(Radio Iowa) — The U-S House passed a bill that would provide billion of dollars for rebuilding and recovery for Americans impacted by natural disasters. Iowa Congresswoman, Cindy Axne, A Democrat from West Des Moines, spoke on the House floor. “Entire towns were under water, homes were destroyed, family farms were devastated, and small businesses are facing irreparable damage. Many local schools may be forced to permanently close their doors,” Axne says.

She says many Iowans have been impacted by the flooding. “I’ve been down to the flood zones multiple times to speak with farmers, homeowners and business owners who have lost everything,” Axne says. “Their resilience is inspiring — but the damage is heartbreaking.” Axne says it is important to get the aid to those in need.

“Experts believe that it could take years to repair all the damage — Iowans don’t have that time to wait. The National Weather Service shows Iowa will remain vulnerable to flooding all summer, and rivers are expected to stay high,”according to Axne. Democrats who control the House are pushing this bill forward. There were several attempts to add amendments to the bill during the debate.

The legislation includes three billion dollars to address recent flooding in the Midwest and other disasters, plus six-hundred million in nutrition assistance to Puerto Rico. Negotiations continue among Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. Senate on a disaster aid package.

(Radio Iowa) — As of last Friday, May 3rd, state tax collections were running 350-MILLION dollars ahead of the previous year. That’s a more than six percent increase in tax payments to the state over the past 10 months. It’s ALSO one-and-a-half percent ABOVE the prediction a panel of experts made in March. Jeff Robinson of the Legislative Services Agency says his analysis intentionally included the first few days in May.

“Twenty-five to 30 percent of the month’s gross revenue deposits occur over the first three processing days of May,” Robinson says. That’s mostly because April 30th is the deadline for quarterly income tax withholding payments to the state, as well as quarterly payments of sales taxes. April 30th is also the final day for submitting individual income tax returns to the state. Based on last year’s data, Robinson expects most income tax REFUNDS to be paid out by the end of May.

“This is a significant unknown when evaluating how solid the 6.2% revenue growth really is,” Robinson says. There are two other major factors at work in the final seven weeks of the state fiscal year. The state income tax CUTS the Republican lawmakers approved in 2018 didn’t go into effect until January of THIS YEAR, so there’s likely a reduction in state income tax withholding payments. At the same time, it appears there’s been an uptick in SALES tax payments to the state. That’s because G-O-P lawmakers voted to apply the sales tax to more online transactions, like Netflix subscriptions and Uber rides.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Gov. Kim Reynolds has named a corporate attorney who has contributed money to her campaign to a state commission that nominates candidates for positions on the Iowa Supreme Court and the Iowa Court of Appeals. Reynolds on Friday named Dan Huitink (HOY-tink) to the state judicial nominating commission. Huitink is a lawyer for Vermeer Corp. in Pella and is a former assistant U.S. attorney.

His appointment was made possible by a bill Reynolds signed Wednesday that gave her the authority to appoint nine members of the 17-member state commission. Lawyers will elect eight. Previously the governor and attorneys each selected eight commission members and the senior justice on the Iowa Supreme Court was the 17th member. The law removes the justice, which means Justice David Wiggins, a Democratic appointee, is taken off the commission.

Democrats have criticized the change, saying Republicans want to stack the courts in their favor after losing recent cases on abortion and same-sex marriage. State campaign finance records show Huitink contributed to Reynolds’ campaign for governor and has given to the Republican Party.

DES MOINES – Today (Friday), Gov. Kim Reynolds extended existing proclamations of disaster emergency for counties impacted by March flooding. The proclamation extends the governor’s activation of Iowa disaster response and recovery efforts for an additional 30 days to June 11, 2019, and allows state resources to be utilized to respond to and recover from the effects of this severe weather across the entire state.

The proclamation also provides impacted Iowans additional time to apply for the Iowa Individual Assistance Grant Program. The new deadline to apply for the program is June 11, 2019.

Among the counties covered under this extended proclamation are: Adair, Audubon, Carroll, Cass, Crawford, Dallas, Guthrie, Madison, Montgomery, Page, Pottawattamie, Shelby, and Union.

The Iowa Individual Assistance Grant Program provides grants of up to $5,000 for qualifying residents with incomes up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level or a maximum annual income of $41,560 for a family of three. Grants are available for home or car repairs, replacement of clothing or food and temporary housing expenses. Original receipts are required for those seeking reimbursement for actual expenses related to storm recovery. The grant application, instructions, and information on application deadlines are available on the Iowa Department of Human Services website.

The Disaster Case Management Program remains in effect for all counties currently covered by governor’s disaster proclamations. Disaster Case Management is a program to address serious needs to overcome a disaster-related hardship, injury or adverse condition. For information on the Disaster Case Management Program, contact your local community action association or visit www.iowacommunityaction.org.

The proclamation also extends the governor’s temporary suspension of regulatory provisions pertaining to hours of service for disaster repair crews and drivers delivering goods and services while responding to disaster sites during the duration of this disaster, along with weight limits related to disaster repairs. In addition, the proclamation waives fees for issuance of replacement motor vehicle registrations cards, plates and driver licenses, additional fees for car and travel trailer lots, and waives some types of recycler licenses.

The proclamation suspends length-of-stay and fee requirements at Waubonsie State Park located in Fremont County. Requirements suspended include:

• Limiting campers to no more than 14 consecutive nights
• Requiring a minimum of three nights separating each two-week stay
• Camping and related transactions fees
• Establishing a minimal number of campground sites that must be made available through the online reservation system

To be eligible for the fee waivers, persons displaced by this disaster should show up in person to check for availability. For more information, visit the DNR Disaster Assistance website or the Waubonsie State Park website. For more information on Iowa’s flooding and disaster assistance, visit floods2019.iowa.gov.