James Q. Lynch, CR Gazette –
A roundup of legislative and Capitol news items of interest for Tuesday, April 10, 2012:
WIND ENERGY: Former Hawkeye football player Tim Dwight and other wind and solar energy advocates will ask Gov. Terry Branstad and legislators to learn about Iowa’s solar and small wind energy resources at an 11 a.m. presentation at the Capitol April 11.
The Iowa Solar/Small Wind Energy Trade Association will address how a small cooperative buys wind and solar energy from customers, job creation and education programs leading to jobs in the renewable energy sector. Among the presenters will be Warren McKenna of Farmers Electric Cooperative in Kalona, Stan Pfoff of Pfoff Electric in Marion, Dave Bennett, a Kirkwood Community College instructor.
On a related topic, the Iowa Senate voted 41-9 on Tuesday to approve a bill that seeks to expand state tax credits for small-scale wind turbines by providing nearly $64 million in state tax credits over the next decade. Sen. Rob Hogg, D-Cedar Rapids, said the bill would help Iowa maintain its leadership role in the wind energy industry.
CONTAINING HEALTH COSTS: The Senate Ways and Means Committee voted 10-5 Tuesday to approve a bill requiring state officials to track available data on health-care expenses with an eye on finding ways to control costs and slow the growth of insurance premiums.
Senate File 2230 would require the state insurance commissioner to establish a health insurance and cost containment bureau within the insurance division that would be responsible for creating methodologies to hold health carriers accountable for the fair treatment of health care providers and developing affordability standards for health insurance geared toward improved accessibility, quality and affordability of care.
The bureau would be assisted by a new 14-member advisory board comprised of seven voting members appointed by the governor and subject to Senate confirmation that represent small business, consumers, insurance and health-care providers, and a health care actuary or an economist with expertise in health insurance. Non-voting members would include the insurance commissioner of insurance, the directors of state human services and public health agencies and four legislators. Employees at small businesses with less than 50 workers also would have to provide 90-days advance notice of any insurance rate increase.
TOBACCO TAX LOOPHOLE: Gov. Terry Branstad says it “does make sense” to close a tax loophole in state law regarding roll-your-own cigarette machines. State lawmakers are looking at legislation designed to tax the machines that allow Iowans to produce their own tobacco products at about half the price of buying their smokes retail. The products are assessed state sales tax, but not cigarette or excise taxes like similar manufactured cigarettes.
The state Department of Revenue has asked lawmakers to close that loophole by treating cigarette rollers as vending machines and increasing the tax on store-rolled smokes. The tax change sought by the state revenue department would not apply to hand-rolled cigarettes that consumers who purchase loose tobacco might make at work or home. Branstad says the proposed change that already has won Senate approve seems to be appropriate. People are always trying to look for loopholes and I think when we find them, we need to close them,” the governor said.
IOWA TEA PARTIES: Tea Party Express, the nation’s largest Tea Party political action committee, will make stops in Des Moines at 11:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. in Sioux City April 30 as part of its “Restoring the American Dream” national bus tour.
The tour will “rally tea party activists from across the country to confront the failed leadership and policies of President Obama and the Democrat-controlled Senate,” according to Tea Party Express Chairwoman Amy Kremer.
For more information, visit http://www.teapartyexpress.org/4109/tea-party-express-vi-restoring-the-american-dream.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “If only we had only taken care of Sen. Hogg’s wind energy bill and erected some wind turbines in here this morning, we could have powered this chamber for two or three weeks.” – Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs, following a wide-ranging, free-flowing impromptu debate that broke out on the Senate floor Tuesday before Gronstal had even called up bills for senators to consider
–Compiled by the Des Moines Bureau
