DES MOINES – Iowa communities would be able to designate special 25-acre development zones and use a share of sales tax and hotel-motel tax revenues to assist private projects of at least $10 million under legislation that’s getting bipartisan support. House File 641 would establish reinvestment districts designed to spur development of “big ideas,” said [...]

DES MOINES – The Iowa Senate agreed Thursday to send a property tax relief issue to a House-Senate conference committee, marking the farthest point it has progressed in the split-control Legislature and raising hope a compromise could be forged this session. “That is a very hopeful step,” sais Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs. [...]

A small number of bills managed to eke under the wire Thursday while many others failed their last-gasp efforts to survive a self-imposed deadline designed to winnow the split-control Legislature’s workload in the weeks leading up to adjournment. The final day before the 2013 session’s second “funnel” deadline arrives Friday saw House members keep alive [...]

DES MOINES — Senate Democrats on Thursday offered a revised $250 million, five-year plan to reduce commercial property taxes for most Iowa businesses via an annual state tax credit. If approved, Sen. Matt McCoy, D-Des Moines, said a $50 million yearly state appropriation would be placed into a new Business Property Tax Relief Fund beginning [...]

Gov. Terry Branstad and top legislative leaders pledged bipartisan cooperation Wednesday after voters kept Democrats in control of the Iowa Senate and narrowed the GOP majority in the Iowa House for the next two years. “Iowa voters once again chose divided government, and their message was unmistakable: They want us to work together in moving [...]

The finish line remains unknown, but House Republicans and Senate Democrats may have reached an agreement on a starting point for reforming Iowa’s commercial property taxes. Senate Democrats are willing to commit $250 million toward property tax relief over a period of years, Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs, said over the weekend. Meanwhile [...]

DES MOINES – The Iowa House is going viral next month. Six gray, high-definition cameras – some positioned near the speaker’s “well” and above the rear entrance — have been placed in the chambers for the purpose of streaming floor debate and House proceedings live via the Internet. Interested viewers will be able to have [...]

DES MOINES – Legislative Republicans and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds today pitched a new compromise aimed at breaking a budget impasse by agreeing to meet part of the Senate Democrats’ demands for more state funding for education. House Speaker Kraig Paulsen, R-Hiawatha, announced that majority House Republicans next week would debate an omnibus measure that [...]

DES MOINES – The wheels appear to be coming off the tracks for state support of passenger rail service from Iowa City through the Quad Cities to Chicago. Despite a $230 million federal grant, plans for Amtrak service from Eastern Iowa to Chicago appear to be on a train to nowhere unless Iowa House Republicans [...]

CEDAR RAPIDS – Gov. Terry Branstad warned lawmakers against playing political games with the state budget and called for good faith negotiations to resolve differences before the end of the month. The GOP governor and Republicans, who control the House, have agreed on a $6 billion budget ceiling for the fiscal year starting July 1. [...]