Week 18 Legislative Recap - May 10 - May 14 Last week the House and Senate met primarily for budget talks with the goals of moving the Senate Tax Omnibus (SF 619), and the House Tax Omnibus (HF 893) forward. The House and Senate bills share many provisions, including: • removal of the triggers that could delay the implementation of the 2018 income tax cuts
• changes to tax credits
• changes to housing credits
• shifting mental health funding to the state
• eliminating property tax backfill payments to local governments Democrats have emphasized that they should be involved in tax negotiations. Representative Konfrst said if Republicans could work with Democrats a bi-partisan bill could be passed. Senator Wahls expressed concern about elimination of the property tax backfill. The House Tax Omnibus bill was scheduled for subcommittee this morning and was passed 2-0, and immediately following was passed through the full Appropriations Committee in the House. The Senate Tax Omnibus bill passed out of Appropriations in the Senate last Tuesday, May 11. IEC is registered as monitoring on both of these bills. Both bills include a disaster recovery housing assistance program that could be beneficial for people affected by recent climate-related disasters, including the August 2020 derecho and 2019 Missouri River flooding and future disasters that displace Iowans and destroy property. Ideally, we would be mitigating the underlying causes of climate change and building greater resiliency into our homes and infrastructure but funding post-disaster needs is one step in the right direction as we see more and more of these types of losses. Program staff continue to meet with coalition members to discuss updates on current legislative activity and begin planning for 2022, while turning focus to other program work as legislative activity narrows. While state lawmakers continue their work, IEC will continue to update the weekly bill tracker for details on the bills IEC is watching this session. | 
