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Hello friend, Here is IEC's legislative news bulletin for April 15-20, 2024. The 2024 General Assembly adjourned Sine Die on Saturday, April 20 at 3:27 a.m. in the Senate and 4:23 a.m. in the House . Much energy this session was again focused on Governor Reynolds’ policy priorities and national hot-button issues. In the end, after a few weeks of tense negotiations, the chambers were able to negotiate a deal on the budget and final policy priorities. Governor Reynolds now has 30 days - Monday, May 20 - to review and sign the bills sent to her into law. We do not have a final bill tracker today, but will provide that and an end of session review once we work through all of the amendments and bills passed in the final days of session. Stay tuned! |
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Bill Highlights -
After months of discussion at the Iowa Utilities Board, expert input on needed utility reforms, and months of debate, only one energy bill passed the full legislature – HF 2279. This bill expands utilities’ ability to apply for pre-approval of generation projects to include nuclear energy and storage. The policy includes absolutely no new accountability measures to ensure the utilities are investing wisely in low-cost energy that is good for customers and leaves Iowa as one of only five states nationally that allow monopoly utilities to operate without comprehensive planning or subject to competition. We expect to see more discussion on this topic next year. -
Two bills IEC opposed ultimately did not pass: the pesticide liability bill (SF 2412) and changes to the forest and fruit tree tax exemption bill (HF 2672). Pesticide manufacturers have been working hard to get bills introduced and passed at the state level to shield themselves from liability for negative health outcomes. We could see this bill again next session. Legislators have long-sought changes to the forest and fruit tree tax exemption, with bills introduced consistently over the last few years. We expect there to be discussion in the interim about a compromise on changes to the tax exemption that could appear in legislation next session. Thanks to everyone that spoke with their legislator about opposing these two bills! Your advocacy helped prevent them from moving forward. - SF 2370, the bill that restricts future state agency rulemaking, passed on Friday. The bill codifies the Governor’s 2023 Executive Order Number 10 (EO10), which required all agencies to review all of Iowa’s rules and regulations across all state agencies with the stated intent to make them less burdensome. 2370 now requires analysis of all new rules, and sunsets rules unless they undergo a substantive review and are re-adopted at least every five years.
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