By O. Kay Henderson (Radio Iowa)
Lawmakers sent the governor a bill to cut Iowans’ income taxes by a billion dollars next year, they set up the framework for an $8.9 billion state budget and then concluded the 2024 legislative session this weekend.
The session officially ended at 4:23 a.m. Saturday. A bill to establish a single income tax rate of 3.8% next year was approved during that final, 20-hour-long day. Governor Kim Reynolds suggested something similar, but slightly lower in January. This weekend Reynolds said she was proud tax cuts are being reduced and accelerated beyond the plan passed in 2022.
Lawmakers this year approved another Reynolds priority by mandating that the salary for first year teachers be at least $50,000. Senate President Amy Sinclair of Allerton said those are the “standout accomplishments” of the 2024 legislative session.
“We passed bills this year that will put Iowa’s income tax rate at the sixth lowest in the nation and Iowa’s starting teacher pay at the fifth highest, not even accounting for cost of living,” Sinclair said. “And we all know that Iowa is a very cost effective place to live.”
In January, Governor Reynolds also asked legislators to overhaul the state’s nine Area Education Agencies and she signed a reorganization plan last month. Senate Democratic Leader Pam Jochum of Dubuque said the changes centralize power in Des Moines. “Iowans will remember how Republicans chose to serve their governor rather than their constituents,” Jochum said in a news conference Friday night. “They slashed our Area Education Agencies and put special interests over Iowa’s children.”
House Democratic Leader Jennifer Konfrst of Windsor Heights said kids with special needs are going to suffer. “I want to talk about moms who are trying to figure out how they’re going to get the occupational or mental health therapy they need,” Konfrst said during a news conference late Friday evening, “and we’re just getting started. Imagine what will happen next year.”
House Speaker Pat Grassley, who spoke with reporters after the House adjourned early Saturday, said House Republicans “put a lot of work in: to make changes in the governor’s original plan, to protect the AEA’s special education services, while letting schools choose how to use the rest of the money that had been going directly to the AEAs for other services.
“Schools are excited to have some opportunities to have some flexibility with some of those funds,” Grassley said. “…The bill we were able to put together I think will continue to deliver on those special ed services.”
In the closing moments of the 2024 legislative session, Republicans voted to reassign Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation agents to work on cases related to the law Governor Reynolds signed to have Iowa’s legal system arrest and deport immigrants who are in Iowa illegally. Republican Representative Taylor Collins of Mediapolis said $2 million is in the budget for up to a dozen Division of Criminal Investigation agents to support the effort, “to address the rise in illegal immigration and related criminal conduct or as assigned by the commission of the Department of Public Safety.”
Early Saturday, the House voted to prohibit state regulators from granting new casino licenses until 2029, but the Senate adjourned without taking up the measure. It means Cedar Rapids is likely to seek a casino license when the current moratorium expires July 1.
