Hello friend, Here is IEC's legislative news bulletin for March 13 – 17, 2023. The legislature was slow to start last week. Things picked up Tuesday and Wednesday with floor debate in both the House and Senate. Only the House debated on Thursday. On March 10, the Revenue Estimating Conference (REC) released their March 2023 estimates which the Legislature will utilize, as well as the Governor's budget proposal, to craft their own budget recommendations. After the conclusion of the next funnel on March 31, there will be a noticeable shift in conversations from policy priorities to focus on the budget. House Sends Massive Government Reorganization Bill to Governor The House passed the Governor’s state reorganization bill on Wednesday on a vote of 58-39, with Republican Representatives Sexton, Cisneros, Dieken, Thomson, and Mark Thompson breaking party lines to vote against the 1,500-page bill. The House conformed its bill to the Senate’s version passed previously on a vote of 34-15, rejecting the 16 amendments offered by Democrats. Representative Bloomingdale, who managed the bill, argued changes were long overdue and will streamline state government. She closed by stating the bill will save the state money while allowing agencies to improve services. Governor Reynolds has stated the reorganization, once effective, is projected to save over $200 million over four years. Democrats opposed the bill arguing it was rushed through the legislative process and was done without consulting those Iowans most impacted. They called the bill a power grab and said the reorganization gives the Governor and Attorney General too much power and some agencies have special needs that are not well served by the reorganization. We expect the Governor to sign the bill relatively quickly. IEC will continue to keep costs and customers in mind in our environmental work at the IUB but this is certainly a step back for utility customer protection in Iowa. We want most especially to say thank you to the hundreds of IEC supporters who sent messages or called their Legislators on this issue. Your participation is key, and though we did not get the outcome we hoped for, we know that lawmakers were getting the message. Thank you! Looking ahead As the second funnel deadline approaches, legislators are scrambling to schedule last-minute subcommittee meetings to prepare to move their final priorities through one of the scheduled policy committee blocks this coming week. Leaders have also scheduled limited floor debate, but we anticipate this will be less of a focus as the workload shifts back to committees. Now that the Revenue Estimating Conference (REC) has set its final budget projections, budget chairs are anxious to get their targets and put their budgets together. We have heard the Legislative Services Agency (LSA) will take a week or so to update budgets based on the passage of the government reorganization bill. Following the funnel deadline in just two weeks, the chambers will be ready to start moving budget bills through the process as they prepare for adjournment. As a reminder, a list of scheduled committees and subcommittees with their virtual access information can be found at the provided link. See our bill highlights below, view the bill tracker for the full list of bills that remain alive, and check out our action alerts for action you can take now. | 
