ISAC Update: 4.17.15
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86th Iowa General Assembly, First Session, Week 14
Week 14 again consisted primarily of floor action and activity by the Appropriations and Ways
and Means Committees. The April 15 deadline for schools to certify their budgets came and
went without resolution between the House and Senate on state supplemental aid. This left
many schools budgeting 0% or some with a small percentage increase with the hope that a
compromise will be reached. On Tuesday, the Senate Majority Democrats released their
budget targets which were $16 million higher than the Governor’s proposed 2016 budget. This
difference was offset however by an early retirement incentive program for state employees
that is expected to save $16 million. It is uncertain at this time when the House Majority
Republicans will release their budget targets, but it was stated on the floor by leadership that
budget bills will be debated next week.
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Mental Health and Disability Services
E911 Surcharge Funding
County Compensation
Utility Services
 Weekly Legislative Forums
New and Noteworthy
Smart Connections Conference
Excellence in Action Awards Reminder
NACo and Nationwide Announce First Plan Sponsor Aspire Award
Iowa Partners in Efficiency Award
Mental Health and Disability Services
Dealing with the shortage of available mental health beds in Iowa has been a focus of policy
discussion of the 2015 session, and on Wednesday another bill addressing this issue achieved
final passage. HF 449, a bill that would create a state-wide tracking system of available
mental health beds was concurred by the House and now moves to the Governor for final
consideration. Another bill affecting mental health and disability service (MH/DS) delivery in
Iowa passed the House on Wednesday. HF 468, a bill that clarifies the employment
responsibilities and the assignment of mental health advocates to the counties after many
years of deliberation has now passed both chambers and now moves to the Governor. ISAC is
registered in favor of both of these bills.
Click here to comment on MH/DS.
E911 Surcharge Funding
HF 560, a bill that increases the percentage amount of E911 surcharge funding going back to
counties from 46% to 53%, passed the House Appropriations Committee on Thursday. It also
includes language that a proposed new statewide emergency communications platform would
not come from a portion of the E911 surcharge fund. Finally, the bill provides voluntary
incentives for the consolidation of local public safety answering points (PSAPs) by providing an
additional 25% of the annual allocation of the E911 surcharge funding to the PSAPs that
consolidate over the next three years.
Click here to comment on E911 surcharge funding.
County Compensation
SF 167, as amended by the House, passed the Senate on Monday. The final version of the
often amended bill has two provisions: 1) the board of supervisors shall not approve a
separation allowance or severance pay for any county elected official including themselves,
and 2) the board of supervisors shall adopt a separate resolution in order to approve any
increases in salary for any of the elected officials. SF 167 now goes to the Governor.
Click here to comment on county compensation.
Utility Services
HF 507 passed out of the Senate with amendment on Wednesday. The bill gives entities
created under Chapter 28E that provide wastewater and sewer services the authority to work
with water providers to discontinue water service if account holders are delinquent on their
sewer service bills. The amendment makes the provisions applicable to new accounts after
July 1, 2015, and the bill now goes back to the House. ISAC is registered in favor of HF 507.
Click here to comment on RIZ.
Weekly Legislative Forums
Below are links to the legislative forums held throughout the state. We encourage you to
attend these forums in order to interact with your local legislators and educate them on the
issues that counties are facing. Please print out and share ISAC’s legislative priorities handout
with your legislators. After you have attended any of the forums, please take the time to
submit a comment to ISAC that lets us know the feedback you received from your legislator
using the online legislative comment form. This assists the government relations team in their
work on the Hill. We also encourage you to visit the Capitol during the session to meet with
your legislators. The government relations team enjoys seeing county officials at the Capitol
throughout the week and working with them to further ISAC’s 2015 Legislative Priorities.
http://www.iowahouserepublicans.com/forums
http://iowahouse.org/events/
http://www.iowasenatedemocrats.com/events
http://www.iowasenaterepublicans.com/events/
***Please note that some of these forums are out-of-date.
Smart Connections Conference
ISAC, the Iowa League of Cities, and County Strategic Technology Advisory Resource
(CoSTAR) in cooperation with the Iowa Communities Assurance Pool (ICAP) wish to announce
the 2015 Smart Connections Conference being held on April 30, 2015 at the Stoney Creek
Hotel and Conference Center in Johnston. This one-day conference is meant for all local
government officials who wish to learn more about protecting you, your organization, and your
information. Attendees will learn about the vulnerability of your work and personal email,
cellphones, computers and more. These cyber-security threats are becoming very common –
are you prepared??? Please click here to register and for more information. Due to limited
seating, pre-registration is required for a minimal $50 fee that includes all materials, lunch
and morning refreshments.
Excellence in Action Awards Reminder
ISAC is currently accepting nominations for the 2015 ISAC Excellence in Action Awards. This
competitive awards program seeks to recognize innovative county government employees,
programs, and projects. Click here for more information, past winners, and a preliminary rules
and nomination form. The deadline for nominations is May 1, 2015. Winners will be announced
during the 2015 ISAC Fall School of Instruction.
NACo and Nationwide Announce First Plan Sponsor Aspire Award
The National Association of Counties (NACo) and Nationwide Retirement Solutions (NRS) have
announced the first “Aspire Award: Honoring Innovative Leadership in Promoting County
Employee Retirement Savings” to recognize two counties that have gone above and beyond in
empowering their employees for retirement success. Counties who offer their employees the
opportunity to participate in the NACo Deferred Compensation Program, administered by NRS,
are eligible for nomination for the Aspire Award. Consideration will be given to the plan
sponsors who present measurable outcomes that result from unique, unusual, and original
efforts to successfully engage county employees in their retirement futures. The Aspire Award
will be presented during NACo’s Annual Conference, July 10-13, 2015 in Mecklenburg County
(Charlotte), North Carolina.
Further information and the application are available at http://www.naco.org/aspire.
Applications must be received by NACo by 5:00 pm Eastern time, Friday, May 15, 2015.
Applications may be submitted to [email protected] or mailed to Aspire Award,
NACo, 25 Massachusetts Ave, NW, Suite 500, Washington, DC 20001.
Iowa Partners in Efficiency Award
The Iowa Partners in Efficiency award recognizes the efforts of Iowa government entities to
improve their operational efficiency. County governments are eligible for this award. Please
click here to learn more and to apply. Applications will be accepted until June 12, 2015.
Contact Information:
Iowa State Association of Counties (ISAC)
5500 Westown Parkway, Suite 190, West Des Moines, IA 50266
Phone: 515.244.7181 Fax: 515.244.6397
www.iowacounties.org
This ISAC Update is being sent to all ISAC members.