Hite Capitol Update – March 12th, 2021

by Dustin Hite

This week in the legislature we were busy with floor debate on a number of bills. A bill I authored, HF 626, passed off the House floor Monday night. I introduced this bill to address the terrible federal program of redlining, a program whereby banks were discouraged from making loans in black and minority neighborhoods. Redlining began with the FDR administration in the 1930’s and continued over thirty years. It was great to see HF 626 pass the House unanimously.

We also passed several bills keeping students and education at the forefront of Iowa. House File 605 adds additional weighting categories for Limited-English-Proficient Students. Iowa has a growing population and with that comes different languages. In order to help these students be the most successful in Iowa, House Republicans are making sure they have the proper support.

House File 604 is a bill making sure children who are deaf or hard-of-hearing will be able to have the necessary tools for learning at the same pace as their hearing peers. In the past, these students have been behind in many areas because they did not have the proper resources to assist them. With this bill, now they will.

Across the country there is a substitute teacher shortage, and COVID-19 has shed a light on this shortage even more. House File 675 will get more substitute teachers into the classrooms. One can take the substitute authorization course if you hold an Associate’s degree or equivalent credit hours and teach no more than 10 days within a 30-day period, unless a waiver is approved.

In schools across Iowa, people have stepped up. In some areas, this meant school board members acting as substitute teachers, food service workers, or school bus drivers. The problem was they could only work in those areas as long as it did not surpass a $6000 compensation limit. Senate File 130 allows members of the school board to receive compensation exceeding $6000 if employed as a substitute teacher, food service workers, or school bus driver for the 2020-2021 fiscal year.

With the absence of extra-curricular and co-curricular activities last school year, and the limit on fans and concessions, student activity funds are in bad shape. House File 602 authorizes transfers of district general funds to the student activity fund account for the 2021 and 2022 school years to meet financial needs due to the impact of COVID-19.

Again, these bills had bipartisan support and truly shows educating our Iowa students has always been, and will remain, a priority.

I was also excited to floor manage a bill that I authored. House File 626, passed the Iowa House this week with unanimous support. This bill addresses the ramifications of the housing redlining policies of the New Deal in the 1930s. Currently, Iowa law authorizes cities or counties to designate an area as a revitalization area if the area meets certain conditions. With this designation, the real estate within the area is eligible to receive a property tax exemption for a percentage of the value added by improvements.

House File 626 provides a new option for a city or county to provide an exemption to a revitalization area established by ordinance that is a “federal targeted area” (redlined). This means an area having previously been identified by the home owners’ loan corporation or similar entity as less desirable, declining, hazardous, or risky for mortgage lending in accordance with or as the result of implementation of the National Housing Act (1934), the United States Housing Act of 1937, or a subsequent piece of legislation.

Under this new option, qualified real estate (owner-occupied) would be eligible to receive a property tax exemption on the total actual value of the qualified real estate. The exemption is for a period of 15 years, beginning at 100 percent and decreasing by 6 percent each year until expiration of the 15-year period. The new option does require the property owner to make improvements costing at least 30 percent of the actual value of the property as of the date the area was designated and exemption does not transfer upon sale of the residential property. House File 626 now moves to the Senate chamber for consideration.

In local news, this week the Mahaska County YMCA in Oskaloosa and New Horizon Academy in Pella received Future Ready Iowa Child Care Awards, providing additional funds totaling almost $1,500,00 between the two, to assist in increasing the number of available spots in their child care facilities. These were awarded as part of the Child Care Task Force launched this week by Governor Kim Reynolds.

Finally, I always enjoy meeting with constituents here at the Capitol. This week I had the chance to meet with a former New Sharonian, Tom Hillers and his wife Abigail. Again, I encourage you to visit this year before the end of session. Please feel free to reach out to me at dustin.hite@legis.iowa.gov to schedule a visit, or if you have any questions, comments or concerns.

Posted by on Mar 12 2021. Filed under Local News, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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