DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Adjournment eluded the Iowa Legislature for another day Tuesday as lawmakers move into the eighth day past their scheduled April 22 target adjournment, when their daily allowance for living expenses expired.
Lack of agreement on budget bills prevented leaders from making quick progress this week. House and Senate leaders had earlier thought finishing the session Tuesday was achievable, but it became apparent by afternoon that agreements weren’t coming easily.
Sen. Bill Dotzler, D-Waterloo, said attempts were made to revive bills once thought dead by tacking them on as amendments to budget bills. Such tactics are not unusual, but if the proposals are particularly controversial with broad differences they can hold up ending the session.
The House didn’t begin floor debate until just before 4 p.m. and within 15 minutes passed by a vote of 86-11 the Health and Human Services budget, a $1.9 billion bill that funds the state’s portion of Medicaid, mental health programs, juvenile homes and other social services programs. The bill increases spending by $109 million but did not include funds to reopen the Iowa Juvenile Home in Toledo, which Democrats had in the bill.
Gov. Terry Branstad closed the home in January following allegations that teens were improperly treated and poorly educated at the facility. He has been sued by four lawmakers alleging the governor could not take funds away from the home since they were appropriated by the Legislature. The case is before the Iowa Supreme Court.
The Senate took up the bill about an hour later, passed it 26-24, and sent it to Branstad.
Sen. Jack Hatch, D-Des Moines, said not funding the juvenile home is a huge mistake.
“I think it’s the worst political decision of a governor I’ve ever served under,” said Hatch, who is leaving the Senate after this session to run for governor.
Lawmakers also sent to the governor a scaled-back bill defining elder abuse for the first time in Iowa.
The bill identifies the elder population as anyone age 60 or older, and creates a process for elders to obtain protective orders in instances of abuse. The final version stripped out language that would have made the financial exploitation of elders a crime.
Both chambers gave unanimous support for the measure Tuesday after it came through a conference committee.
Another bill on its way to Branstad is one that bans the sale of electronic cigarettes to minors and prohibits the possession of alternative nicotine products, battery powered devices that create a nicotine vapor. The ban also includes the sale of fruit-flavored non-nicotine e-cigarettes to minors. The Senate passed it Monday, and the House accepted the bill on Tuesday.
An Iowa Department of Transportation policy bill Tuesday attracted a last-ditch effort to raise the state gas tax.
Josh Byrnes, an Osage Republican, brought up the amendment that would lower the fuel tax by 16 cents per gallon and place 5 cent-per-gallon sales tax on it to raise more money for road and bridge maintenance. He said he’s worked on trying to raise the gas tax for two years to fix Iowa’s roads but he’s always told it’s not the right time.
“When is the right time?” he said. “Is the right time going to be a reaction. Is it going to be when we have something fall through a bridge and we have a failure or a death, God forbid?”
The amendment died when it was ruled not germane to the bill by the house speaker and no vote was taken.
The House Public Safety Committee moved forward a Senate-passed bill that would legalize the use of oil derived from marijuana to treat chronic epilepsy. The bill brought up by Senate Democrats garnered a majority of votes in the Republican-led committee and passed 13-5 to be eligible for floor debate. It was thought to be dead early in the session when several conservative lawmakers voiced concerns it would open the door to legalizing marijuana and scoffed at the idea.
Then mothers of children with epilepsy came to the Capitol with an education campaign and changed minds.
Two of Gov. Terry Branstad’s priority measures - anti-bullying legislation and broadband expansion - appeared to have stalled but they could re-emerge as amendments on other bills.
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