February 4, 2022

• Both the House and the Senate have passed their tax proposals through subcommittee.
• The first legislative funnel will occur on February 18. Keep track of this and other important dates with the Legislative Timetable.
• Governor Reynolds will allow the Public Health Emergency Proclamations to expire on February 15.

• The Senate proposal impacts a wide variety of taxes, such as individual and corporate income tax. Most importantly to cities, the legislation restructures the existing local option sales tax as a new statewide sales tax distributed to local governments. 
• The League is working with partners to understand the impacts of this significant change and we will distribute financial impacts as soon as we have them.
• Passed out of Ways & Means Committee in the Senate.

• Makes several changes to alcohol permitting procedures to allow for a more streamlined interaction with the Alcoholic Beverages Division. Allows Class E alcohol permit holders, which includes selling  unopened containers for off-premise consumption, the option to auto-renew their permit under certain circumstances. This is being utilized as a test case and we expect this permission to expand to other permits in the future.
• Makes other changes with lesser impact to cities.
• Passed out of subcommittee and will be eligible for consideration in the House State Government Committee.
• The League is registered undecided and working with the Alcoholic Beverages Division. 

• Enhances sentencing guidelines for public officials convicted of theft of public funds.
• Passed out of subcommittee and eligible for consideration by the House Judiciary Committee.

• Under current law, if a city enforces its zoning authority into the unincorporated area within two miles of the city limits, the county must appoint individuals to the city planning and zoning and board of adjustment committees. This bill would require that one of those county appointments have an agricultural background.
• Passed out of subcommittee and eligible for consideration in the Senate Local Government Committee.

• Increases the existing military property tax exemption to reduce a veteran’s taxable valuation by $10,390. This increase would equate to a $23.2 million statewide loss of revenue to local governments.
• Passed out of subcommittee in the House and eligible for consideration by the House Ways & Means Committee.
• The League is registered undecided and working to lessen the financial impact on cities.

• Removes education property tax levies from a division of revenues if a TIF district contains wind energy.
• Passed out of subcommittee and eligible for consideration in the House Ways & Means Committee.
• The League has concerns over impacts on existing debt obligations and will work to remove these impacts.

• Allows a city to declare a bar a public safety nuisance and have their liquor license revoked through judicial proceedings.
• Passed out of subcommittee and will be eligible for consideration in the House Public Safety Committee.
• The League is registered undecided.

• Prevents a city from requiring a public utility to place their infrastructure in conduit as a condition of entering the right of way. Prevents a city from creating standards for their conduit by allowing all broadband deployment projects in city-owned conduit.
• Both of these bills passed out of committee in their respective chambers and will be eligible for consideration by the full chambers.
• The League has been registered undecided and seeking amendment. However, without productive conversations or amended language, the League will be registering against this legislation.

• Declares cybersecurity infrastructure and equipment as an essential corporate purpose.
• Passed out of Information Technology Committee in the House and will be eligible for consideration on the House Floor.
• The League is registered in support.

• Makes changes to existing code to more easily facilitates cooperative public safety services through Emergency Response Districts.
• Passed out of subcommittee and will be eligible for consideration in the Senate Local Government Committee
• The League is registered in support.

• Limits train length to 8,500 feet. In addition to safety concerns, this would potentially decrease the amount of time a train is blocking intersections in cities.
• Passed out of subcommittee and will be eligible for consideration in the House Transportation Committee.

• Makes changes to the tax-exempt status of veteran groups so that every member of the group who receives this exemption does not need to be a war veteran. This was proposed in order to clarify that American Legion Halls are exempt.
• Passed out of subcommittee and will be eligible for consideration in the Ways & Means Committee.

• Makes alterations to Code of Iowa Chapter 28J, port authorities, to allow for the delineation of liability for local governments and businesses.
• Passed out of subcommittee and will be eligible for consideration in the Senate Commerce Committee.
• The League is registered in support.

• Grants the state and state officers liability for damage to public property in the event an emergency is declared and the public agency requested the state’s aid in clearing debris or damaged property.
• Some cities have expressed concern over this language being construed to allow the state to damage city property without legal recourse.
• Passed out of State Government in the Senate and is eligible for consideration on the Senate Floor.

• Declares flood mitigation projects an essential corporate purpose for counties. Cities already have this designation.
• Passed out of State Government Committee and is eligible for consideration on the House Floor.

SF 2166 | IPERS Retirement Earning Limitations Cap Increase

HF 2163 | Requirements on "Newspapers of Record"

HF 2189 | Local Board of Review Meeting Requirements

HF 2176 & SF 2198 | Distribution of "Obscene" Materials by Libraries

SSB 3087 | Preempting Mayoral Authority to Remove Municipal Board Members

HSB 648 | Alternate Project Delivery Models

HF 2236 | Entertainment District Creation

HF 2211 | Breed Specific Ban Preemption

Communication with your legislators is crucial to impacting policy in the statehouse. Take advantage of the local legislative forums listed below. Additionally, you can contact your legislative directly.

February 5

• Denver Legislative Town Hall

• Dunkerton Legislative Town Hall
• Emmetsburg Eggs & Issues Forum

February 11

• Ankeny Legislative Update
• Corydon Legislative Forum
• Chariton Legislative Forum
• Osceola Legislative Forum
• Leon Legislative Forum

Our mailing address is:
Iowa League of Cities
500 SW 7th St Ste 101
Des Moines, IA 50309-4506