This Week at the Statehouse – Week 7

This week saw more floor action in the legislature as the first funnel week ended last week. The House and Senate are working on their policy bills to get them passed to the other chamber. Their self-imposed second funnel date is March 16 when bills need to pass one chamber and out of the other chamber’s committee to remain eligible for debate this session. This funnel date does not apply to appropriations and tax bills.

The Senate released their tax bill this week, SF 2383. The House has said they will work off of Governor Reynold’s tax proposal.

On Wednesday, along with the presidents of the University of Iowa and Iowa State University, President Nook presented UNI’s budget request to the House Appropriations Committee. A copy of their power points can be found here. Additional information about his presentation can be found on this week’s Panther Caucus website.

And finally, Monday was UNI Day at the Capitol. Despite the dreary weather outside, it was a great day showcasing our university to lawmakers and others who work at the Capitol. A big shout-out to all the faculty, staff and students who came from campus to make this day so successful! Attached is a gallery of photos.

March 9 is when the state's Revenue Estimating Conference will meet to set the state's FY 2018 and FY 2019 state revenue estimates. If their estimate is less than their December estimate, they have to use this March estimate when crafting the state's budget. If it is greater, they must use the December estimate. We expect budget targets to be released soon after this meeting.

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