As many of you know the House and Senate concluded business around 5 am Sunday morning, April 26, 2009 bringing an end to the 2009 session.  

Successful passage of bills to assist with disaster recovery will help many communities in Iowa.    Early in the session the legislature passed the expedited sales tax bill which resulted in a successful local vote to assist in housing recovery in the City of Cedar Rapids.    They also passed a $56 million assistance bill that covered personal assistance to disaster affected individuals, housing needs and community and business recovery. 

One unique provision passed late in session allows for local governments to set up Disaster Recovery Zones. Within those zones taxes can be abated for commercial or residential property above the pre disaster value.  This will benefit property owners looking to improve their property beyond pre flood standards.

Last year the cap for Historic Tax Credits was raised from $4 million to $20 million.  This session the legislature raised that cap to $50 million with specific allocations for small projects, disaster areas and projects that will create jobs. 

HF656, which was a revamp of the Iowa Values Fund was also passed this session.    This bill allows for more flexibility to local communities when qualifying companies for state assistance.

The Governor’s IJOBS bonding proposal passed in the last hours of this session. This proposal was the result of negotiations with the legislature for a compromise on the multiple proposals that had been offered.  While not all people in Iowa agree that bonding is a way to stimulate the economy, many communities needed the fund provided for disaster recovery or completing projects.  The IJOBS Board first meeting is June 3, 2009. 

While we saw pressure from the labor bills and the Governor often called for passage of them, we were pleased to see they were not approved.  Some were within a vote of passage in the House, others did not see debate as leadership worked behind the scenes before bringing the bill for debate.  Changes to Collective Bargaining, Prevailing Wage, Right to Work, Federal Deductibility and Choice of Doctor will probably be around again next year but for this year they were not passed.

We were disappointed to see a last minute change to R&D Tax Credit reporting attached to the standings bill.  The larger changes originally proposed were not enacted.  Also in the standings bill we saw more penalties for employers in workers compensation cases related to delayed payments. 

Good news from the standings bill was the raising of the cap on Endow Iowa Tax Credits from 20% to 25%.   Tax credits in general were under attack this session so any increases are a victory.

Another list we will develop over the summer is a review of the health mandates on small business.  There were a number of proposals offered and a few taken.  All of these smaller mandates do add up and we want it understood by all involved the number of additional mandates being thrust upon small business during these economic times.

The Governor had 30 days to act on bills from the last days of session.