State Government Committee Report – Week 15, 2019

FLOOR ACTION:

SF 618 – ABD Omnibus Departmental Bill

HF 303 – Statewide welcome center program technical changes

HF 486 – Building remediation grants for emergency projects

HF 590 – Tax return preparers and providing penalties

HF 743 – Uniform electronic storage of official documents

 

FLOOR ACTION:

SF 618 – ABD Omnibus Departmental Bill

SF 618 is the Alcoholic Beverages Division (ABD) departmental bill. It makes changes that will create clarity, improve readability and make the law easier for regulators to apply and enforce with consistency. This is largely a technical cleanup bill.

This bill removes references to percentage of alcohol by weight from the definitions for alcoholic liquor, beer, high-alcoholic content beer and wine. The definition for wine is further amended to provide percentage age of alcohol by volume.

It allows ABD to prescribe a uniform fee against certain licensees when they fail to maintain dram shop liability insurance and to assess a capped fee to recover administrative costs related to contested case proceedings through the administrative rules process.

The bill will allow confidentiality of records collected by the Division from licensees or permittees in conjunction with investigations, inspections and audits before administrative or criminal charges are filed. This proposed change will assist the regulator and protect the rights of businesses it regulates.

The bill will require liquor, wine and beer manufacturers to share with the Division the records they must submit to the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau of the United States Department of the Treasury (TTB). This ensures that the Division has the information it needs to validate taxes owed to the state. Reciprocal language for class “A” native distilled spirits license holders was passed in 2017.

Other key changes in the bill include:

  • Authorizing the Division to adopt rules to recover operational costs arising from the failure of licensees or permittees to remain in compliance with the law.
  • Establishing uniform language regarding the types of action that may be taken because of a violation of the rules of the Division. Conforming changes are made throughout the chapter.
  • Eliminating the additional tax imposed on airlines for Sunday sales of liquor.
  • Relocating provisions in §123.144(2) and §123.146 that relate to how homemade beer can be used and how beer may be imported for personal use. These changes are intended to assist the reader by consolidating several related provisions into one section.
  • Allowing Hy-Vee and other stores to have a distribution center carry alcohol and deliver it to homes.

The committee adopted a technical amendment that adds “investigative” to the types of entities with access to investigative records and makes a formatting fix proposed by the bill drafter.
[4/23: 48-2 (No: Celsi, Hogg)]

 

HF 303 – Statewide welcome center program technical changes

HF 303 updates Code references relating to the statewide welcome center program. The bill also changes references from “agency” to “authority” to reflect that the Iowa Economic Development Authority (IDEA) is no longer an agency. The bill removes references to a pilot project because welcome centers are no longer in a pilot phase. The bill requires the IDEA to collaborate with other state agencies as necessary to operate the welcome centers and provide information to travelers.
[4/24: 50-0]

 

HF 486 – Building remediation grants for emergency projects

HF 486 allows an emergency project to be eligible for a grant from the Community Catalyst Building Remediation Program Fund (without regard for application deadlines, etc.). An emergency project is defined as a remediation of an underused building that may present a unique and immediate opportunity or threat.
[4/24: 50-0]

 

HF 590 – Tax return preparers and providing penalties

HF 590 defines a tax return preparer as an individual who, for a fee or other consideration, prepares 10 or more tax returns or claims for refund under Ch. 422 during a calendar year, or who assumes final responsibility for completed work on such tax returns or claims for refund under Ch. 422 on which preliminary work has been done by another individual. On or after January 1, 2020, a tax preparer must place their PTIN on any tax return or claim for refund prepared by that tax preparer filed under Ch. 422.

The bill provides reasons for the Department of Revenue to seek temporary or permanent injunction if a tax preparer has continually failed to engage in enumerated list of bad actions. The bill also establishes continuing education requirement for tax preparers. It requires a minimum of 15 hours of continuing education on subjects prescribed by the Department of Revenue. Two of these hours will involve professional ethics. These continuing education hours must be taken from an IRS-approved provider of continuing education.
[4/24: 50-0]

 

HF 743 – Uniform electronic storage of official documents

HF 743 sets up a process for the electronic storage of official documents. This is largely a technical bill based on the Uniform Electronic Legal Material Act (UELMA), prepared by the National Conference of Commissioners of Uniform State Laws in 2011. The bill requires the Legislative Services Agency (LSA), when acting as custodian of information, to provide for the publication of legal material. LSA must also provide methods of authentication and preservation of electronic records. The bill makes a number of other conforming and miscellaneous changes to the same Code chapter to implement the UELMA and to codify current publication practice.
[4/23: 49-0 (Excused: Petersen)]