Iowa House District 20 Representative Ray Sorensen, in his newsletter to his constituents, Sunday, said “The self-imposed deadline of second funnel for the Legislature was this week and we are hopefully seeing a light at the end of the session tunnel. Policy bills from the Senate must be out of committee in the House, and likewise House bills must be out of committee in the Senate in order to continue being considered. The exceptions are bills with tax implications or appropriations. The purpose of the first and second funnel deadlines is to narrow what the chambers will deliberate and focus our attention on budgets and tax reduction policies.

(R) Rep. Ray “Bubba” Sorensen

The budget for the coming year will be roughly $8 billion dollars. The exact number for the final budget is still in negotiation between the House, Senate and the Governor. As we narrow our discussions on policy, we are working hard to put together a fiscally responsible budget. Fiscal responsibility is a core principle of mine and we will continue to work hard to fund the priorities of Iowans while also finding ways to return unneeded tax dollars to hard working Iowans.

A year after state legislative sessions were upended, a sense of normalcy is starting to return to capitals across the nation: Legislatures are once again fighting governors over who controls a state’s purse strings. It appears these fights are just the beginning of struggles across the country, and in our state, over who will control the new wave of federal funds. I’ll keep you posted as this continues to unfold.

After some deliberation and compromise with the Governor and the Broadband Bros, I think we can achieve our goal of connecting all Iowans, especially those stranded out in the Broadband deserts, and not with slow and outdated technology, but with download speeds aimed at not only catching Iowa up, but creating an economic growth driver for our great state.

When the governor introduced her bill, it made significant changes to the existing broadband grant program and focused on increasing broadband speeds around the state. We believed the emphasis should be placed on connecting Iowans who currently do not have access.

The product of those conversations and negotiations resulted in a bill that focused on both speed of deployment and internet speeds. Grant funds will be eligible at varying based on the current internet speed (or lack thereof) available to Iowans. Broadband infrastructure projects must deploy fiber to Targeted Service Areas to receive grant funds, except for Tier 1 areas where projects must be capable of 100/20 to receive a 50% match, opening it up to fixed wireless.

• Tier 1 areas have speeds of 25/3 or less and are eligible for up to a 75% match.

• Tier 2 areas have speeds from 25/3 to 50/ and are eligible for up to a 50% match.

• Tier 3 areas have speeds from 50/ to 80/ and are eligible for up to a 35% match

House File 848 sets the framework for aggressively building out Iowa’s broadband infrastructure to ensure all Iowans have access to broadband internet. However, this policy bill will have limited effect without a significant financial investment in the grant program. Iowa has some catching up to do in broadband infrastructure and connecting those stuck with little to nothing. I agree with the Governor’s bold goal of $150 million a year for the next three years.

Another priority we’ve worked on this session has been addressing child care access. There isn’t one single solution to this complex issue and that’s why my Economic Growth Committee and subsequently the House passed many bills to address the crisis through a multi-pronged approach. Together, these bills increase the child care workforce, increase provider rates to maintain existing child care facilities, provide incentives to develop new child care facilities, and help hard-working families afford the high cost of child care. Unfortunately, some of the bills passed in the House did not survive the second funnel deadline, but many of these bills are still alive in the Senate and are awaiting further action. The Governor has indicated that she shares our priority in increasing access to affordable, quality child care. So, now we are looking for the Senate to move on the surviving bills so we can start chipping away at this problem.”