State Sen. Eric Giddens (D-Cedar Falls)

This year, I’ve enjoyed serving on the Senate Appropriations committee. The Appropriations committee sets the state budget, which is one of the most important items of business the legislature must accomplish every year. Much of our work this week was dedicated to beginning this process, but there is still much work to be done.

The Appropriations bills we’ve been reviewing so far have been placeholders without any budget numbers. This is unusual and frustrating because the public’s only formal opportunity to weigh in on these budget bills was this week, and they contained no budget numbers for the public to critique. Nevertheless, I will always listen to my constituents’ input on the budget at any point in the process and I am committed to working with my colleagues to develop a budget that serves the best interests of all Iowans and ensures that our state’s resources are allocated as effectively as possible.

The budget process is a critical aspect of the legislative session, and it requires careful consideration and collaboration between the House and Senate. While progress may not be immediately apparent, I am hopeful that leaders in each chamber will come together with a budget proposal that takes input from critical stakeholders into consideration.

Budgets with no numbers?!

This week, budget bills advanced out of committee, but there was one big catch: those budgets contained no numbers!

The Statehouse press corps took note of this strange and perhaps unprecedented move, calling out these “placeholder” budgets that push the state spending plan through the legislative process without the review and discussion Iowans rightfully expect.

They even quoted Sen. Bill Dotzler, as he tried to make sense of budgets without numbers:

“You appear to be experts at three-card monte. People don’t know what the numbers are, they don’t know where the employees in the state of Iowa are going to be. We don’t have any of that information,” said Sen. Bill Dotzler, D-Waterloo. “It’s kind of like a shell game.”

This is no way to govern. Iowa taxpayers deserve transparency.

An update from the second legislative funnel

The Senate passed a major procedural deadline session last week, the so-called Second Funnel, in which most bills must pass one chamber and win committee approval in the other in order to remain eligible for passage.

Many controversial bills remain on the calendar this year, including a dangerous expansion of child-labor laws, school book bans and curriculum censorship, and expensive and unnecessary new red tape for families in need.

But the news isn’t all bad. We continue to see positive, bipartisan bills moving ahead, and at least a few bad ideas falling off the agenda.

Not all bad: These good bills could still become law:

SF 417 and HF 475 prohibit unfair real estate contracts that target older Iowans.

SF 182 and HF 665 give communities another way to provide affordable housing and address problem properties.

HF 272 and SF 186 ensure adoptive parents get the same rights and benefits as parents of biological children.

SF 316 and HF 472 help veterinarians work with law enforcement to combat animal abuse.

The funnel worked: These bills won’t become law this year

SF 136 would have repealed Iowa’s gender balance requirement for state boards.

SF 357 would have reinstated the death penalty.

SF 481 would have cut unemployment benefits for some Iowans with larger families.

SF 297 would have allowed healthcare providers to discriminate based on personal religious beliefs.

SF 313 would have reduced firefighter training hours.

State Senator Eric Giddens represents Iowa Senate District 38 including Cedar Falls, Hudson, Traer, Dysart, Evansdale, Elk Run Heights, Gilbertville, Washburn, LaPorte City and Mount Auburn. Contact Sen. Giddens at 319-230-0578 or eric.giddens@legis.iowa.gov.