HF 594 (LSB 1572YH (2) 86)

HOUSE FILE 594

BY  PETTENGILL, HEARTSILL, SALMON, RUNNING-MARQUARDT, KAUFMANN, HEATON, MAXWELL, and BYRNES

A BILL FOR

An Act providing for an Iowa individual income tax checkoff for the reduction of food insecurity within this state and making an appropriation and including retroactive applicability provisions.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

    Section 1.  NEW SECTION.  231.67  Iowa check off hunger fund.
   1.  An Iowa check off hunger fund is created in the state treasury under the control of the department. The fund is composed of moneys appropriated or available to and obtained or accepted by the treasurer of state for deposit in the fund. The fund shall include moneys transferred to the fund as provided in section 422.12I. Notwithstanding section 12C.7, subsection 2, interest or earnings on moneys in the fund shall be credited to and remain in the fund. Section 8.33 does not apply to moneys in the fund.
   2.  Moneys in the fund are appropriated to the department to provide grants to persons to be used for the purpose of reducing food insecurity within the state. The grants shall be awarded as follows:
   a.  Forty percent of the moneys in the fund shall be awarded to a nonprofit, tax-exempt association, chosen by the department, that receives donations under section 170 of the Internal Revenue Code and whose members include Iowa food banks and their affiliates that together serve all counties in the state, to be used to purchase food for distribution to food-insecure Iowans.
   b.  Fifty percent of the moneys in the fund shall be awarded to each area agency on aging designated under section 231.32 in the proportion that the estimated amount of older individuals in Iowa served by that area agency on aging bears to the total estimated amount of older individuals in Iowa, to be used to provide congregate meals and home-delivered meals to food-insecure older individuals in Iowa.
   c.  Ten percent of the moneys in the fund shall be awarded to persons who are using innovative ways to reduce food insecurity in this state. To be eligible to receive a grant pursuant to this paragraph “c”, a person shall apply to the department in the manner prescribed by the department. In reviewing applications and making grants pursuant to this paragraph “c”, the department may consider any factors the department deems appropriate.
   3.  The department shall adopt rules to administer the Iowa check off hunger fund.
    Sec. 2.  Section 422.12E, subsection 1, Code 2015, is amended to read as follows:
   1.  For tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2004, there shall be allowed no more than four income tax return checkoffs on each income tax return. When the same four income tax return checkoffs have been provided on the income tax return for two consecutive years, the two checkoffs for which the least amount has been contributed, in the aggregate for the first tax year and through March 15 of the second tax year, are repealed. This section does not apply to the income tax return checkoff checkoffs provided in section sections 68A.601 and 422.12I.
    Sec. 3.  NEW SECTION.  422.12I  Income tax checkoff for Iowa check off hunger fund.
   1.  A person who files an individual or a joint income tax return with the department of revenue under section 422.13 may designate one dollar or more to be paid to the Iowa check off hunger fund created in section 231.67. If the refund due on the return or the payment remitted with the return is insufficient to pay the additional amount designated by the taxpayer to the Iowa check off hunger fund, the amount designated shall be reduced to the remaining amount of refund or the remaining amount remitted with the return. The designation of a contribution to the Iowa check off hunger fund under this section is irrevocable.
   2.  The director of revenue shall draft the income tax form to allow the designation of contributions to the Iowa check off hunger fund on the tax return. The department of revenue, on or before January 31, shall transfer the total amount designated on the tax return forms due in the preceding calendar year to the Iowa check off hunger fund. However, before a checkoff pursuant to this section shall be permitted, all liabilities on the books of the department of administrative services and accounts identified as owing under section 8A.504 and the political contribution allowed under section 68A.601 shall be satisfied.
   3.  The department on aging may authorize payment of moneys from the Iowa check off hunger fund, in accordance with section 231.67.
   4.  The department of revenue shall adopt rules to administer this section.
    Sec. 4.  RETROACTIVE APPLICABILITY.  This Act applies retroactively to January 1, 2015, for tax years beginning on or after that date.
EXPLANATION
The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with

the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly.
   This bill provides that taxpayers filing individual income tax returns will be allowed to designate $1 or more on the return to be paid to the Iowa check off hunger fund. The bill creates the Iowa check off hunger fund in the state treasury under the control of the department on aging. The bill requires the department of revenue to annually remit moneys collected from the checkoff to the fund. Moneys in the fund are appropriated to the department on aging and shall be used to provide grants to specified entities and other persons to be used for the purpose of reducing food insecurity in the state. The bill provides rules for the distribution of the grants. Forty percent of the moneys in the fund are required to be awarded to a nonprofit association, chosen by the department on aging, whose members include Iowa food banks and their affiliates that together serve all counties in the state, to be used to purchase food for distribution to food-insecure Iowans. Fifty percent of the moneys in the fund are required to be awarded to each area agency on aging designated under Code section 231.32 in the proportion that the estimated amount of older individuals in Iowa served by that area agency on aging bears to the total estimated amount of older individuals in Iowa, to be used to provide congregate meals and home-delivered meals to food-insecure individuals in Iowa. Ten percent of the moneys in the fund are required to be awarded to persons who are using innovative ways to reduce food insecurity in this state and who make an application to the department on aging for such a grant.
   The bill provides that the checkoff is not subject to Code section 422.12E. Code section 422.12E allows no more than four checkoffs on the individual tax return form and provides for the automatic repeal of the two checkoffs receiving the least in contributions over a two-year period.
   The bill applies retroactively to January 1, 2015, for tax years beginning on or after that date.