Statehouse News

January 27, 2012

Community Colleges Key to Growing Iowa’s Skilled Workforce
House Approves National Guard Education Assistance
College Aid Reports to Legislators
House Approves National Guard Education Assistance
Road Conditions Available by Twitter
Know the Facts of Tax Refund Anticipation Loans
DNR Announces Grants to Improve Lakes, Rivers, or Streams
Road Use Tax Fund Savings

Community Colleges Key to Growing Iowa’s Skilled Workforce

Iowa legislators want to use community colleges to boost Iowa’s skilled workforce and help create good-paying jobs.

As 21st century jobs require more skills, legislators know community colleges play a key role in training Iowa’s workforce to meet the needs of businesses while also encouraging new businesses to locate in Iowa.

Under the Governor’s budget released earlier this month, community colleges would be cut by a total of $6 million from last year. Reductions proposed by the Governor in worker training efforts include a $2 million reduction in the Workforce Training Fund and a $5 million reduction to the Accelerated Careers Education (ACE) program.

As legislators begin to work on the fiscal year 2013 budget, one of the top priorities will be making sure community college is affordable for the middle class and can quickly adapt to train workers needed in local communities. Tuition at Iowa’s community colleges already is 60% higher than the national average and there are currently 100,000 Iowans enrolled at Iowa’s fifteen community colleges.

Iowans are encouraged to sign an on-line petition in support of Iowa’s community colleges and a highly skilled workforce at www.iowahouse.org/communitycollege.

House Approves National Guard Education Assistance

With 3,000 guard members returning from duty last year, the Iowa House approved a bipartisan plan to prevent tuition hikes for National Guard members in college this spring.

Because more guard members requested assistance, members of the National Guard were informed last month by Adjutant General Timothy Orr that awards for the spring semester tuition assistance would be cut to 50% of tuition costs, or $1,604, instead of the 90% students received in the first semester.

After the House Veterans Affairs Committee unanimously approved the bill earlier this week, pressure built on legislators to take action this week to end uncertainty for National Guard students. The full House approved the bill to provide an additional $1.3 million to bring the amount of assistance back up to 90% of tuition costs.

Called the National Guard Education Assistance Program, it is administered by the National Guard and the College Student Aid Program. The State established the National Guard Education Assistance Program in 1999 as a way to bolster Iowa’s National Guard membership. The program provides grants to Iowa National Guard members who have not completed a baccalaureate degree to attend college.

The grant is up to the cost of tuition at one of the state universities and may be use at a state university, community college, or an Iowa private college.

More Iowans Back to Work

Iowa’s unemployment rate fell to 5.6 percent in December, the lowest level reported since June 2009. This is the second straight month that unemployment has been below 6 percent. The 5.6 percent rate was down from 5.7 percent in November and down from 6.1 percent from December 2010.

In comparison, the U.S. unemployment rate dropped for the fourth straight month in December to 8.5 percent. Iowa’s unemployment rate is the sixth lowest in the nation.

The number of unemployed Iowans fell to 93,500 in December, down from 102,600 a year ago. Manufacturing continues to be a strong point in the recovery, adding 800 jobs in December over November. December was the third straight month of gains in manufacturing jobs.

The hospitality industry accounted for 2,500 lost jobs in December over November, followed by government, down 1,100 jobs, and construction, down 900 jobs.

Since December of last year Iowa has added 13,300 total jobs.

College Aid Reports to Legislators

The Iowa College Student Aid Commission appeared before a legislative committee this week to talk about student load debt in Iowa. Currently, Iowa students have the 4th highest debt load in the country and graduate with an average debt of $28,000.

According to the commission, Iowa has not kept pace with student demand for financial aid and they have not been able to serve all students that are eligible. Over the last five years all of the commission’s financial aid programs have decreased in the percentage of tuition and fees that the programs cover.

However, during the last fiscal year, Iowa provided $60 million which made it possible for almost 26,000 awards to be made to Iowa students in the form of scholarships, grants, and loan forgiveness opportunities. More information on Iowa’s tuition assistance programs can be found at http://www.iowacollegeaid.gov/index.html.

Road Conditions Available by Twitter

The Department of Transportation has created Twitter feeds for six metropolitan areas and each of the 99 counties so that subscribers can receive updates regarding road conditions. The metropolitan areas are Cedar Falls/Waterloo, Cedar Rapids/Iowa City, Council Bluffs, Des Moines, Quad Cities, and Sioux Cities.

To subscribe, simply log on to www.511ia.org, click on the Twitter icon, and choose which Twitter feeds you would like to follow. Subscribers can also choose to have traveler information sent directly to their mobile phones in the form of a text message.

Know the Facts of Tax Refund Anticipation Loans

It’s tax season and the Attorney General wants Iowans to know the truth behind the lure of quick cash with a refund anticipation loan (RAL). There are high fees and high interest rates associated with RALs that can cost between $25 and several hundred dollars. Iowans who e-file their tax returns (file electronically) can get their returns in just 8 to 15 days.

The good news is that there is only one bank left in Iowa that funds RALs and it has agreed to stop after this tax season. The agreement to stop was between the bank and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

The bad news is that there’s another tax refund financial product around the corner, the refund anticipation check (RAC). The RAC is a temporary bank account where the IRS deposits the tax refund; the tax preparer creates a check for the consumer and then closes the account. The tax preparer charges a fee for this service, but it could be less than the fees for a RAL.

If you need help preparing your tax returns, assistance is available through the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program (VITA). This program is designed to assist low and moderate income individuals and families along with the elderly and handicapped. To locate the closest VITA program to you or to find out more information, please call 1-800-906-9887, or go to the IRS website, www.IRS.gov, and type “VITA” in the search box.

DNR Announces Grants to Improve Lakes, Rivers, or Streams

The grants can be used to develop Watershed Management Plans and range from $10,000 to $50,000.

Applications are due April 2, 2012, by 4:30 pm central time. For more information, applications, and additional materials are available at watershed.iowadnr.gov or by contacting Steve Hopkins at 515-281-6402 or Stephen.Hopkins@dnr.iowa.gov.

Road Use Tax Fund Savings

Governor Branstad directed the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) to come up with $50 million in savings last year to provide more money for rebuilding Iowa’s roads and bridges.

The DOT came out with a list of savings, some in the area of program efficiencies and some in partnership efficiencies. In their report, http://www.iowadot.gov/pdf_files/RUTFefficiencies.pdf, the department lists if any legislative action is needed to achieve these savings or approval from the Transportation Commission.

Program Efficiencies – a total of $38.5 million of savings can be achieved by improving the project cost estimating process, review of investments and plans for rest areas and weigh stations, implement a process to ensure that only the needed amount of right-of-way is purchased, and implementing online and other remote renewal of driver’s licenses.

Partnership Efficiencies – a total of $11.5 million of savings can be achieved by exploring more maintenance contracts with cities and counties, partnering with regulatory permitting agencies to streamline the permitting process, and implementing joint operations between the DOT and the Department of Public Safety.