Lawmakers adjourn 172-day session

DES MOINES – Iowa lawmakers dodged the specter of a government shutdown with hours to spare by finalizing a new budget plan Thursday afternoon and adjourning their marathon session on the 172

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The final gavels fell in the House and Senate after leaders of the split-control General Assembly resolved a contentious dispute over Medicaid-funded abortions that delayed the overtime session for nearly an extra day. The Iowa House adjourned at 3:41 p.m., and the Iowa Senate followed suit two minutes later.

The 84

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General Assembly's first yearly gathering closed to mixed reviews with Gov. Terry Branstad praising lawmakers for approving a $5.999 billion spending plan for the new fiscal year that begins Friday that ended past bad budgeting practices but expressing disappointment they failed to bridge ideological differences on a contentious property tax reform issue.

However, the governor was undecided whether the inaction on efforts to reduce commercial property taxes and cap rate increases at 2 percent for agricultural and residential property classes warranted calling lawmakers back for a special session later this year.

“We'll see. I'm not going to make any decision on that in the short term,” he said in a waiver.

Republicans who control the Iowa House and majority Democrats in the Senate hammered out details of a $5.999 billion spending plan for fiscal 2012 that shrunk the general fund by about $245 million and met Branstad's demand for a two-year budget that spends less money than the state takes in and is sustainable without employing accounting tricks or one-time funding sources.

“I think it's going to be viewed as a very significant session. There's no question that we've fulfilled the commitments that we made,” said Rep. Scott Raecker, R-Urbandale, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee who led the GOP charge for scaling back state spending and government growth. “Compromise always means that there's give and take, and I believe that both parties, both chambers and the governor will look at this session as a success.”

More than seven hours of the Legislature's final session day was spent negotiating agreement on the politically volatile issue of Medicaid-funded “medically necessary” abortions for low-income women performed at the University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics in Iowa City that was included in a $1.5 billion health and human services budget bill.

Under the terms of the agreement, the state will comply with the minimum federal Medicaid guidelines, which include rape and incest. Fetal deformity is an option. It will be up to the state Department of Human Services and the governor to determine whether the state will comply with that. The bill does not spell out in what instances Medicaid-funded abortions will be provided. It only refers to complying with federal guidelines, said Rep. Beth Wessel-Kroeschell, D-Ames, one of the conference committee negotiators.

The practical effect is that the scope of services available to low-income women will not change, she added. The compromise language included a statement that “Iowans support reducing the number of abortions performed in our state.”

The abortion agreement rounded out a week of intense bipartisan bargaining that produced a new spending plan that would freeze state aid for K-12 schools while “backfilling” $216 million in property taxes and local reserves needed to cover past shortfalls in state commitments next fiscal year, and would provide a 2 percent “allowable growth” increase in fiscal 2013. Preschool programs will remain unchanged after Branstad's effort to create a means-tested funding system stalled, but state funding was cut to about $59 million, while regent universities took a $20 million hit in general aid and community colleges bring a $6 million overall increase into the new fiscal year on July 1.

The Legislature also pumped more state money into its $1.1 billion commitment to Medicaid programs in fiscal 2011 – a budget area that was bolstered by one-time reserve funding in the current fiscal year.

Sen. Bob Dvorsky, D-Coralville, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said Democrats fought hard to protect priorities in the Statehouse's new budgetary and political landscape.

“Despite having really tight, tight budgets, I think we made good decisions to try to fund as best we could the priorities,” he said. “I don't think government is going to function the way we would like it to function, but it's still going to function. It remains to be seen what will happen. Some of those budgets are really tight and we may have some layoffs.”

Initially, Dvorsky gave the session a C-plus grade, but later downgraded it to a D-plus due to the deep spending cuts.

After six months of partisanship that significantly reduced the number of bills approved by both chambers, lawmakers forged bipartisan compromises that averted the possibility of a government shutdown if no budget was approved before Friday.

“I think both sides have some things they can feel proud of and I think both sides have some things that they have some disappointment in, and that's kind of the nature of most legislative sessions,” said Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs.

On the final day, lawmakers approved a measure to temporarily fund state programs during the 30-day period the governor now has to review late-arriving budget bills and consider using his item-veto power to strip appropriation measures of provisions he does not like.

“I appreciate the Legislature doing this,” Branstad said. “I think this is essential so that we can do a very thoughtful review of all the bills passed in the last three days of the legislative session.”

Branstad also praised lawmakers for approving his proposed public-private Partnership for Economic Progress, saying “that's going to give us a modern, efficient and nimble approach towards marketing Iowa and to bring business and jobs here. That is an important step forward.”

Senate GOP Leader Paul McKinley of Chariton blamed majority Senate Democrats for “dragging out” the session for nearly two months longer than needed by refusing to seek budget compromises sooner. He also said many House-passed issues – such as a marriage amendment, late-term abortion restrictions, collective bargaining reforms and others -- fell by the wayside because majority Democrats refused to take them up, producing one of the lowest number of enrolled bills sent to the governor's desk in recent memory.

“It went on too long,” McKinley said of the 2011 session. “It was disruptive to state employees, it was disruptive to our schools because they never got any closure, it was disruptive to the lives of citizens legislators, and we could have had this wrapped up two months ago.”

Iowa Democratic Party Chairwoman Sue Dvorsky, wife of the Coralville senator, offered a different taking, saying Democrats were “firm voices” for middle-class Iowans throughout the session.

“Instead of allowing themselves to be sidetracked in pursuit of an out-of-touch agenda, they remained focused on having a serious discussion about how to create jobs and strengthen Iowa's economy,” she said in a written statement. “While it took longer than most of us expected to reach this point, we are thankful that Democrats were finally met at the negotiating table. Neither side got everything they hoped for, but our Democratic leaders were able to reduce the impact that the Republican agenda will have on education, preserve many successful services, and keep Iowa on a path toward continued job creation.”