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Appropriations (Contact Brad Trow at 1-3471) Iowa Budget—A Six Year Review Appropriations 1

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Appropriations (Contact Brad Trow at 1-3471) Iowa Budget—A Six Year Review Appropriations 1 September 28, 2017 www.IowaHouseRepublicans.com Inside this issue: Appropriations (Contact Brad Trow at 1-3471) Iowa Budget—A Six Year Review Appropriations 1 As the final actions closing out Fiscal takes in; Agriculture 6 Year 2017 are being taken, Iowans are once again being bombarded with budg- 2. Do not use one-time money eting “advice” from House Democrats. for on-going needs; and Commerce 7 As members of the minority caucus at- tempt to re-write history by portraying Do not balance the budget by inten- themselves as tight-fisted stewards of tionally underfunding programs. Economic Growth 7 taxpayer dollars, it is once again appro- priate to take a look back at fiscal years The change in budgeting philosophy did 2012 through 2017 and see the stark not extend to everyone in the chamber. Education 8 differences in budgeting philosophy be- House Democrats continued to push for tween House Republicans and House spending above the state’s ongoing reve- Democrats. nue, even when they were relegated to Environmental 10 the minority by Iowa voters thanks to When the new House Majority took con- votes for Des Moines flower pots and Protection trol in January, 2011, Iowa’s financial heated sidewalks. house was not in order. The state was in Human Resources 10 the midst of a fiscal year where the non- During the 2011 session, House Demo- partisan Legislative Services Agency said crats opposed a number of cost contain- there was a funding gap in the General ment measures that House Republicans Judiciary 11 Fund of $1.070 billion. Much of the fund- proposed as part of an effort to restore ing gap was due to the decision by then- financial stability and sanity to the state’s Labor 12 Governor Chet Culver and legislative budget. The Democrats attempted to Democrats to shift significant portions of strip provisions from House File 45 that General Fund expenditures to non- would have saved the taxpayers $174.6 Natural Resources 12 General Fund sources. According to million. That was just the beginning of LSA, $817.9 million of General Fund their free-spending ways. spending had been shifted to non- Public Safety 13 General Fund sources including one-time Building the FY 2012 budget began with federal stimulus funds. the need to increase school funding by $156.2 million “…to backfill the under Transportation 13 The state’s two reserve funds - the Cash funding of school aid in FY 2011. Be- Reserve Fund and the Economic Emer- cause reductions to State aid made in FY gency Fund - were not filled to the statu- 2011 did not reduce the State or district Veterans Affairs 13 torily-required levels. Instead, the funds cost per pupil, the reduction is restored had $109 million less than what is re- through the school aid formula for FY quired by law - 10 percent of General 2012.” Legislative Services Agency, Ways and Means 14 Fund spending. Property tax credits for “Summary of FY 2012 Budget and De- homeowners, farmers, veterans, and partment Requests”, page 18 (2011). seniors were once again underfunded. Even though the state was having to fill Simply put, the state’s financial house Culver’s and their broken promise to was a mess. schools, House Democrats proposed an additional $64 million in supplemental FY 2012 state aid funding. The 2011 session brought a change in (Continued on next page) budgeting philosophy with the introduc- tion of three budgeting principles by House Republicans. The new principles were simple and straight-forward: House Republicans are committed to the following principles in producing a bal- anced state budget: 1. Spend less than the state House Republican Newsletter Page 2 (Continued from page 1) would have increased state spending by an billion - $200 million more than what the additional $168.4 million. If Democrats had Revenue Estimating Conference had fore- The desire for more spending was not just control of the chamber and succeeded in cast for ongoing revenue that year. limited to K-12 education. House Demo- moving their budget ideas forward, the Gen- crats put forward budget amendments that eral Fund budget would have been $6.2321 The 2011 session would set the pattern Iowans’ property tax credits was growing. health services was identified, along with when it came to House Democrats and the The state had addressed Chet Culver’s resources for other priorities. But this was budget. As a campaign commercial once broken promise to schools and work to im- not enough for House Democrats. said, “If it’s a good idea, let’s do it.” And prove Iowa’s mental health system had there aren’t many spending proposals that begun. State revenue was projected to They proposed increasing school aid by an House Democrats fail to see as a good grow in FY 2013, thanks to a strong state additional $142.6 million and offered budget idea. economy no longer threatened with onerous amendments that hiked spending by anoth- state regulations. er $248.3 million. Had their ideas passed, FY 2013 the state would have been spending $362 The state’s improving financial condition million more than the on-going revenue the In 2012, Iowa’s budget picture had signifi- allowed the Legislature to address school state was projected to take in during Fiscal cantly improved. The state’s two reserve funding needs with an increase of $30 mil- Year 2013. funds were once again filled to their statuto- lion for supplemental state aid. Additional rily-required levels. State funding for the funding for the redesign of Iowa’s mental Page 3 House Republican Newsletter FY 2014 2. We will not use one-time money enough for House Democrats. to fund on-going needs; 2013 brought the beginning of a new Gen- Instead of recognizing that the living within eral Assembly and an even stronger econo- our means was an idea that Iowans agreed my in Iowa. House Republicans’ adherence 3. We will not balance the budget with, House Democrats began an amazing to the budgeting principles had allowed the by intentionally underfunding pro- two-year spending amendment binge. state to emerge from the Culver budget grams; and Their spending spree began with the initial mess while also addressing Iowans priori- debate on Teacher Leadership, when they ties. And with the start of the session, We will return unused tax dollars to Io- proposed to increase the $65 million Sup- House Republicans added another principle wa’s taxpayers. plemental State Aid hike by another $56 to the principles: million. It didn’t end until the very last day Holding to these principles allowed the of the session. By the time it was over, they Legislature to take a number of bold steps had proposed increases in the budget that to improve Iowa’s schools and the state’s would have put the final tab at $7.1095 bil- In these uncertain times, House economic competitiveness with the adop- lion for Fiscal Year 2014. That’s $369.7 Republicans are committed to tion of the Teacher Leadership program and million more than what the state was pro- these principles to produce a bal- the commercial property tax bill. Supple- jected to take in by the Revenue Estimating anced and sustainable state budg- mental state aid for schools was increased Conference at their December 2012 meet- et: by $65 million while additional resources ing, and a whopping $624.4 million more once again went to fund the ever-growing than the actual FY 14 budget of 6.4851 Medicaid program. All these steps were We will spend less than the billion. 1. taken while continuing to adhere to the state collects; budgeting principles. But that wasn’t FY 2015 mercial property tax bill, produced a budget year at $7.1901 billion under their plans. increase of $474 million in Fiscal Year That amount would have been $206.9 mil- The 2014 legislative session saw the crea- 2015. Was that enough for House Demo- lion more than the state’s on-going revenue tion of a state budget that, for a fourth year, crats? No. had been projected at the December 2013 was developed within the House Republi- REC meeting. can budget principles. Sticking to these Rather than recognize the enormity of the guidelines enabled the state to increase spending proposals they put forward the school funding by $148 million, while also previous year, House Democrats doubled- implementing a new water quality initiative down on out-of-control spending ideas dur- and addressing public safety needs. These ing the 2014 session. They proposed an efforts, combined with the beginning of the additional $231.2 million in spending for FY Teacher Leadership program and the com- 2015, putting potential total spending for the House Republican Newsletter Page 4 FY 2016 Leadership program, along with continued amount that would equal a 6 percent fund- implementation of the bi-partisan commer- ing increase. They also proposed signifi- In 2015, the Eighty Sixth General Assembly cial property tax plan. But even despite the cant increases in the cost of health and convened and House Republicans main- tight revenue situation, House Democrats’ human services programs and major hikes tained their commitment to budgeting prac- appetite for spending could not be satisfied. in funding for the Board of Regents. All tices guided by the budgeting principles that together, their amendments would have put had worked for the past four years. Despite the state budget for Fiscal Year 2016 at a slowdown in the growth of state revenue, $7.5408 billion. That would be $346.2 mil- the Fiscal Year 2016 budget included an House Democrats felt that the Supple- lion more than the December 2014 REC additional $84 million for schools through mental State Aid figure was inadequate, meeting had projected for on-going revenue Supplemental State Aid and the Teacher and proposed to increase the figure to an in FY 2016 .
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