Legislative Update from State Director Kristin Failor

Date: February 10, 2015

Broadband bill
introduced

Legislation has been introduced in both the House (House
Study Bill 104) and Senate (Senate Study Bill 1146) to provide for expansion of
broadband access across the state. The bill introduced by the
Governor’s office seeks to identify “targeted service areas” that are defined
as areas where no communications service provider offers or facilitates
broadband service at or above 25Mbps download and 3Mbps upload speed. The bill
establishes a $5 million grant fund for service providers to eliminate or
reduce targeted service areas for the first year and provides property tax
breaks and expedites the permitting process for broadband infrastructure. An
Iowa House Commerce subcommittee heard from interested parties on Thursday
morning.

Iowa Senate
unanimously passes tax code update

Late Wednesday afternoon the Iowa Senate passed Senate File
126, which conforms Iowa’s law to federal tax law. The bill is also known as
the “coupling bill”. The Iowa House is expected to debate the bill
soon.

Branstad announces
administrative appointments

This week, Gov. Terry Branstad announced
appointments for several vacant positions. All of the appointments are subject
to Senate confirmation. Joe Cortese is appointee for Workers’ Compensation
Commissioner. Cortese practices workers’ compensation law at the West Des
Moines law firm of Huber, Book, Cortese & Lanz.  Cortese will begin his position on Feb. 16.
Click
here for the full press release. Beth
Townsend, former Director of the Iowa Civil Rights Commission, is Branstad’s
appointee for Iowa Workforce Development Director. Townsend has been serving as
acting director of the department since Jan. 11. Click here for the full press release. Finally, Roxann Ryan is the appointee for
the Department of Public Safety Commissioner. She has been serving as the
acting commissioner since Jan. 9. Click here for the full press release.  Civil
rights and temporary disability expansion considered

Members of a House Labor Subcommittee met Wednesday to
discuss House File 116, which expands civil rights employment protections to
adoptive parents. The language in the bill also seeks to classify adoption as a
temporary disability.

Paycard legislation
the focus of house labor subcommittee

Rep. Greg Forristall (R-Macedonia), Chairman
of the House Labor Committee, had two subcommittee meetings this week on House
Study Bill 94
. This proposed legislation was brought forward
by the Attorney General’s office to address the increased use of debit or pay
cards for employee wages. The Attorney General’s office is seeking additional
protections for employees who receive wages via debit card and to make certain
the employer notifies the employee of all potential charges associated with
using the card.

Iowa Senate schedules
pregnancy discrimination meeting

The Iowa Senate has scheduled a subcommittee to discuss
additional accommodations for pregnant and expecting mothers. This bill is a
repeat of one we saw two years ago. Sen. Chris Brase (D-Muscatine) will host a
subcommittee on Senate File 18 on Tuesday. Your feedback on the bill would be
helpful.

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