Master Builders of Iowa

February 3, 2012
Volume XI, Edition 4

Budget Targets Set the Stage for a Contentious Spending Debate

House Republicans this week issued a budget target of $6.059 billion for the fiscal year that begins July 1, 2012.  That is about 1 percent greater than the current fiscal year and $182 million less than what was proposed by Gov. Terry Branstad last month in his State of the State address.

Senate Democrats additionally released their budget targets for the upcoming fiscal year. The Democratic plan calls for a $6.218 budget, which includes allocations for a commercial property tax cut proposal as well an expansion of a tax break to low-income families known as the “Earned Income Tax Credit.” 

January 27, 2012
Volume XI, Edition 3

Various Economic Development Efforts Spark Interest in House and Senate

With property tax reform discussion and hearings on the use of Tax Increment Financing (TIF) getting a majority of the headlines, the Legislature is actually working on economic development initiatives that would hopefully provide additional scrutiny on new regulations and make it easier to transfer companies from one generation to the next.  Some of this discussion is actually bi-partisan.  Hmmm, very strange indeed?

January 20, 2012
Volume XI, Edition 2

Legislature Finds its “Session Legs”

After legislators disposed of all of the pomp and circumstance that comes with Week 1, this week saw legislators get their “session legs” back with subcommittee and committee work.  The next couple of weeks will be pretty frantic with continued discussions on economic development efforts, property taxes and many other high profile issues. 

Subcommittee on Notification on Claims for Public Projects
An early subcommittee was held on HF 2005, which changes the notification requirements for claims on public sector projects and would require notification to the principal contractor of all entities that provide materials and / or labor to a publicly funded construction project.  Such changes would require those providing labor and / or materials on a public project to notify the general contractor / principal contractor within 45 days of first being on the jobsite to retain claim eligibility.  This amended notification requirement will somewhat mirror the requirements that subs and suppliers must comply with on private sector jobs (similar to mechanics lien notifications in Chapter 572).  MBI is supportive of this bill.

January 13, 2012
Volume XI, Edition 1

Legislature Convenes

The usual pomp and circumstance highlighted the first week of the legislative session.  Kicking things off on Monday, House and Senate leadership provided comments on their respective party’s legislative priorities.  The tenor at this point was bi-partisan and the need to not have a repeat performance of last year.  (If you recall, last session was one of the longest in Iowa history and was full of partisan bickering.)

Then on Tuesday, the Governor gave his Condition of the State speech, outlining his priorities for the session.  He also submitted his budget recommendations for the FY 2013 fiscal year - more on this later.

To borrow a sport analogy – “Momentum is on our side”.

MBI’s public affairs program is focused on continuing its aggressive agenda in the hopes that the successes from the 2011 legislative session will continue into 2012 and beyond.  By remaining true to its mission, MBI’s lobbying team is busy at work putting forth a public affairs strategy that will hopefully keep the momentum moving to the benefit of Iowa’s construction industry during the upcoming legislative session.

In its first year of a three year public affairs strategic plan, MBI’s lobbying team was successful in seeing a number of specific policy efforts come to fruition.  If you recall, the MBI Board of Directors laid out a three-year strategic plan that encompassed legislative and administrative policy initiatives.