Greetings!
I have some good news to report and some not so good news to report. I will start with the good news. If you remember, on February 12th, the House passed SF 2088 - the state government reorganization bill with an amendment that included changes to Empowerment. A significant change was keeping Empowerment in the Dept. of Management after the Senate passed language moving it to the Dept of Education. After 2 weeks of negotiations, I am glad to report that on Thursday, February 25th the Senate passed an amendment that includes the language to keep Empowerment in the Dept. of Management. The amendment also does a couple of other things:
- An Early Childhood State
Board
is established (same concept as Empowerment Board).
- ECI State Board has
increased
transparency and statewide data collection and reporting
requirements. State Board will also establish and enforce
statewide
performance measures.
- Prohibits program providers
that receive funding from serving on local or state ECI Boards.
- A Stakeholder Advisory
Council
of Early Childhood is established under the ECI State Board (moved
from
Dept. of Public Health).
- Department of Management
will
have fiscal and data reporting oversight and rulemaking authority.
DOM will manage ECI state staff, no longer appointed by Governor.
- ECI State Board will have
rulemaking authority for program implementation..
- Allows local boards to pick
fiscal agent but has DOM establish criteria for local fiscal agent
responsibilities.
Next, the bill will go back to the House for a vote - this should be just a formality as I expect the House to vote on this without issue as early as Monday.
I was able to meet with
the Governor last Tuesday to discuss Empowerment with five other early
childhood advocates. The Governor expressed his support of early
childhood and his intentions to leave Empowerment in the Dept of
Management. He also expressed to us that he wanted more fiscal accountability for Empowerment at the state and local level. (It was a rough couple of weeks as the compromise was reached between the Governor's office, the Senate and the House). If you remember where we started on all of this and where we have ended, I think we are in pretty good shape.
All of this reinforces the importance of grassroots advocacy. We all can make a difference when we stick together! A sincere thank you to all of you who communicated with your legislator and with the Governor's office. I am proud to be an early childhood advocate with all of you!!!
Okay - now for the bad news - the budget!!!
The HHS budget and the Education budget spreadsheets were released and passed out of committees last week. We expect a bill sometime this week. The biggest concern has to be the HHS budget. DHS Director, Charles Krogmeier, testified to the HHS Budget Subcommittee last week about the impact that this budget and the 172 million in cuts will have on his Dept and most importantly - the already vulnerable children and families in Iowa. You can read his testimony/document here.
I will have more on the budget later this week as we begin to see more of the details....
I hope this update has been helpful. There has been so much going on - it is hard to keep up and hard to know how much detail to go into.
Best ~
Sheila |
| BILLS |
 Quality Early Care and Education
HF 2069 - An Act authorizing persons who are relatives, friends, or neighbors to provide child care as unregistered child care home providers under certain circumstances. By Hagenow. Subcommittee, Mascher, Hunter, and Koester Companion bill SF 2084
Child Well-Being and Development
HSB 223 - (a bill from last year) A study bill for requiring certain health insurance contracts, policies, or plans to provide coverage for audiological services and hearing aids for children. UPDATE - passed Human Resourced Committee on 2/8. Eligible for debate in House. Please contact Speaker Murphy and Representative McCarthy and ask them to put this bill on the House Calendar for debate!
HSB 673 - An Act providing for vision screenings for certain students, and including applicability provisions. UPDATE - passed out of Human Resources Committee on 2/8. Eligible for debate.
SF 2092 - An Act relating to health reform in Iowa by creating an Iowa Care plus program and an Iowa Choice Exchange.
Family Economic Success
HF 2127 - An Act modifying provisions relating to the regulation of delayed deposit services businesses, making penalties applicable, and including effective date provisions. Commerce: Wenthe, Helland, Kressig, Reasoner, and Sands.
SF 2235 - (formerly SF 2125) - An Act requiring provision of deliverable fuels to customers under specified circumstances, and including effective date provisions. UPDATE - passed Senate. Eligible for debate in the House.
Other Important Bills:
SF 2088 - (formerly SSB 3030) - A study bill for an act concerning state government reorganization and efficiency, making appropriations, establishing fees, establishing criminal penalties, and providing effective and applicability provisions. UPDATE - see above section
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Legislative Term of the Week:
Journal - The official chronological record of a Chamber's proceedings, printed daily in pamphlet form. The journals are indexed and bound at the close of each session.
Quote of the Week:
I am only one,
But still I am one.
I cannot do everything,
But still I can do something;
And because I cannot do everything
I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.
- Edward Everett Hale
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Legislative Alert!!!
Please call or
email your
state
Senator right away and tell them to support SF 2356 to expand
IowaCare
to thousands of low-income uninsured Iowans!!
SF 2356 will allow Iowans
with incomes between 200 and 300
percent of poverty level to join the IowaCare Plus program if they have
no
access to insurance through their employer, or if their insurance is
not affordable.
The insurance industry is
trying to kill expansion of
IowaCare to low-income Iowans with incomes between 200 and 300 percent
of
poverty level. We must tell our Senators that low-income uninsured
Iowans need
access to Iowa Cares and that it MUST include expansion of the program
to those
with incomes between 200 and 300 percent of poverty level.
If the
insurance companies win, we lose.
Tell your Senators to
stand with Iowa
families, not with the insurance
industry. Tell them to support SF 2356, the IowaCare Plus bill. Tell
them to
oppose any amendments that would strip the legislation of support for
Iowans
with incomes between 200 and 300 percent of poverty level.
It is especially important to get in calls to
Iowa 's
Democratic
Senators
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