This week was the second funnel week, an important deadline for policy bills. Some bills are now considered to be dead, so our list will be shorter than usual. Most importantly, both of the community college priorities are still alive. The funding formula bill passed out of the Senate Appropriations Committee and is "funnel-proof" because it is considered an appropriation. The College and Career Transition Bill passed out of the Senate Education Committee and has already passed the House.
Here are the bills you will want to pay the most attention to in the next week:
HF 2299 authorizes a government body to provide a requested public record in a reasonable format and provides that if a public record is published on a government body's internet site, the government body does not need to provide a copy of the public record but must notify the requester of the public record's internet site location. This bill passed out of the Senate Committee Wednesday.
HF 2539 increases damages for those who violate open meetings laws. It passed out of the Senate Committee on Wednesday.
HF 2550 is the re-org clean-up bill. It has been assigned a new Subcommittee group as of this week. We are working to change the provision that would remove community colleges from jointly implementing adult literacy and education.
HF 2574 eliminates the CC faculty advisory committee & quality faculty plan professional development committee.
HF 2586 allows school employees to obtain a permit to carry weapons. This bill was passed out of the Senate Committee yesterday and now awaits action on the Senate floor.
HF 2615 exempts CCTCs from the cap on shared operational functioning for supplementary weighting purposes. As our second priority, it has now passed out of the Senate Committee unanimously!
HSB 721/SSB 3142 requires that any bill that increase the individual income tax rate or corporate income tax rate be adopted by at least two-thirds of the members elected to each house of the general assembly. The House version passed out of House Committee Wednesday.
SF 574 is the mega-site bill that many of you have been hearing about lately. It passed the House yesterday 89-4 and now awaits Committee assignment in the Senate.
SF 2259 expands the definition of "apprenticeship program" and has been scheduled for a Subcommittee meeting for next week.
SF 2385 is the Governor's Boards/Commissions bill.
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)