DES MOINES, IOWA - There will be no special session this fall for the Iowa State Legislature. The State Budget Director made the announcement Wednesday morning.
Iowa Department of Management Director David Roederer says at the end of June, it looked like the state took in about $75 million less than it spent for the fiscal year. If it had stayed at that amount, Gov. Kim Reynolds would have had to call a special session of the legislature to approve using state emergency funds to make up the shortfall.
But Roederer says unexpected online payments and other revenues put the deficit at about $14.5 million. At that amount, Gov. Reynolds can use her own authority to transfer money out of the economic emergency fund without getting the legislature's okay to cover what they say is an actual $13 million dollar shortfall.
Two of Governor Reynolds' election rivals were blasting the decision not to bring the legislature back. Republican Ron Corbett says it looked like "smoke and mirrors" to avoid a special legislative session that he says could have dealt with overspending and taxation. Democrat Nate Boulton issued a statement saying the governor "ignored the budget crisis" by not calling lawmakers back.
When they do come back next year, the Iowa Legislature will have to cut the budget for this current fiscal year to make up for the $13 million that's being spent.
Since the revenue projections have been wrong the last three years, Roederer suggested the legislature next year might put off finalizing spending bills until after June 30th to make sure that there's enough revenue collected.