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Iowa
Association of Legislative News
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April 30, 2008
2008 Legislative Session Adjourns
Late
Night Raid of Unemployment Trust Fund Halted
Employer
UI Overpayments Saved by ABI
Key Legislation Impacting Iowa Employers
"All o Nothing" on Union Bargaining Bill
Mike
Ralston
President
515/235-0562
Public Policy Team:
John
R. Gilliland
Senior Vice President,
Government Relations
515/235-0566
Nicole
Molt
Director,
Government Relations
515/235-0567
Tamie
Mullen
Administrative Assistant
515/235-0561
For questions regarding ABI Membership please contact:
Leisa
Fox
Vice
President, Membership
515/235-0575
ABI ADVISORY COUNCIL
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June:
June 10th - 12th
2008 ABI Convention
Coralville, Iowa: Marriott Hotel & Conference Center
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2008 Legislative Session Adjourns
At
2:38 am Saturday morning, the 2008 General Assembly adjourned for the
year finishing work on budget items with the passage of a $6 Billion
annual state budget. As with
other legislative session shutdowns, attempts to add policy issues not
passed earlier in the session kept lobbyists on their toes and could
have quickly turned a good year into a disaster for groups and
organizations. Rest assured,
ABI’s government relations team of
Late
Night Raid of Unemployment Trust Fund Halted
In 2008, three different bills were proposed that would have used the state’s Unemployment Trust Fund (using unemployment taxes paid by businesses) to support non-work related programs. The proposals also included significantly lower eligibility standards. One version was even passed by the Senate, SF 2377, which allowed a spouse to quit their job and receive unemployment benefits if they were following a spouse who moved for a new job, even if out of state. ABI was able to stop these bills from reaching the Governor’s desk.
On
the final day of the 2008 session, however, Iowa Workforce Development
convinced the Senate to insert extended benefits language into a must-do
budget bill. ABI quickly worked with a bi-partisan group of
lawmakers in the House to have this language amended out of the bill
before final passage, saving
Employer
UI Overpayments Saved by ABI
Additional
legislation championed by Iowa Workforce Development would have denied
employers the ability to collect unemployment insurance overpayments.
More than $771,000 of UI overpayments in 2007 would not be credited back
to
Key
Legislation Impacting
Below
are just a few of the significant legislative proposals, and their final
outcomes, impacting
Defeated
- Repeal
of Right to Work/Fair Share
- Random pre-designation of doctor in work comp (Employee Choice)
- Elimination of scheduled injuries in some work comp claims
- Statewide prevailing wage for construction
- Expansion of work comp commissioner's authority to impose 50% penalties
- Private Lawsuits for Consumer Fraud
- Combined Corporate Income Tax Reporting
- Research and Development Tax Credit Repeal
- Alternate base period, extended benefits for Unemployment Comp
- Bottle Bill Expansion
- Only 1 out of 20+ health insurance mandates passed (cervical cancer vaccination)
Passed
- Smoking ban in all public places, except casino floor and Veteran’s Home
- Incentives for Environment Management Systems, statewide recycling study
- Enhanced water use permitting program
- “Open Scope” Bargaining with Binding Arbitration for government unions
-
Repeal of SILO (School Infrastructure Local Option) Sales Tax – replaced with statewide sales and use tax
“All
or Nothing” on
The
Senate sent Governor Chet Culver HF
2645 last week that allows “open-scope" collective bargaining
for government unions with binding arbitration. He now can take up
to 30 days to decide whether to sign or veto the bill. He cannot
accept portions and veto other parts. NOW is the time to act in
urging a veto.
“I
invest in IIPAC as an ABI staff member because I know first hand the
direct correlation between electing pro-business legislators and the
success of ABI. No matter how well we communicate the employers’
point of view, it doesn’t matter if it falls on deaf ears.”
John Gilliland
ABI Sr. Vice President, Government Relations
IIPAC Investor
Click here to make your secure IIPAC Investment!
Iowa
Association of Business and Industry
904 Walnut Street, Suite #100
Des Moines, IA 50309
www.iowaabi.org
515-280-8000 / 800-383-4224