300 Main Street, Suite 200, Dubuque, IA 52001
Mon – Thurs 8 am – 5 pm, Fri 8 am – 12 pm
Local
American Rescue Plan & Infrastructure Funding Work Session
The city will be holding a work session on Monday, March 7th at 5:30pm to provide an overview of the two major federal legislative initiatives passed since the Biden Harris administration took office in January of 2021. Both the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) provide hundreds of billions of dollars in grant opportunities for local governments across the country. ARPA and BIL provide for the City of Dubuque and our partners in the private and nonprofit sectors with the opportunity to bring federal dollars to city priorities and community projects and programs.
The City of Dubuque has rescheduled the work session on the Five Flags project to 6:30pm on Wednesday, February 9th. The meeting can be attended in-person at the Historic Federal Building or online. More information can be found in the linked title.
State
HF2279 & SSB3093 – Tort Reform and Unemployment Insurance
House and Senate Republicans have introduced legislation that would limit the amount of time individuals can stay on unemployment from 26 to 16 weeks, limits non-economic damages in medical malpractice suits to $250,000 ($1 million in certain cases), and limits liability and non-economic damages for commercial trucking related lawsuits. Changes to medical malpractice and commercial trucking tort law has been a priority of the Chamber. You can read the legislation via the linked title.
The House and Senate both held subcommittee meetings on their tax bills last week. The Senate continued moving the process along, approving the bill out of the full Ways & Means committee and sending it to the Senate Floor. The House plans to meet this week to move their bill to the House floor. Meanwhile, the Governor spoke during an event with Siouxland business leaders calling for a reduction in corporate taxes along with individual rates. The House bill does not currently include corporate tax reductions and the Senate bill cuts the corporate rate to 7.8%, a reduction but higher than the Governor’s proposed 5.5% flat corporate rate. Iowa’s current corporate income tax rate of 9.8% is 46th in the nation and makes it more difficult to advertise the state to potential business. The Chamber’s Business Advocacy Committee is meeting on Tuesday, February 8th to approve our positions on all three tax bills. You can read a full breakdown on each bill via the linked title.
Federal
Restaurant Revitalization Fund
The Chamber continues to advocate for additional funding to the Restaurant Revitalization Fund, a program which originally was funded to the tune of $28.6 billion. The RRF, which provides grants to restauranteurs for shortfalls during the worst months of the pandemic, was quickly oversubscribed and received more than $75 billion in applications. You can take action via the linked title to advocate for renewed funding for the program and support one of the hardest hit industries over the past few years.
The House passed the America COMPETES Act which includes Zoe Lofgren’s LIKE Act, creating an immigrant start-up visa among other things. The bill also includes exemptions for medical professionals with regard to the cap on green cards and changes to international student visas. The Chamber supports changes to immigration law that simplifies the system and expands opportunity to attract talent from across the globe. You can read Forbes breakdown of the legislation in the linked title.
White House Task Force Report: Worker Organizing & Empowerment
The White House released a report on Monday, February 7th detailing steps the administration can take to promote collective bargaining among federal employees and contractors. The report notes that the PRO Act, a piece of legislation the Chamber opposes, would work hand in hand with the administration’s plans. The report in total details more than 70 recommendations and steps the federal government will take to increase participation in unions. View the full report via the linked title.
