Last week (March 31-April 4) marked the second major deadline of the legislative session. This meant that all bills the Senate received from the House of Representatives needed to pass through committee in order to stay “alive.” While our “second funnel” brought about plenty of subcommittee and committee meetings, it also has brought many emails to my inbox about issues the Senate may consider in the upcoming weeks. In this week’s newsletter, I want to focus on several key bills that many of you in District 46 have reached out about.
HF 969: Cancer Presumptions for Firefighters
I received many emails this week regarding House File 969. This bill expands cancer coverage for Iowa’s public safety workers. This means that if a public safety worker gets any type of cancer, it’s assumed to be from their job, making it easier to get disability benefits. HF 969 came to the Senate floor on Wednesday for a vote and it passed the chamber with bipartisan support. I am incredibly grateful for everything our law enforcement officers do to keep our communities safe, and I know the nature of their jobs ask them to put themselves—and their health—at risk. These men and women embrace these risks for our communities’ sake, and as a result, I believe they should be protected the same way they protect us.
HF 924: Handgun Possession Age
Many of you have also reached out to express support for House File 924, which lowers the minimum age to carry a handgun in Iowa from 21 to 18. This bill also passed the Senate this week. I was a vehement “yes” when the Senate voted on this bill on Monday, and my rationale for why I voted this way echoes the words that many of you shared with me over the past few weeks: if 18-year-olds are old enough to die for their country, they are most certainly old enough to carry a handgun.
This bill brings Iowa law into alignment with the trust we already place in young adults—to vote, to serve, and to defend our nation.
Property Tax
A few weeks ago, Senate Republicans introduced a major property tax reform plan aimed at providing long-term relief, increasing transparency, and improving accountability for both taxpayers and local governments.
We have received lots of feedback from Iowans regarding this piece of legislation, and we have updated that plan to incorporate what Iowans want and need. This update comes in the form of Senate Study Bill 1227.
Several changes in SSB 1227 include: raising the homestead exemption to $50,000 to offer more relief for homeowners, eliminating the rollback for most property classes immediately (except agriculture), adding a CPI adjustment to help local governments manage inflation,
and providing extra support for small communities with slow or no growth. As a member of the Ways and Means Committee this year, I have had the opportunity to work closely with this legislation, and this is a bill I’m very passionate about. Notably, several of you have reached out to me with agriculture-specific concerns, and I want to say that, based on the work I have done, I believe that agriculture is getting the most benefits from this reform: the bill leaves the original agriculture land tax formula in place, and the productivity land value is still applied. I will always advocate for the best interests of our farmers and the agriculture industry, and I believe this bill has those interests in mind.
Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBM) Reform
I have also received a handful of messages related to pharmacy benefit manager reform. Several of you have noted that PBMs pose a significant risk to local pharmacies, especially those that serve our rural communities, as PBMs play a role in local pharmacy closures and high drug prices.
While PBM reform legislation has yet to come to the Senate floor, I want to make clear that I will always support our rural communities.
Our legislative session will be drawing to a close soon, which means the next few weeks in Des Moines will be especially busy. If you have any questions regarding certain pieces of legislation, please reach out! As always, I am so honored to serve District 46.