee.  A copy of our presentation can be found here.

February 6 – UNI’s Business and Community Services will present our small business assistance and rural economic development assistance programs to the House Economic Growth Committee

February 14 – President Nook will present UNI’s budget requests to the Education Budget Subcommittee

February 19 – #UNIDay2018 at the Capitol! Check out our tweets at @nipanthercaucus

As always, if you have any questions contact UNI Governmental Relations at mary.braun@uni.edu or call 319-273-6144.