Hite Capitol Update: 06/11/20
I would like to open my newsletter this week by acknowledging the current American reality. The tragic killing of George Floyd and the nation-wide protests that followed have caused us to rethink many aspects of our world. I wrote a piece in the Des Moines Register sharing my thoughts on the matter, which can be found here.
One major duty for us lawmakers is to set the budget for the next fiscal year. In the aftermath of the Coronavirus pandemic, a number of state legislatures are facing revenue declines of up to 33 percent thus forcing them to enact budgets with significant spending reductions when compared to the previous fiscal year.
In Iowa, it is a different story as conservative budgeting principles have left the state in a much stronger fiscal position than many other states. On Wednesday, House Republicans moved forward with a Fiscal Year 2021 budget that maintains the current year’s funding level for virtually all budget line items while also ensuring that the promises made to local schools before the pandemic are being kept.
House File 2643 is the bill containing all General Fund appropriations, and it spends $7.796 billion in the fiscal year starting on July 1. The bill maintains the Fiscal Year 2020 funding levels for the vast majority of line items in state government. Additionally, the state would provide additional funding to the HAWK-I program to meet the changed federal matching fund levels due to Obamacare. Funding for Medicaid would be set at $1.466 billion for the year. That amount is slightly above the current projected in the program by the state’s Medicaid Forecasting Group.
Education remains a priority under the House Republican budget proposal. The budget ensures that the state has the funds necessary to provide schools with the 2.3 percent increase in supplementary state aid that the Legislature promised when it passed that amount in early March. House File 2643 continues that commitment by providing the Iowa School for the Deaf and the Braille and Sight Saving School a similar increase in their funding levels.
Passage of the House Republican budget plan would also leave the state on solid financial ground in Fiscal Year 2021. Both the Cash Reserve Fund and the Economic Emergency Fund would continue to be filled to the statutorily-required level of 10 percent of the General Fund budget, in addition to the state continuing to have a healthy ending balance in the General Fund.
We have also been keen to pass necessary provisions for mental health this year. Recently, the House overwhelmingly passed Senate File 2261 to expand access to mental health treatment for children, and now the bill goes to the Governor for signature. This bill allows schools to contract with a mental health professional to provide behavioral health screening to students in person or through telehealth in a school setting. The mental health professional and school must receive parental consent and maintain all consent forms, provide a secure and confidential room for such services and the necessary technology, and maintain scheduling for student appointments with parental coordination to allow parents to participate.
This bill expands on the historic legislation passed last year for children’s mental health. House File 690 was developed based on recommendations from children’s mental health providers, parents, and advocates. That bill ensured that there is local access and coordination to mental health services for children and that parents have a place to turn when seeking treatment for their child.
The bill also required each MHDS Region to hire a children’s services coordinator who will serve as the subject matter expert and focus solely on the development of children’s mental health services in that area, and many Regions have begun that hiring process. Importantly, the bill also follows the process used for adults by establishing eligibility criteria for children and core services that will be provided to eligible children including crisis services, inpatient treatment, and outpatient therapy.
This bill was a part of many proposals in the legislature to expand access to mental health services for children last year. The final state budget for FY 2020 included funding to expand the statewide crisis hotline to children’s mental health services, provided additional funding for developing mental health professionals in rural areas, eliminated the waiting list for the Children’s Mental Health Home and Community Based Services Waiver, and provided funding for mental health awareness training for educators and schools. All of this funding maintained in the House Republican budget bill for FY 2021.
Finally, I would like to talk about some exciting developments in rural infrastructure. Iowa Economic Development Authority made awards totaling $4.6 million last week for water and sewer infrastructure projects in 14 communities across the state. The awards were made through the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program, which provides support for community improvements. Grants are awarded based upon the benefit to low- and moderate-income persons, financial need, project impact and readiness, and commitment of local resources to the project. This round, awards were made in Carter Lake, Corning, Cushing, Dayton, Early, Ladora, Lewis, Lockridge, Marshall County, Oxford Junction, Parkersburg, Rickardsville, Rudd, and Ruthven
CDBG funds enable communities to make needed improvements to water and sewer systems, improve housing conditions for low-income homeowners, provide facilities for disabled and at-risk individuals, and make transformative downtown improvements. The CDBG program is federally funded through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. IEDA is responsible for administering the CDBG funds in the non-metropolitan areas of the state.
Download a spreadsheet of today’s awards:
www.iowaeda.com/userdocs/news/20202qcdbgwater-sewerawards.pdf
As always, I encourage you to reach out to me at dustin.hite@legis.iowa.gov with any questions comments, or concerns.
