© 2024 Iowa Public Radio
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

4 Things to Consider Ahead of the Week at the Statehouse

John Pemble/IPR file photo
/
IPR

Taxes are getting a lot of attention at the statehouse and there were a few controversial bills that fell by the wayside last week and some that are moving forward. IPR's Joyce Russell reports on the week at the capitol. 

Governor wants to cut income and small business taxes by $1.7 billion by 2023. The governor did not speak about the tax plan before releasing it last week. It would cut personal income tax rates by 23% and the top rate would only apply to those making $160,000 a year.  House Speaker Linda Upmeyer (R- Clear Lake) says her chamber is interested in “working with the governor and Senate” and “hopefully there are many similarities in the bill.”

Senate may cut taxes even more. “The top tax-writer in the Senate says he wants something more extensive” Russell says about Senator Randy Feenstra (R-Hull). “The fiscal bureau is going to be buring the midnight oil analyzing these tax cuts plans.”  

A gun bill and school voucher plans look to have fallen by the wayside. Last week was the self-imposed deadline for lawmakers to get bills onto the floor and senate. A bill to get rid of permits to acquire or carry weapons was scheduled to come out of the Senate Judiciary committee this week. But the latest school shooting doomed its chances. A education voucher plan to use public school money for private schools also looks tabled for the session.

A fetal heartbeat bill is getting further in the legislature than last year. A bill to ban abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected would make doctors subject to a felony charge for performing one has come out of committee.  “That’s one step further than a bill last year to ban all abortions by declaring life to begin at conception,” Russell says. Last year, Republican leaders in the Senate used procedural moves to prevent debate on the life begins at conception bill. House Republicans who described themselves as a “very pro-life caucus” are not promoting the bill.

Clay Masters is the senior politics reporter for MPR News.