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News from Every Child Counts
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Funnel week is always an interesting time at the Capitol. Legislators spend most of their time in Committees or caucusing with members of their own party in their respective Committee. Because there are so many bills that need to be discussed and multiple amendments, they can spend hours and hours (not kidding) caucusing.
Evidence of such happened on Monday afternoon during the House Education Committee. The Committee convened at 4:00 p.m. Both parties went to their caucus - four hours later, the Republicans returned and five hours later the Democrats returned, only to convene for five minutes and go to caucus again! Then, the House Education Chair decided to recess around 9:30 p.m. until 5:50 p.m. the next day. The Committee finally finished the bill around 8:30 on Tuesday evening. This process is repeated several times during the week with the various committees. Now on to what they actually completed during funnel week and their Committee and Caucus time.As mentioned above, the House Education Committee passed HSB 517 (ed reform) out on Tuesday. There were a total of 29 amendments. Most of the amendments were submitted by the Democrats who eventually withdrew them after brief comments. There is a good summary of the amendments that passed and failed from the House Republicans on their website.
Then on Thursday, the Senate Education Committee passed out their version of education reform - SSB 3171. Check out the Senate Democrats website here to get a summary of the bill with amendment as passed out of the Committee.
There are now three bills addressing education reform - the House, Senate and Governor all have proposals. This should be an interesting debate and compromise, one that can have a huge impact on the future of our state!
Speaking of education, the Senate Democrats and House Republicans both came out with their education appropriations budgets (both Houses are significantly apart on numbers). A proposed appropriations bill (SSB 3172) was introduced by Senate Democrats on Monday. Click here to see the comparison between the Governor, House and Senate in early childhood programs funded in this budget bill. Another important items was debated this week - EITC! The Senate passed SF 2161 on a 48 - 0 vote. Currently, the credit is 7 percent of the federal Earned Income Tax Credit. The bill increases the amount to 13 percent of the federal credit for tax year 2012, to 15 percent for tax year 2013, and to 20 percent for tax year 2014. The credit remains refundable. Unfortunately, this important tax credit is being used as a bargaining chip. The House and Governor have both stated that they will attach this credit to a property tax bill. The Senate doesn't want this attached to anything. If you remember, the Governor vetoed an increase to EITC twice last year! Look for a legislative alert from us in the next few days!!
And last but certainly not least, the House released their HHS appropriations bill - HSB 661 - this week. You can also find a spreadsheet with the budget numbers. A couple of highlights (we are still analyzing and will have a more complete breakdown in next update):
- Funding for child care is above FY 12 level but below what DHS requested
- Elimination of hawk-i outreach
- 30 million for mental health reform
Please keep in mind when you reading the amounts in the appropriations bills that the amounts with the line through them are from a two year budget. The legislature funded FY 13 at 50% last year when they passed the FY 12 budget, so it appears that there are increases in funding but it is only bringing the totals to 100% funding (in most cases). That is it for now - I know this is a long update, indicative of a long legislative week! Now on to the weekend! Hope it is a good one!
Sincerely,
Sheila Hansen & Danielle Oswald-Thole
PS - Below you will find an updated list of "bills of interest". You might notice a few of them missing - they didn't survive funnel week. But, don't despair, a bill is never really dead. The bill language may appear in another bill sometime this session, so keep advocating!
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President Obama and Funding for Kids
 On February 13, 2012, President Obama released his Fiscal Year 2013 budget request. This fact sheet from First Focus looks at how children fare in his discretionary budget proposal. It highlights notable increases, cuts, and new initiatives.
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Bills of Interest
 Quality Early Care and Education HSB 517 (ed reform) - A study bill for an act relating to programs and activities under the purview of the department of education, the state board of education, the board of educational examiners, school districts, and accredited nonpublic schools; and providing for the retention of certain fees and for the use of certain funds. UPDATE - The bill passed Committee with multiple amendments.SF 2219 - A study bill for an act relating to the continuation of the Iowa early intervention block grant program and including effective date provisions. Passed Education Committee on 2/15. This bill deals with class size and literacy programs (not Early ACCESS).
NEW:
SSB 3172- A study bill for an act relating to the funding of, the operation of, and appropriation of moneys to the college student aid commission, the department for the blind, the department of education, and the state board of regents, and providing effective date provisions. Update - passed Senate Ed Committee. Assigned to Approps.
SSB 3171 (ed reform)- A study bill for an act relating to programs and activities under the purview of the department of education, the state board of education, the board of educational examiners, the state board of regents, school districts, and accredited nonpublic schools; and providing for the retention of certain fees and for the use of certain funds. Update - passed out of Ed Committee on 2/22.
Child Health and Well-Being
HF 2226 - A study bill relating to child abuse reports and disposition data.
HF 2283 (formerly SSB 3056)-An Act relating to the Iowa health information network, providing for fees, and including effective date provisions Companion Bill -HSB 361 Passed Senate Human Resources on 2/8.
SF 2035- A bill for an act relating to child abuse by prohibiting retaliation for reporting, providing for implementation of reporting policies at postsecondary institutions, requiring planning for training requirements, and providing for the distribution of information on child sexual abuse, and providing a remedy. (result of Penn State controversy). Update - amended and passed by Senate Education Committee on 2/15.
HF 2368 (formerly HF 2195) - An Act providing for the issuance of a certificate of birth resulting in stillbirth, providing for a fee, and including effective date provisions. (Companion bill SF 2176). Update - passed Judiciary Committee 21-0.SF 2119 -An Act relating to the sealing and expungement of child abuse registry information . Passed HR Committee 2/2. SSB 3152 - An Act relating to redesign of publicly funded mental health and disability services by requiring certain core services and addressing other services and providing for establishment of regions and including effective date and applicability provisions. Update - Passed HR Committee on 2/23. HSB 646 - A study bill relating to redesign of publicly funded mental health and disability services by requiring certain core services and addressing other services and providing for establishment of regions, making appropriations, and including effective date and applicability provision. Update - Passed Human Resources Committee on 2/23.HF 2344 (formerly HSB 624) - A study bill relating to terminology changes in Iowa Code references to mental retardation. Passed Human Resources on 2/15.HF 2283 - (formerly HSB 561) - A bill for an act relating to the Iowa health information network, providing for fees, and including effective date provisions - referred to Ways and Means. (Companion SF 2166 - passed out of committee)
Child and Family Economic Success
SF 2161 (Formerly SSB 3116) - An Act relating to the amount of the earned income tax credit. Increasing credit from 7% to 13%. Update - Passed full Senate on 48-0 on 2/15. SF 2024 - An Act relating to workforce training programs in community colleges and making appropriations. Update - Passed Senate 26 - 22 on 2/22. HF 2287- A bill for an act creating a tracking and reporting system for certain tax credits awarded by the economic development authority. Referred to Ways and Means
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"There are risks and costs to a program of action. But they are far less than the long- range risks and costs of comfortable inaction." -John F. Kennedy
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A Count for Quality: Child Care Center Directors on Rating and Improvement Systems
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CLASP and the National Women's Law Center announce the release of this collaborative report:
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A Count for Quality describes the benefits and challenges of participating in QRIS from a perspective often left out of policy decisions, but vital to the success of QRIS. The report describes directors' experiences with key QRIS components, including quality standards, monitoring and assessment, and financing and supports. It also includes findings on meeting the needs of infants and toddlers, school-age children, culturally and linguistically diverse children, and children with special needs within QRIS standards. The report includes recommendations for the implementation of QRIS, as well as the alignment of QRIS other components of the early childhood system.
Read A Count for Quality
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Get timely updates from the Child and Family Policy Center:
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How is state policy affecting the families around you?
Tell us about it! Sheila Hansen
Every Child Counts
Director
Danielle Oswald-Thole
Every Child Counts Outreach Coordinator and Policy Advocate
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A donation to
Every Child Counts helps us do what's good for Iowa kids
and families.
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Health Care Update
Children's Health in the President's FY 2013 Budget
A detailed analysis of President Obama's federal fiscal year 2013 budget proposal for children's health. This fact sheet is part of a series from our friends at First Focus analyzing the president's budget as it impacts kids.
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Legislative Forums
Many of you can't make it to the State Capitol in Des Moines - that doesn't mean you can't have some face to face time with your state legislator.
Legislators host forums in their districts throughout the session. They get a chance to update constituents on the issues and listen to concerns from constituents .
House Republican Forums (it appears the House Republican forum schedule has not been updated in sometime - you have to click on member name and then click on forums)
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State Pre-K Assessment Policies: Issues and Status 
This report identifies and describes state-funded Pre-K assessment policies and programs operating in 2012 and discusses the special challenges related to assessing young children. Read the report from Education Testing Services here.
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