Rep. Joshua Meggers (R-Grundy Center).

Last week I was the chair of multiple subcommittees, these are the ones that I passed out of subcommittee onto full committee regarding the following house files: HSB 199, HF 561, HSB 235.

Iowa’s Taxpayer Relief Fund

Here we go again. Democrats and their friends in the media are giving Iowans a false narrative about the state’s finances and how lowering income tax rates on working Iowans is to blame. They never remember to explain to Iowans that their state has a bank account that is set up to help return money back to their families. It is called the Taxpayer Relief Fund.

Just what is the Taxpayer Relief Fund? It is an account in the State Treasury that holds unanticipated state revenue to be returned to the taxpayers. For funds to be deposited in the Taxpayer Relief Fund, actual state revenue has to exceed what had been projected for state tax collections by the three-member Revenue Estimating Conference(REC). The difference between what was collected in tax revenue and what the REC had projected is deposited into the account once the fiscal year’s books have been closed.

When the Fund was created in 2011, the account was originally called the Taxpayer Trust Fund. The maximum amount that could be deposited per year was limited to no more than $60 million. If there were funds deposited into the account, they would be returned to taxpayers through a special income tax credit on Iowans’ state income tax return

As part of the 2018 state tax reform law, the Taxpayer Trust Fund was changed to the Taxpayer Relief Fund. The limit on the amount of funds that could be deposited into the account was stripped from the law, as was the automatic return of the funds via the personal income tax credit. Instead, the Fund would be dedicated to tax relief which would be determined by the Legislature.

So how does the Taxpayer Relief Fund work? Let’s use the final numbers for Fiscal Year2024. When the Legislature passed the FY22 budget in May 2023, the revenue forecast called for the state to collect$9.6265 billion in tax revenue. When the books were closed on Fiscal Year 2024, actual state revenue amounted to $9.7558billion. The difference between the two figures is $129.3 million, which is the amount deposited into the Taxpayer Relief Fund.

With strong, sustained revenue growth over the last five years, the Taxpayer Relief Fund has grown significantly. The Fund now holds $3.9422 billion in its account. And that’s just one of the state’s savings accounts. Thanks to forward thinking by House Republicans, Iowa is in a solid financial position as implementation of the income tax reductions continues to phase in over the next few years.

House File 583: Return to Common Sense – Removing Gender Identity as a Protected Class

Today, the Iowa House and Senate passed bills tore turn to common sense by removing gender identity as a protected class in the Iowa civil rights code. The bill also returns Iowa code to biological truth by using scientific definitions for male, female, and sex and by requiring birth certificates designate sex at birth and cannot be changed.

This bill does not take basic rights away from transgender individuals. Current code actually results in the infringement of many other Iowans’ rights, particularly women.

-In the name of gender identity, women have lost their right to privacy, to play their own sports, and their right to female-only spaces.

-Current code infringes on the free speech rights of anyone who questions or disagrees with this gender identity theory.

The hyperbolic, hypothetical argument that taking this step will cause discrimination does not hold up to scrutiny.

-The federal civil rights code does not include gender identity. The most transgender-friendly president in history – President Biden- did not see deem it necessary to add this protection.

-28 other states do not have Gender Identity as a protected class, including three states with the highest population of transgender individuals: Florida, Texas and North Carolina.

Why Is This Necessary?

Every Iowan deserves to have their human rights protected, and to be treated with dignity and respect. Current Iowa Code, with Gender Identity as a protected class, does not accomplish this. It results in the infringement of the rights of other Iowans. And, it stands in the way of Iowans being able to implement common sense policies.

-When a biological female walked around the Pella Aquatic Center topless, exposing her breasts, the City of Pella responded to concerned citizens by saying that after receiving legal advice, they would not take further action, citing gender identity in the civil rights code.

-When a female culinary student at Des Moines Community College expressed discomfort upon discovering a biological male in the women’s showers, she was told that nothing could be done because gender identity is a protected class.

-After outrage from its members for letting biological males use the female bathroom, the Forest City YMCA has resorted to closing all of its men’s, women’s, girls’, and boys’ locker rooms and made all locker rooms and restrooms single use.

Over the past few years, the Iowa Legislature has taken action to pass common sense protections that Iowans have begged us for. Whether it be our bill to protect our daughters’ bathrooms and locker rooms, our bill to keep biological men out of women’s sports, or our bill to prohibit gender affirming care on minors – Iowans have spoken loud and clear that they support these pieces of legislation.

Unfortunately, all of these policies are at risk so long as gender identity remains a specified protected class in Iowa code. Most Iowans believe that taxpayers should not be on the hook to pay for someone else’s so-called gender affirming care. However, that is exactly what is happening as a direct result of gender identity being in our civil rights code.

-In a 2019 Supreme Court Ruling, the courts said that taxpayers must fund sex reassignment surgeries for Iowans on Medicaid because our civil rights law includes gender identity.

So long as gender identity remains in Iowa Code, the other common-sense policies we have passed on this issue are at risk of suffering the same fate in court. Another court decision is imminent, as a lawsuit was filed in Johnson County against the school bathroom policy we passed in 2023 just last week.

If you ever have any questions, feel free to email me at joshua.meggers@legis.iowa.gov or visit my Facebook page at Joshua Meggers for Iowa House. Feel free to come visit me within the Capitol at any time!

Meggers represents Iowa House District 54 which includes all of Grundy and Hardin counties and several rural townships on the far western edge of Black Hawk County. He can be reached at joshua.meggers@legis.iowa.gov.