Legislative Leaders Elected; Looking Ahead at 2021
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The majority and minority party members of the Iowa Legislature have picked their new leaders. Committee assignments should be coming out in the next few weeks, so stay tuned. Below are the new leaders - an asterisk (*) means this is a new position for the person.
IOWA SENATE: There are 32 Republican members in the Iowa Senate, making them the majority party. There are 18 Democratic members in the Iowa Senate, making them the minority party.
Senate 2021 Republican Leaders:
- Brad Zaun* (Urbandale) - President Pro Tempore
Senate 2021 Democratic Leaders:
If Sen. Mariannette Miller-Meeks' Congressional race is upheld, she will resign and a special election will be held.
If Democrats win, control will change to 31 Rs vs. 19 Ds. If Republicans win, the margin remains 32 Rs vs. 18 Ds.
IOWA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: There are 59 Republican members in the Iowa House, making them the majority party. There are 41 Democratic members in the Iowa House, making them the minority party.
House 2021 Republican Leaders:
- Assistant Majority Leaders TBD
House 2021 Democratic Leaders:
- Eric Gjerde* (Cedar Rapids) - Assistant Minority Leader
Looking ahead, you can look at the tentative session calendar here and pre-filed bills here.
In addition to awaiting House Assistant Majority Leaders and committee assignments, the next major milestone is the December 11 Revenue Estimating Conference. Details on the meeting & virtual links can be found here. The estimates developed at this meeting will be used by the Governor in setting her budget for Fiscal Year 2022 (July 1 2021-June 30 2022). These estimates will let the Governor know how much she can plan on spending for the next fiscal year. Right now, the estimates are projecting a 4% growth in revenues, which translates into an additional $320 million available for spending over current fiscal year levels. If the numbers look like they are coming in slower, that means less will be available to increase spending.