by CBI Lobbyist Jeff Boeyink - Partner, LS2 Group Overview / Major Events
Senator Schneider and Representative Grassley release joint budget targets With the final signal that the work of the 2017 Session of the Iowa General Assembly is nearing a close, the respective Chairs of the House and Senate Appropriations committees released joint budget targets for the general fund on Wednesday. While this does NOT mean that every line item in those budgets is agreed to between the Chambers, it does mean the overall spending level for the upcoming fiscal year has been set and that goes a long way towards getting eventual final agreement. The targets call for a total of $7.245 billion in general fund spending in FY18 (which begins on July 1, 2017), which is a slight reduction in spending from the current FY17 budget of $7.26 billion. With these targets, it appears the ONLY area of state spending that will increase significantly is for K-12 education (with a $40 million increase), while most other areas will see flat budgets or some spending reductions in the coming fiscal year. |
CBI held it's first-ever Legislative Reception at the Iowa Taproom in downtown Des Moines on Wednesday. The reception brought together over 50 Iowa community bankers with over 30 Senators and Congresspeople in Iowa's General Assembly. Among those legislators attending were Speaker of the House Linda Upmeyer, Senate Majority Leader Bill Dix, Senators Michael Breitbach, Randy Feenstra, Tim Kraayenbrink, Tom Shipley, Jack Whitver, Brad Zaun, Charles Schneider, Craig Johnson, Dan Zumbach, Dennis Guth, and Bill Dotzler. Also in attendance were Representatives Brian Best, Chris Hall, Dave Maxwell, David Kerr, Gary Carlson, Jerry Kearns, John Landon, Louie Zumbach, Mike Sexton and Walt Rogers, as well as State Auditor Mary Mosiman. Thank you to the following CBI Endorsed, Associate and Affiliate Members for sponsoring the event: SHAZAM, ICBA Securities/Vining Sparks, United Bankers' Bank, Midwest Independent Bank and Bankers' Bank.
March Survey Results at a Glance:
OMAHA, Neb. (March 16, 2017) – The Creighton University Rural Mainstreet Index remained weak with a reading below growth neutral for the 19th straight month, according to the monthly survey of bank CEOs in rural areas of a 10-state region dependent on agriculture and/or energy.
Overall: The index, which ranges between 0 and 100 slipped to 45.3 for March from 45.8 in February. The last time the overall index was at or above growth neutral was August 2015. “Weak farm commodity prices continue to squeeze Rural Mainstreet economies. Over the last 12 months, livestock commodity prices have tumbled by 6.6 percent and grain commodity prices have slumped by 0.9 percent. Thus, year over year price changes remain negative, but are now less negative than several months ago,” said Ernie Goss, Jack A. MacAllister Chair in Regional Economics at Creighton University's Heider College of Business. But there was a great deal of variability across the 10-state region. For example, Scott Tewksbury, president of Heartland State Bank in Edgeley, North Dakota reported, “Record 2016 crop yields have enabled most crop based farms to have a good economic year in our area, but concerns remain over projected profitability for 2017. February Survey Results at a Glance
OMAHA, Neb. (Feb. 16, 2017) – The Creighton University Rural Mainstreet Index remained weak with a reading below growth neutral for the 18th straight month, according to the monthly survey of bank CEOs in rural areas of a 10-state region dependent on agriculture and/or energy.
Overall: The index, which ranges between 0 and 100 advanced to 45.8 from 42.8 in January. This is the highest overall index since September 2015. “Weak farm commodity prices continue to squeeze Rural Mainstreet economies. However, the negatives are getting less negative. Over the past 12 months, livestock commodity prices have tumbled by 9.4 percent and grain commodity prices have slumped by 6.3 percent, both an improvement over last month,” said Ernie Goss, Jack A. MacAllister Chair in Regional Economics at Creighton University's Heider College of Business. Only 14.9 percent of bankers reported that their local economy was expanding. Approximately 34 percent indicated their local economy was in a recession with the remaining 51.1 percent indicating little or no economic growth. According to Todd Douglas, CEO of the First National Bank in Pierre, South Dakota, “What we see in the agriculture industry is that farmers hurt the worst are those who farm small grain crops exclusively.” Douglas indicated operators that diversify in cattle, cattle feeding, hogs and other like type lines, are maintaining, or at least not experiencing as large a drop in net worth.
January 2017 Survey Results at a Glance:
OMAHA, Neb. (Jan. 19, 2017) – The Creighton University Rural Mainstreet Index remained weak with a reading below growth neutral for the 17th straight month, according to the monthly survey of bank CEOs in rural areas of a 10-state region dependent on agriculture and/or energy. Overall: The index, which ranges between 0 and 100 slipped to 42.8 from 42.9 in December. This was the 17th straight month the economic gauge dipped below growth neutral 50.0. “The overall index was virtually flat from last month. Over the past 12 months, livestock commodity prices have tumbled by 7.3 percent and grain commodity prices have slumped by 11.7 percent. The economic fallout from this price weakness continues to push growth into negative territory for five of the 10 states in the region,” said Ernie Goss, Jack A. MacAllister Chair in Regional Economics at Creighton University's Heider College of Business. When asked to identify the greatest economic threat to their local economy 87.8 percent of the bankers, indicated that continuing low agriculture commodity prices was the greatest challenge or threat for 2017. States with January Rural Mainstreet expansions: Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, and South Dakota; States with January Rural Mainstreet contractions: Colorado, Kansas, Minnesota, North Dakota and Wyoming. |
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