Rod Boshart, CR Gazette –
A wide-ranging floor debate is brewing today in the Iowa Senate.
Senators are scheduled to take up the fiscal 2013 budget measure dealing with standing appropriations.
The measure includes a number of spending issues over which Democrats and Republicans differ in their talks that have Republicans and Democrats approaching stalemate as they attempt to shut down a session completing its second week of overtime today.
Among the varied topics that may be ruled relevant for debate today are a statewide ban on traffic-enforcement cameras, funding of local government property tax credits, the earliest date when K-12 schools can start fall classes, providing $3 million to keep the Malcolm Price lab school open at the University of Northern Iowa for another year while the issue gets further study, allowing bars and restaurants more leeway to providing infused drinks to customers, providing money for a hot line to address problems associated with bullying, a new protection for animals when commercial dog breeders run into financial problems, and Democrats’ efforts to change the House-passed version to give K-12 schools a 4 percent “allowable growth increase and extend funding for class-size reduction and early childhood intervention programs.
House File 2465 was passed by the GOP-led Iowa House last week, but faces considerable revision in the Senate where Democrats hold a 26-24 edge.