Our second legislative deadline has passed, meaning we had another busy week as we worked on moving House bills through the Iowa Senate. Policy bills are required at this time to be through a committee in the opposite chamber in order to be considered for the rest of the legislative session. This process keeps us focused on important priorities, bills with enough support to remain viable at this point during session, and hopefully helps us end session on time this year. It usually also means as we work on legislation, we are finding additional issues that may prevent it from moving forward.
A number of topics have come across our desks. We’ve been hearing a lot about Second Amendment legislation, education bills dealing with curriculum taught in schools, nursing and workforce issues, and so much more. Two issues that come up consistently when talking with Iowans are public safety and mental health. The Judiciary Committee discussed a few bills this week aimed at helping Iowans, supporting Second Amendment rights, and the dealing with the fentanyl disaster that continues to consume our country and our state.
House File 2576 creates a first-degree murder charge for delivery of fentanyl to another person if that delivery results in the death of the other person. We have a taken a number of measures recently to try to address the rise of fentanyl deaths happening all across the country and doing what we can in our state. A consequence of the emergency at the border, this crisis has devastated families all over the state. House File 2576 is one more step we can take to try to curb the devastation and help Iowans avoid the loss of a loved one.
Another bill, House File 2421, is aimed at protecting Iowans from harming themselves or others. HF 2421 allows a federal firearms license holder to take possession of an owner’s lawfully possessed firearm at the owner’s request, hold the firearm for an agreed period of time, and return it according to the terms of the agreement. It also provides liability protection to federal firearms license holders when they are trying to prevent suicides.
Any bills that go through the Appropriations or Ways and Means committees are unaffected by the legislative deadline this week. We continue to have discussions on tax policies and how we can maintain our historic record of providing income tax relief for Iowans and ensure they’re keeping more of their hard-earned money.
We continue seeing the benefits of the tax policies we have passed. Just last week, Iowa was rated as the best state for retirees. In 2022, we passed a massive income tax relief bill for Iowans. While it implemented a number of large reforms, like putting into place a 3.9 percent flat tax for all Iowans and providing farmers a first-time pension exemption, it also completely eliminated the tax on retirement income. In addition to being recognized as the best state for retirees, late last year Iowa was also rated as the state with the lowest housing costs and one of the best states to raise a family.
At the start of every session, our goal is to focus on how we can help Iowa families and make our state the best to live, work, and raise a family. That goal continues to be at the center of our work as we go through legislation in the coming weeks and deal with some of the bigger topics facing us this legislative session.
My Day in the District on March 8 was busy with events throughout the district. First, I attended a forum in Washington County to hear from constituents and talk about issues going through the legislature. I then made my way over to Solon to discuss the how the new bill to protect property taxpayers may affect their city, community issues, local improvements, and legislation that affects their residents.
I also met with Clear Creek Amana school district talking about a new program we are trying to get started. We also included the workforce development team as we are trying to bring new job opportunities to students in the area.
If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please feel free to reach out to me.
Senator Driscoll serves as the chair of the Agriculture Committee, and also serve on the Local Government, Natural Resources and Environment, State Government, Ways and Means, and Workforce committees.