Why Iowa lawmakers worked nearly 34 hours straight

DES MOINES, Iowa (Iowa State Capitol Bureau)— Why did Iowa Repubican legisltive leaders push lawmakers to work nearly 34 straight hours from Saturday morning to Sunday evening to reach final agreements on the state budget, property tax changes and other issues?

The marathon session forced legislators to work, largely without sleep, as they debated and waited for leadership to negotiate deals in private.

Property tax deal emerges after months of gridlock

Property taxes became the fiscal policy priority this year for Republicans after focusing on personal and corporate tax cuts previously. The property tax system impacts homeowners, schools, hospitals, businesses and local governments.

Lawmakers weighed what changing the system would do to various people and entities impacted.

Iowa House Speaker praises tax deal

Iowa Republican legislative leaders were determined to get a tax deal. Speaker of the House Pat Grassley (R-New Hartford) said that after the round-the-clock weekend of negotiations, lawmakers delivered on their commitment to voters by reaching a property tax reform deal.

“We made a commitment to Iowans that this was going to be our leading priority. And we wanted to make sure Iowans saw true property tax relief that was sustainable, that was immediate, and it was long term as well. And that’s something we’re extremely proud of,” Grassley said.

Republican leaders wanted an agreement early this year, but months passed without a deal.

Critics question timing and process

House Minority Leader Brian Meyer (D-Des Moines) criticized the approach.

“I don’t mean to criticize my counterparts, but the reality is that this is complete mismanagement,” Meyer said. “They spent months and months and months again on kind of weird social issue crusades that really have no meaning to most people in the state. And unfortunately we should have been focusing on this stuff when the session started.”

Pushing to the end

Meyer acknowledged the previous leadership has also used this tactic as a way to force lawmakers to compromise by keeping them together and wearing them down.

The calendar also played a factor in the decision to work through the weekend. Some members had medical treatments, weddings, or family or professional obligations.

Some have primary elections coming and needed to fundraise and campaign.

Republican leadership decided that despite the physical strain, it was time to keep everyone together to force deals to happen. After the exhausting weekend, they got those deals completed.