This week was filled with debate. We made major strides toward completing the agenda for the year. One of the efforts made and passed this week was SF 391. This legislation aims to give Iowa’s education system more flexibility. The bill makes several changes to help districts best meet the needs of their specific schools, like making the required courses for students more flexible and allowing students to opt out of physical education if they are involved in a work-based learning program or other physical activities. It will also make school district agreements with community colleges more flexible by no longer requiring a district to have at least 600 students to allow a community college instructor to teach any unit of coursework in an agreement and allow schools to hire former public librarians as school librarians.
In Iowa, property taxes are levied by more than 2,000 local taxing districts. Counties, cities, townships, school districts, and special districts, like community college districts, hospital districts, and sanitation districts, all have taxing authority. While Iowa limits property tax rates per $1,000 of assessed value, counties and cities can have supplemental levy rates for certain services. SF 569 provides over $100 million in relief to Iowa property taxpayers and is aimed at controlling the growth of property taxes and increasing transparency in property taxes and local government spending. It pushes local governments to follow the Republican legislature’s example to budget responsibly, invest in important priorities, and provide tax relief to the taxpayers. The bill provides $57 million in new property tax exemptions, $4.5 million in tax levy elimination, and an estimated $45.4 million in city and county levy reform. To help control the growth of property taxes and rampant spending by local governments, Senate File 569 automatically reduces rates when assessments rise, restores basic levy limitations taxpayers rely on to control spending, eliminates loopholes abused by local governments to exceed limits set by law, and simplifies and consolidates 17 levies. Senate File 569 also bring more transparency to the property tax process and gives property taxpayers more information on what exactly they are getting for their tax dollars. The bill requires cities, counties, and schools to contact property owners and notify them of upcoming changes to their property tax bill and requires those same entities to deliver to property owners a standardized statement with consistent and clear information related to the local budget. Iowans all across the state have been looking for property tax relief, especially with the arrival of new assessments over the last few weeks. This bill gets at the core of rising property taxes and offers property taxpayers real, permanent relief.
HF 138 is a bill I brought forward to the State Government Chairman, Senator Schultz. The bill explains that persons employed as a peace officer or firefighter by a covered employer, and not just a city under the Iowa public employees’ retirement system (IPERS), are included within the protection occupation category of IPERS. This bill passed the House on February 1 and passed in the Senate this week on April 20th. I’m proud of our work in the legislature to support bipartisan legislation to extend IPERS benefits to these hard-working Iowans.
I encourage my District 42 constituents to contact me using my legislative email ([email protected]) with any comments, questions, or concerns. I look forward to another great month representing the people of Iowa Senate District 42.