Senate Issues – 2005
1 IOWA PUBLIC EMPLOYEE RETIREMENT SYSTEM (IPERS) (Amendment S-3145 to HF 729)

Places a greater burden for full funding of IPERS on the backs of workers by increasing employee share of contribution from 40% to 50%, and reducing employer share from 60% to 50%.

  • IFL position was “NO.”                    

  • Senate Vote: Failed 24 yes – 26 no

  • Deferred
* The Iowa Senate debated and passed a number of bills this year, but other than the vote cited above, there were no record votes that demonstrated a clear difference between legislators on issues of major concern to workers.

Because of the  25-25 tie between Democrats and Republicans in the Iowa Senate, caucus leaders established a unique power-sharing arrangement in which each had veto power over any legislation introduced.   As a result, bills did not reach the floor for a vote unless both parties agreed.  Democratic Leader Mike Gronstal  and his committee chairs stopped anti-labor bills from advancing past the committee level.  By the same token, Republican leader Stew Iverson and his committee chairs kept pro-worker bills bottled up.

Amendments to bills were also subject to mutual agreement.  If introduced, the opposing party could table the amendment, as well as the entire bill, indefinitely.  Most often, amendments were passed by voice vote, rather than by roll call, so individual votes were not recorded.