Stories

An ethics complaint against a lobbying group that was five months late in filing a disclosure report was dismissed Tuesday by the state Senate Ethics Committee.

Despite giving itself authority over disclosure reports for legislative parties paid for by lobbyists, neither the House nor the Senate ethics committees have the power to initiate investigations into violations.
In order to open a legislative investigation, a third party must file a formal ethics complaint.
This process has come under scrutiny of late after the Iowa [...]

Democrats and Republicans in the state capitol have drawn a line in the sand this summer over whether Gov. Chet Culver should call a special session of the legislature to balance Iowa’s budget, and the debate shows no signs of quieting down.

Iowa could end the 2009 fiscal year with $161 million less in net revenues than expected, according to estimates by the Legislative Services Agency. That could force Gov. Chet Culver to call a special session to balance the budget.

The Iowa Association of Business and Industry has released its 2009 legislative scorecard, with 27 Republicans in the House and three in the Senate receiving perfect scores.
The grades were based on legislator’s votes on nine bills in each chamber. In the Senate, they ranged from a bill that “streamlines the Iowa Values Fund” to bills [...]

An expansion of the state’s children health insurance program, changes to sex offender registry and tougher restrictions on pseudoephedrine sales are just a few of the new laws set to go into effect on Wednesday.
Most legislation that was passed during the 2009 General Assembly takes effect July 1, at the start of the 2010 fiscal [...]

The 2009 budget will be balanced without a special session, and when previous budget cuts are coupled with a $440 cash reserve, the outlook for the 2010 budget is positive as well, Gov. Chet Culver said Wednesday.

Cities can now charge a 5 percent franchise fee for gas and electric utilities under a bill signed into law by Gov. Chet Culver, easing but not solving budget problems for Iowa’s capitol city.
Des Moines City Manager Rick Clark told The Des Moines Register that the city would face a $5 million budget shortfall in [...]

Health care coverage will be expanded to more than 12,000 currently uninsured children under a bill signed into law Tuesday afternoon by Gov. Chet Culver.

“Passing the legislation was the easy part,” Culver said. “Now, we must get to work creating good jobs and revitalizing our communities.”