ABI Attends IWD Board, EPC and Budget Hearings

As ABI gears up for the 2019 legislative session, staff has been attending budget hearings, along with state board and commission meetings. Highlights this week include the Department of Revenue budget hearing on Monday morning, followed by the Iowa Workforce Development Board meeting.

At the IWD Board meeting, Gov. Reynolds provided an update and talked about her support of the Future Ready Iowa initiative and some of the highlights from the summits held around the state. She also thanked the board for the work they do to provide pro-jobs policies and informed the board that Iowa has the second lowest unemployment rate in the country.

Director Townsend updated the board on some of the items the agency is working on and provided information about the number of unemployment claims this year compared to last year. Claims and dollars paid out of the unemployment trust fund have decreased substantially since 2017. For example, this week last year there were 4,305 claims paid, and this year there are 3,591 claims. Overall, there are more than 40,000 fewer claims in 2018 than 2017. This is all good news for the unemployment trust fund and employers.

ABI also attended the Environmental Protection Commission meeting. At the meeting, the DNR informed the commission of the petition for rulemaking for numeric nutrient criteria for lakes. Several action items were approved including the State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision for the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for ozone and a notice of intended action for air quality regulatory certainty rules.