Week 7 February 25- March 1st, 2019 Wow! What a busy week it has been here at the State Capitol. Committee meetings are still in full swing as we approach funnel week. There is much discussion and debate developing in regards to many bills that have been filed thus far. As your Representative, I look at each bill and question if it will either help our district, or hurt it. I represent you, the people of House District 75. If you have any questions, concerns, or just want to chat, please, send me a ring or email. Also, if you are ever in the Des Moines Metro, feel free to stop on by to see us the Iowa State Capitol! Helping the Teacher Shortage in Rural Iowa The legislature took steps last week to help rural districts, particularly border communities, attract and retain newly qualified teachers, a difficult task in some areas. There are definitely problems with finding qualified teachers in areas with a smaller population from which to draw, due to many factors. One in particular that was addressed, deals with the test teacher candidates have to take to finish their course of study. The most common one is called the Praxis exam, although there are others. The legislature in 2013 set a minimum bar for this test that in order to finish a teacher preparation program and enter the teaching workforce, candidates must pass with a score in the top 75% nationally. This isn’t always a problem for Iowa students, as around 95% of our teacher candidates meet this standard. But there are instances where a teacher candidate shines in all aspects of their training, receives glowing praise during their student teaching period, and despite being offered a job enthusiastically by a district, if they can’t pass the Praxis, they can’t teach. This is a barrier to entry that numerous superintendents have asked that the legislature fix. They argue that they know best who is most qualified for the job opening and they have watched the candidate complete a successful student teaching experience in the district. There were efforts last year to get rid of this 75% bar altogether (actually written in statute as passing above the 25% percentile nationally). But that would leave Iowa as the only state in the nation with no standard for teacher candidates. So the compromise made this year came in the form of two companion bills, one in the House and one in the Senate. The compromise is to allow the Department of Education to set passing scores that are more in line with what other states are doing. They are to consider not only the passing scores set in our surrounding states, but also the particular high-needs teaching areas in Iowa, and set Iowa’s scores accordingly. Additionally, a one-year temporary license is created to give those teacher candidates additional time to pass the test, which is sometimes only offered in limited windows that may not line up with the end of their program and the beginning of their teaching. The compromise bill received bipartisan praise as it passed through the House Education committee, with many comments thanking those who worked on it for finding a positive middle ground that will help rural and border communities find and retain quality teachers for their students. House Study Bill 17 passed with a vote of 21-2. The two votes against the bipartisan bill were cast by Rep. Mary Mascher of Johnson County and Rep. Heather Matson of Polk County. The Senate Education Committee passed their bill, Senate Study Bill 1031, unanimously 14-0. Both bills are now ready for floor consideration in their respective chambers as House File 513 and Senate File 159. House Republicans Begin Building FY 2020 Budget With the release of budget targets last week, House Republicans on the seven budget subcommittees have started to formulate their spending proposals for the next fiscal year. While members continue to refine their Fiscal Year 2020 proposals, commitments to Iowans’ top priorities are already being made. They include: - Ensuring Access to Health Care through Iowa’s Critical Access Hospitals – $1.6 million increase. Another major concern of Iowans is maintaining the state’s network of hospitals. Central to this system are the 82 critical access hospitals throughout Iowa. These hospitals, located in smaller communities across the state, provide critical, initial care in their towns and counties and are linked to a larger hospital system for more extensive care. House Republicans are proposing to restore Medicaid payment rates to these hospitals to 101% of costs, with a cost settlement process at the end of the year. Hospital administrators have told members that the number one thing the Legislature could do for rural health care was to restore this process, and House Republicans are making that a key priority of their FY 2020 budget by committing $1.6 million from the General Fund to this. - Committing to Future Ready Iowa – $17.7 million in FY 20. Ensuring that Iowans have the job skills needed by Iowa’s employers is one of the biggest issues facing this state. House Republicans have committed to fund implementation of the Future Ready Iowa program that was created last year. This will include $15 million for assisting community college students with the Last Dollar Scholar program and $1 million for helping those who started four-year degrees in certain fields to go back to college and finish them. - Additional Funding for Nursing Homes Serving Iowans on Medicaid – $19 million increase. One of the bigger concerns Republican representatives heard in their districts over the past few months has been over the fiscal condition of local nursing homes. With the growing number of nursing home residents whose care are covered by Medicaid, nursing homes are facing tighter operating budgets. To help ensure Iowans have access to this important level of care in their local communities, House Republicans are planning to provide an additional $19 million of General Fund dollars to Iowa’s Medicaid program to increase the daily nursing home payment rate. These funds will also help control the growth of private pay rates in nursing homes. - Protecting Iowans’ Safety Ensuring that Iowans live in safe communities is a big drawing card for this state. The House Republican budget will build on this by providing additional funds for the Department of Public Safety in FY 2020. These commitments will allow DPS to bring on additional troopers and DCI agents in the next year. - Expanding Access to Health Care in Rural Iowa by Recruiting Additional Providers – $700,000 increase. Having trained health care providers is necessary to having functioning hospitals and nursing homes across Iowa. And to attract health care providers to rural communities sometimes requires additional steps to make this appealing to new practitioners. To help more communities attract doctors, House Republicans will be taking two steps. First, they will provide an additional $400,000 for medical residency programs and dedicating these funds to those who will practice in rural Iowa. Also, House Republicans will increase funding for the Rural Primary Loan Repayment program by $300,000. This program helps communities attract and retain newly-licensed doctors. - Continuing Iowa’s Investment in Higher Education – $7 million increase. Increasing support for Iowans seeking higher education will be part of the FY 2020 budget beyond what is included in Future Ready Iowa. Increases for all three legs of Iowa’s higher education system will be part of the House Republican budget. Community Colleges will receive an additional $7 million in FY 2020 under the House Republican plan. - Improving Iowa’s Mental Health System –$5.3 million increase. There is wide, bipartisan support for investing in improvements to Iowa’s mental health system. House Republicans are committed to this and have dedicated additional resources in FY 2020 for this purpose. This includes funding the $3 million requested by the Governor to help schools train their personnel to identify and work with kids having mental health issues. Also, $1.2 million is provided to expand access to the children’s mental health waiver in the Medicaid program and another $1.1 million to increase the number of assertive community treatment teams throughout Iowa. In the next few weeks, more details on the FY 2020 budget will be made public as the budget process picks up speed. The budget outline proposed by House Republicans represents a 0.63% increase in spending and spends just 97.45% of on-going revenue. The plan is a responsible and conservative approach that implements responsible increases in areas that Iowans have clearly indicated are priorities while also pumping up the ending balance to $298.6 million. Labor – Apply Now for the HIRE Vets Medallion Award As a Home Base Iowa business, you have already demonstrated your commitment to hiring veterans. To showcase your support of employing veterans on a national level, your business is encouraged to apply for the HIRE Vets Medallion Award. This U.S. Department of Labor award recognizes small employers (1-50 employees), medium employers (51-499 employees) and large employers (500+ employees) for their leadership in recruiting, employing and retaining America's veterans. Application deadline is Tuesday, April 30. View a table of the criteria to qualify to receive a HIRE Vets Medallion Award as well as the application fee. Two Home Base Iowa businesses were selected to receive 2018 HIRE Vets Medallion Program Demonstration awards. BDC Group, Inc. in Cedar Rapids received a platinum medallion, and SHINN KELLOGG, LLC in Albia received a gold medallion in the small business category. Apply online at hirevets.gov by Tuesday, April 30. Questions? Please contact Edgar Ortiz via email Edgardo.ortizhernandez@iwd.iowa.gov or call him at 515-725-362 or Anthony Vanbroekhuizen via email anthony.vanbroekhuizen@iwd.iowa.gov or call him at 515-725-3680.

Comments

Submit a Comment

Please refresh the page to leave Comment.

Still seeing this message? Press Ctrl + F5 to do a "Hard Refresh".