Next Tuesday, April 16th, is the scheduled to be the last day of the legislative session. While it is the last day that legislators will get paid with their per diems, it doesn't necessarily mean that the legislature will sine die, adjourn for the year, on that day. We are waiting on a couple of things to move along throughout the system before the year is done.
Here are the bills you will want to pay the most attention to in the next week:
HF 2574 is the House's Boards and Commissions Bill. This bill would eliminate the Community College Faculty Advisory Committee and the Quality Faculty Plan Professional Development Committee. It remains on unfinished business in the House; however, many amendments were introduced recently, and we hope to make some changes to this bill before it's final version.
HF 2586 would allow teachers and other school employees to obtain professional permits to carry guns on school grounds. The Senate voted 30-14 to pass the bill, with every Republican in favor and every Democrat opposed. Because the Senate amended the legislation, the bill goes back to the House, which passed it in February.
HF 2615 exempts CCTCs from the shared operational weighting. It is our second priority and it passed the Senate unanimously Monday, and was reaffirmed with a clean-up amendment by the House. We are still waiting for the bill to be signed by the Governor.
HF 2686 is the Governor's reorganization clean-up bill. It passed out of the House 62-35 and was attached to SF 2416. It then passed out of the Senate 32-13 after the adoption of an amendment. We felt that the amendment was favorable as it readded community colleges back into the Iowa Code to help IWD in its implementation. It will now go back to the House to be passed with the adoption of the amendment.
HJR 2006 requires bills that increase the individual income tax rate or corporate income tax rate, or the rate of any other type of tax based upon income or legal and special reserves, to be adopted by at least two-thirds of the members elected to each house of the general assembly. It passed out of the Senate 31-13. It will now be sent down to the Governor's Office to be signed.
HR 116 is a resolution honoring the outstanding performance of the Kirkwood Community College women's basketball team and head coach Kim Muhl. The resolution was adopted this past week.
SF 2259 expands the definition of "apprenticeship program" to include apprenticeships registered with the Iowa office of apprenticeship. It passed out of Committee this week and will be renumbered soon.
SF 2385 is the Senate's Boards and Commissions Bill. It was amended and passed out of the Senate 30-14 and will now go to the House. They will need to look at their version of the bill and come to a compromise with the Senate on what they want.
SF 2391 requires community colleges to establish policies that prohibit the purchase of a food product that is misbranded as a meat product or that is a cultivated-protein food product. The Senate accepted the House's amendment and passed the bill 33-12. It will now be sent to the Governor's office to be signed.
SF 2411 is the work-based learning bill that also covers last dollar scholarship. It was passed out of the Senate 33-13. We need your help to continue to push legislators to realize the importance of this program and the need for simplicity when marketing it to students.
SF 2434 is the Senate's version of the Justice Systems Appropriations Bill. The Committee recommended passage this week.
SF 2435 is the Senate's version of the Education Appropriations Bill. The Committee recommended passage this week. The bill only provides for a 2.5 percent increase in State General Aid for the community colleges. Remember that our ask was $10,000,000, which is approximately a 4.3 percent increase. Please help us advocate for an amendment for the full $10 million!
For more info, our Bill Tracker is up-and-running and more details will be available here: 2024 Bill Tracker | Community Colleges for Iowa (ccforiowa.org)