First Funnel Deadline Arrives; ABI Priorities are Alive!
March 2, 2023
The Legislature just concluded the eighth week of the 2023 legislative session and the first funnel deadline. Hundreds of bills did not survive the funnel deadline - meaning the policy bill did not come out of committee in either chamber, making it ineligible as a standalone piece of legislation for the rest of session. The funnel deadline does not apply to legislation in the appropriations, ways & means, and government oversight committees, as well as a few other types of bills. Key bills that fall within ABI’s priorities of Workforce, Tort Reform, Property Tax Reduction and Reform, and Regulatory Reform have advanced and are moving forward in the legislative process.
You can view the status of some of the most pressing issues ABI has been tracking this year below.
Workforce:
SF 318/HSB 82: Iowa Registered Apprenticeship Act - Governor Reynolds has put forward legislation that would create an office of apprenticeship in Iowa. It would create more flexibility regarding apprenticeships and streamline the process for employers and employees. The Senate bill has passed the Workforce Committee while the House bill was approved through the Economic Growth and Technology Committee.
- ABI Position: For
- Status: Alive
HSB 134/SF 167: Youth Employment Opportunities Act - The Senate Workforce Committee and the House Commerce Committee have passed legislation that makes significant revisions to Chapter 92 of the Iowa Code (youth employment). The goal of the legislation is to provide more opportunities for younger individuals who want to enter the workforce. A key piece of the bill allows more students to be exposed to work-based learning programs at a younger age.
- ABI Position: For
- Status: Alive
Tort Reform:
SF 228/HF 201: Commercial Motor Vehicle Tort Reform - A second key ABI priority has already passed the Senate and is through the House Judiciary Committee. The bill implements a hard cap of $2 million per plaintiff on non-economic damages for incidents involving commercial motor vehicles. The legislation also mitigates accusations in lawsuits that an employer negligently hired an employee.
- ABI Position: For
- Status: Alive
Regulatory Reform:
HF 460/SF 319: Drug and Alcohol Testing Reform - Companion bills in both the House and Senate have moved out of their respective committees and are eligible to be debated by both legislative bodies. This ABI priority legislation enacts a number of changes to the drug and alcohol testing statute as a means of putting more balance into the law. A key feature of the legislation is returning the burden of proof to the employee from the employer so the employee has to prove their allegation against the employer in court.
- ABI Position: For
- Status: Alive
HSB 200: Innovative Rates - A bill that would allow an investor-owned utility to propose rate designs for groups of ratepayers outside of a general rate case passed out of the House Commerce Committee. ABI public policy staff has been involved early in the development of the legislation to ensure that non-participating electric customers in our membership are not negatively impacted by the adoption of such rates. ABI staff will continue to follow the legislation to look out for the interests of all members.
- ABI Position: For
- Status: Alive
SF 174: Building Design Regulation - The Senate Local Government Committee has passed legislation that would prohibit cities and counties from unnecessarily driving up the costs of housing by limiting their authority to regulate building design elements in certain ways. The legislation is intended to help control and reduce the cost of housing construction.
- ABI Position: For
- Status: Alive
SF 321/HF 461: Boiler Inspection Requirements - Both the House and Senate Workforce Committees have advanced a bill that would adjust the inspection interval of an industrial boiler used by an ABI member company that produces fertilizer for the Iowa market. The legislation seeks to align boiler inspections with planned maintenance outages.
- ABI Position: For
- Status: Alive
Miscellaneous:
HSB 147/SSB 1162: IEDA MEGA Bill - The House Economic Growth and Technology Committee has approved legislation that would give the Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA) enhanced incentive tools to attract extraordinary capital investments in Iowa. The bill expands current law in a narrow way regarding foreign ownership of land. The proposal could allow for the development of very large economic development projects in a handful of areas across the state. The bills will now move to the Ways and Means Committees in both chambers.
- ABI Position: For
- Status: Alive
SF 494/HF 3: SNAP Benefits: The House and Senate Health and Human Service Committees have passed differing versions of reforms meant to implement more integrity in Iowa’s public assistance programs. The House version contains language that prohibits food stamps from being used to purchase “sugary items”, which would ultimately harm value-added agriculture in Iowa. The Senate version does not contain this language. ABI is opposed to the House bill and neutral on the Senate bill.
- ABI Position: Against
- Status: Alive
SF 210/HF 273: Brain Health - ABI is supporting legislation that would help reduce the stigma around mental health by allowing the term “brain health” to be used interchangeably with “mental health”, “mental illness” and “behavioral health” in the Iowa Code. The legislation has passed the full committee level in the House and Senate.
- ABI Position: For
- Status: Alive
SSB 1094/HSB 180/HF 2: Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) - The House and Senate will need to harmonize legislation restricting non-fiduciary decision making in the investment of public funds. Care is being taken by all parties to prevent unintended consequences.
- ABI Position: Undecided
- Status: Alive
HF 368: Eminent Domain & Carbon Pipelines - On Tuesday, the House Judiciary Committee moved forward legislation that imposes several requirements necessary for carbon pipeline companies to meet in order to use eminent domain. One requirement is that companies would have to reach a 90% voluntary easement threshold on their route before they could use eminent domain. ABI has registered against the bill as the rules should not be changed during the middle of the process.
- ABI Position: Against
- Status: Alive
Employment Related:
HSB 173/SSB 1168: Guns in Employer Parking Lots - A legislative mandate that would infringe upon the private property rights of employers has passed through the House Public Safety Committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee. The bill has several sections, but one provision does not allow employers to have a company policy that would prevent or prohibit employees from bringing guns onto the employer’s parking lot. ABI is adamantly opposed to this section of the bill and is actively working to ensure it does not pass the Legislature by the end of the legislative session.
- ABI Position: Against
- Status: Alive
SF 333: Pharmacy Benefit Managers - The Senate Commerce Committee did not advance a bill further regulating pharmacy benefit managers. Recall that ABI was very involved in the same issue last session and in the end supported a bill that would collect data to further study the issue to determine if additional action was necessary. ABI has urged that this process be allowed appropriate time before any new action is taken.
- ABI Position: Against
- Status: Dead
SF 323: Employer Prohibitions on Vaccination Status - Legislation was introduced but did not advance that would penalize companies with monetary fines if the employer asks about the vaccination status of employees for any infectious disease. If the company has multiple violations, the penalties increase and if there is athird violation, the employer workers' compensation insurance would not be allowed and employees could bring a personal injury against the employer.
- ABI Position: Against
- Status: Dead
HF 272/SF 186: Adoption Mandate - The full House and the Senate Workforce Committee have approved legislation that would require employers to provide the same benefits they currently give to employees who have newborn biological children to employees who adopt a child. The language would apply to children 0-6 and also ensure that an employee who adopts a child is not eligible for disability leave unless they have a qualifying disability under the employer’s policies.
- ABI Position: Undecided
- Status: Alive
HF 369: Employer Liability on COVID-19 - The legislation allows an employee to bring a cause of action against an employer for any illness, injury, etc. if the employer requires the vaccine as a condition of employment. The bill was not assigned a subcommittee and is dead.
- ABI Position: Against
- Status: Dead
HSB 105: Mandatory E-Verify - This is companion legislation to SF 108. The House advanced the bill through a subcommittee, but it was not brought up by the full House Judiciary Committee.
- ABI Position: Against
- Status: Dead
HSB 116: Extended Leave for Railroad Workers - The bill allows for railroad employees to take up to 84 days of unpaid leave in a 12 month period because of a birth of adoption or because of a serious health condition of the employee or their son, daughter, spouse or parent. The bill passed unanimously through a subcommittee, but was not taken up by the full House Labor and Workforce Committee.
- ABI Position: Against
- Status: Dead
SF 120: Ban the Box - The legislation prohibits employers from inquiring about an employee’s criminal history until the interview is being conducted. If no interview is to be offered, an employer couldn’t ask about criminal history until after a conditional offer of employment is given. The bill was assigned a subcommittee, but didn’t move.
- ABI Position: Against
- Status: Dead
SF 435: Pregnancy Accommodations - The legislation requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations to employees based on medical conditions related to the employee’s pregnancy or childbirth. The bill goes into the Iowa Civil Rights statute, would impose civil penalties and open the door to litigation against an employer. The bill isn’t necessary as these protections already exist at the federal level. The bill was not assigned a subcommittee.
- ABI Position: Against
- Status: Dead
SF 396: Wage Discrimination - The bill expands wage discrimination laws by going into the Iowa Civil Rights statute and imposing severe requirements upon employers in this area. The legislation would also set up an equal pay task force and open the door to increased liability against employers. The bill did not receive a subcommittee assignment.
- ABI Position: Against
- Status: Dead