House Democratic Research Staff
State Capitol Building
Des Moines, IA 50319
515-281-6312
For more information, go to www.iowahouse.org
August 13, 2014
Over the next three weeks, over 500,000 Iowa children will head back to the classroom for another school year.
Many of those students will benefit from action taken by the Iowa Legislature over the last several years to boost student achievement and make sure students graduate with the skills to continue their education after high school and land a good job.
One of the key improvements this year is better literacy screening. The goal is to identify students who are reading behind grade level and then provide more intensive support to help them succeed. A few of the other highlights this year include:

39 school districts will roll out plans for their compensation systems with increased teacher salaries and collaboration. The systems will expand to all school districts in the next two years.

Schools have the option of counting their school days by days or hours, and many have switched to hours for more flexibility in offering instruction.

Area Education Agencies and the Iowa Reading Research Center will collaborate in providing teachers with reading professional development. Dyslexia is now defined in Iowa law.

Uniform procedures are available for transferring foster care students in receiving class credit.

A school district's ability to establish a whole grade sharing agreement with another district is extended until 2019.

Districts are able to agree to share program positions with less red tape from the state.

A person issued a coaching authorization now falls under laws to prevent sexual exploitation by a school employee.

Funding is expanded for online learning with 42 additional courses being offered this year through Iowa Learning Online.
Higher Education
Most of Iowa's colleges and universities will also start by the end of this month. Students attending a
Regent university will, for the second year in a row, benefit from a tuition freeze. That freeze was approved by legislators again this year in an effort to keep college more affordable for all Iowa families.
Another 95,000 Iowans will be attending one of Iowa’s 15 community colleges this fall. Those students can take advantage of expanded job training and financial assistance to start a new career.
I OWA H OUSE OF R EPRESENTATIVES 1 | P a g e

S TATEHOUSE N EWS
Last week, State Auditor Mary Mosiman completed her evaluation of the state budget for fiscal year
2015. The Auditor had positive comments for the Legislature’s and Governor’s fiscal restraint that has led to full reserve funds at $696 million and a surplus of $735 million. The final budget approved this year spends $6.98 billion from the state general fund, is balanced, and leaves an ending balance of $735 million.
The main critique of the budget from the Auditor is greater transparency by reducing the amount of shifting of expenditures and revenues from the general fund to other funds. The Auditor estimates there are $340 million in shifts that will occur in fiscal year 2015 that make it more difficult for the public to make accurate comparisons from one fiscal year or the next.
The Auditor raised concerns about laws that have multi-year accelerating financial commitments, such as the property tax reform law and the education reform laws that exceed $150 million in fiscal year
2015 and will increase in the future years. The Auditor noted that State officials must ensure the State maintains adequate resources to meet these commitments.
While the State’s spending limitation laws allows 99% of the available general fund revenues to be expended, the state will spend only 90.5% of the available revenues leaving the strong surplus of $735 million. With the state’s savings accounts full at $696 million, these fiscally responsible budgeting practices are designed to make it possible for the Legislature to fulfill its commitment to commercial property tax relief, education reform, and other key priorities for many years to come.
A two-year long project to honor veterans killed in Vietnam is almost complete.
In 2012, Tom Brickman, a local Vietnam veteran, and his family began collecting photos of all 853 Iowa veterans killed in Vietnam. Recently, Mr. Brickman compiled all the photos he was collecting and turned them over to the Grout Museum in Waterloo.
The Grout Museum and the Sullivan Brothers Iowa Veterans museums will display the photos in a permanent exhibit. A permanent kiosk containing interactive photos and stories of the fallen will be added to the Vietnam area of the Sullivan Museum. In addition, the photos will be used as part of a special 50 th anniversary commemorative exhibit in Waterloo starting next summer, and at a proposed
Education Center at the Wall in Washington, D.C.
This project is supported by the Iowa Legislature. This year, the Legislature appropriated $500,000 for the Grout Museum for the Sullivan Brothers Iowa Veterans Museum oral history collection in Waterloo.
The museum is participating in the U.S. Vietnam War Commemoration scheduled for 2015-2017.
The funding will be used to develop a virtual wall honoring Iowans that died, or are still listed as
POW/MIA. The virtual wall will be hosted on a website, Faces to Go With Names: Iowa’s Fallen Vietnam
Soldiers. A separate interactive exhibit including images and video will feature the role of the helicopter in Vietnam.
2 | P a g e I OWA H OUSE OF R EPRESENTATIVES

S TATEHOUSE N EWS
More information on the photos that have been compiled can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/FacesToGoWithNamesIowasFallenVietnamSoldiers . In addition, the following website provides more information about the Grout Museum and the Sullivan Brothers Iowa
Veterans museums: http://www.groutmuseumdistrict.org/ .
The Department of Public Health has published their proposed administrative rules to implement the bipartisan Medical Cannabidiol Act and set their date for a public hearing on those proposed rules. This law authorizes parents of children with intractable epilepsy suffering from constant seizures to use medical cannabis oil that contains up to 3% of THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), which is the main component of marijuana.
The proposed rules spell out the procedures to follow for a person to receive authorization from the
Department of Public Health (DPH) and the Department of Transportation to receive a “Cannabidiol Act
Registration Card” and they are published on page 165 of the August 6th Administrative Rules Bulletin, https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/aco/bulletin/08-06-2014.pdf
.
The DPH will be holding a public hearing on August 26, from 11:30 am to 1:00 pm, where persons can present their views, written or orally, on these proposed rules. The hearing will also be held over the
Iowa Communications Network (ICN) at six sites which are listed below. If you prefer to access via a conference call, you can dial 1-866-685-1580 and use the pass code: 5152814355.
Ottumwa Regional Health Center
1001 E. Pennsylvania
Ottumwa
Iowa Western Community College - 1
2700 College Road
North Iowa Area Community College - 4
500 College Driver
Mason City
Sioux City Public Library
529 Pierce Street
Sioux City Council Bluffs
Davenport Public Library
321 Main
Davenport
Lucas State Office Building
Sixth Floor
321 E. 12th Street
Des Moines
Iowa Lottery CEO Terry Rich announced the lottery’s 2014 fiscal year results in annual sales, proceeds to state causes, and prizes to players all ranked among the top 4 in the lottery’s 29-year history.
The preliminary figures released show that 2014 lottery sales totaled more than $314 million, marking the third year in a row that the total has topped the $300 million mark. Proceeds to state causes totaled nearly $74 million, the fourth-highest amount for the lottery since its start in 1985. Prizes to lottery players totaled $186.9 million, the second-highest total in the lottery’s history.
3 | P a g e I OWA H OUSE OF R EPRESENTATIVES

S TATEHOUSE N EWS
The lottery’s overall results for the year were down from its 2013 record. The Iowa Lottery noted that two big factors came into play that affected sales, Mother Nature and cyclical Powerball jackpots. The past winter weather definitely impacted lottery sales. Also, the lottery’s FY 13 results were buoyed by strong Powerball sales, with the game’s jackpot topping the $300 million mark on four different occasions during the year.
Since the lottery’s start in 1985, its players have won more than $3.3 billion in prizes and the lottery has raised more than $1.5 billion for the state programs that benefit all Iowans. Lottery proceeds in Iowa provide support for veterans and their families through the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund and help a variety of significant projects through the state’s general fund.
Iowa’s farm real estate value, a measurement of the value of all land and buildings on farms, averaged
$8,500 per acre in 2014, according to USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. This is up $800 per acre or 10 percent higher than last year’s level. Cropland value increased 9 percent from last year to
$8,750 per acre. Pastureland, at $3,400 per acre, increased 6 percent from a year ago.
Cropland cash rent paid to Iowa landlords in 2014 averaged $260 per acre. Non irrigated cropland rent averaged $260 per acre, up $5.00 from a year earlier. Irrigated cropland rent averaged $255 per acre, an increase of $10 from last year. Pasture rented for cash, which averaged $50 per acre, is up $1 from the previous year.
According to the latest USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service Farm Production Expenditures
Annual Summary report, Iowa farm production expenditures totaled $29.8 billion in 2013. This is 2.9 percent above the 2012 total expenditures.

Feed expense, which rose 2.2 percent to $5.05 billion, represented the largest single production expense for Iowa farmers in 2013, accounting for 16.9 percent of the total.

Livestock and poultry purchase expense was the second largest expense, totaling $4.53 billion and 15.2 percent of the total. This is up 13.5 percent from 2012.

Rent expense rose 4.3 percent to $4.11 billion, and accounted for 13.8 percent of the total.

The largest percentage increases were for miscellaneous capital expenses (up 20 percent), livestock and poultry purchases, and fuels (up 10.8 percent).
4 | P a g e I OWA H OUSE OF R EPRESENTATIVES