Water quality discussion

Greetings from Capitol Hill:

Water Quality
Monday evening, the House considered HF 2451 which creates a wastewater and drinking water financial assistance program. The bill changes the current sales tax on metered water into excise tax of six percent. This tax, along with the Rebuild Iowa Infrastructure Fund (RIIF) and current funding, will be used to fund water quality initiatives. This plan will appropriate approximately $744 million to water quality over the next 13 years. Each year, a greater portion of the new excise tax will be dedicated to water quality until the entire portion of the tax is used starting on August 1st, 2022. Below are the estimated fund allocations from the excise tax and RIFF fund by year.
The two sources of money will be used to fund different portions of the water quality plan. The RIFF fund will be used primarily to fund Ag infrastructure programs such as the Edge-of-Field infrastructure program and the In-Field infrastructure program. The excise tax will be used primarily to fund urban infrastructure programs.
I am pleased that the House has constructed a plan to begin addressing the water quality issue. Although this plan is not perfect, it is a good start, and we will continue to work on water quality over the next few years. Governor Branstad has voiced his support of HF 2451, which is now under consideration in the Senate.

Budget Update
As we hastily approach the official end of this year’s session on April 19, the legislature still has some work to do on the various portions of the budget. The members of the Ag and Natural resources, Economic Development, RIIF, Health and Human Services, Higher Education, Justice, Administration/Regulation and Standings budgets will be meeting this week and next to finalize the details of the state budget.