Chamber event provides insight into Illinois and Iowa legislative sessions

The Chamber’s Illinois and Iowa lobbyists have a front-row view and insight into this year’s State legislative sessions, some of which they shared during our most recent Legislative Event: Meet the Insiders. 

Iowa

Dustin Miller, Attorney, Nyemaster Goode Law Firm; Executive Director, Iowa Chamber Alliance; and Iowa Lobbyist for the Quad Cities Chamber, provided facts and a historical perspective on the recently-passed tax reform bill. According to Miller, Iowa’s overall tax climate was ranked 46th by the Tax Foundation prior to the 2018 legislative session with marginal corporate rates being tied for the highest in the country. "The state’s high rates and complexity were certainly a factor in business decisions for attraction and expansion. Governor Kim Reynolds and the legislature worked together in 2018 and 2021 to positively impact Iowa’s tax system but early in the 2022 session they came together to move Iowa to a drop in ranking to 15th overall in the country when fully implemented," he said. 

"The 2022 tax reform bill moves Iowa to multiple brackets to eventually a single rate of 3.9% for individual income taxes and corporate rates eventually reaching a single rate of 5.5%. In addition to these positive impacts on income taxes, it fully exempts multiple types of retirement income along with business-friendly changes to employee-owned companies. These tax reforms were possible as the state came into the 2022 legislative session with nearly two billion dollars in surplus and reserves. The remainder of the session will focus on the development of a budget within the spending limits under Iowa law," Miller said. 

Illinois

Matt Hughes, President, MRH Solutions and Illinois Lobbyist for the Quad Cities Chamber, provided a state budget update and discussed the unemployment insurance trust fund debt. According to Hughes, on April 7 Governor J.B. Pritzker, the House and the Senate announced a FY 2023 budget deal. It includes $45.6 billion in total spending, $1.83 billion in tax relief for working families, $1.2 billion for long-term fiscal stability and $200 million in public safety investments.

"As we are all painfully aware, this year is an election year and as a result, Illinois’ budget will most likely pass with little or no support from Republicans in either chamber. Although the tax cuts are generally supported, the criticism from the Republican caucuses in the House and Senate are centered around the fact that the tax relief being proposed is temporary and not permanent," he said. 

Along party lines, the House and Senate passed legislation to partially pay down the State’s unemployment insurance trust fund debt, and the Governor signed the bill the next day. The total debt obligation in the unemployment insurance trust fund is $4.5 billion and the state paid it down by $2.7 billion. According to Hughes, "the legislation also allocates $898 million to unpaid group health insurance bills, $280 million for unfunded liabilities to the College Illinois program and $300 million to pay down the state's pension liabilities beyond the statutory requirements," he said, adding business groups were upbeat after the bill’s passage. "Supportive comments came from the Illinois Retail Merchants Association, Illinois Manufacturers’ Association, Illinois Chamber of Commerce, Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, National Federation of Independent Businesses of Illinois and the Associated General Contractors of Illinois," Hughes said. 

Thank you to our annual event sponsors: AM General, Arconic, Constellation, Iowa Solar and Stanley Consultants. Register for our next Legislative Event on Tuesday, April 12 and join us for a conversation with U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley.