The 2025 legislative session began this past week! It is truly an honor and a privilege to represent everyone in the new Senate District #29! I am humbled by the trust that the voters have placed in me. I believe with your input and help we will be able to do some good things this year for the people of Iowa!
I am looking forward to seeing you at my town hall meetings, all of which will be held on Saturday mornings. These meetings are scheduled all over my district in Bremer, Butler, Chickasaw and Floyd counties and are set as follows:
Saturday, Jan. 25th in Waverly at the Waverly Public Library from 9 to 10 a.m.
Saturday, Jan. 25th in Charles City at the Floyd County Museum from 11 a.m. to Noon
Saturday, Feb. 1st in Greene at the Greene Public Library from 9 to 10 a.m.
Saturday, Feb. 1st in New Hampton at the New Hampton Public Library from 11 a.m. to Noon
Saturday, Feb. 8th in Sumner at Sumner Public Library from 9 to 10 a.m.
Saturday, Feb. 8th in Nashua at the Nashua Welcome Center (Gateway to Northeast Iowa Welcome Center) from 11 a.m. to Noon
Saturday, Feb. 15th in Parkersburg at the Parkersburg Public Library from 9 to 10 a.m.
Saturday, Feb. 15th in Denver at the Denver Community Room from 11 a.m. to Noon
Saturday, Feb. 22nd in Fredericksburg at Upham Memorial Library from 9 to 10 a.m.
Saturday Feb. 22nd in Allison at the Allison Public Library from 11 a.m. to Noon
Rep. Charley Thomson will join me when he can.
Governor’s Priorities
Governor Kim Reynolds gave her “Condition of the State” speech last week. She began by noting the top national rankings for the state of Iowa in several different categories. Iowa is:
- # 1 for the third consecutive year for fiscal responsibility
- # 1 state in the nation for retirement
- # 1 state for millennial home ownership
- # 2 in cost of living
- # 3 for opportunity
- # 4 for health care and
- # 4 for educational choice
Budget
The governor has proposed her budget and her plan is to spend $9.4 billion from the General Fund in FY 2026. This is an increase of $486 million, which is 5.4% higher than the current fiscal year (FY25).
Among the major items in the governor’s budget are:
- $102 million increase for Supplemental State Aid (SSA) for schools, which is a 2% increase
- $96 million increase for Educational Savings Accounts (ESA’s)
- $10 million increase for the Regents schools
- $4.7 million increase for community colleges
- $1 million increase for the Iowa Tuition Grant
- $1 million increase for ISU Ag Experimental Station
- $1 million increase for ISU Veterinary Early Acceptance program – New veterinary scholarships for up to 10 students with requirement to work in rural Iowa for 5 years
- $1 million increase for ISU Veterinary Diagnostic Lab
- $1 million for UI Cancer research – to combat Iowa’s high cancer rate, new program
- 10.$223 million increase for Medicaid – to address shortfall by the federal government plus the usual increase needed. Includes a $25 million nursing facility increase and $19 million for HAWK-I, the children’s insurance program
- $9 million increase for Dept. of Corrections institutions and CBC’s – Community Based Corrections
- $2 million increase for Public Defender’s office
- $2 million increase for the Judicial Branch
- $1.7 million increase for the Attorney General’s office – includes $1million for Victim Assistance Grants
- $40 million payback to the Economic Emergency Fund due to an unexpected $40 million spent from that fund to cover natural disaster expenses from flooding in NW Iowa and tornado damage in communities such as Greenfield and Minden. 2024 was a record year for tornadoes in Iowa with 125 that touched down.
Property Taxes
Many Iowans are feeling the weight of increased property taxes over the last few years, making it difficult to afford and maintain the property they own. While the legislature passed major property tax reform in 2023, continuing to build on reforms for everyday Iowans proves one of the most important issues facing our state legislature. Property taxes are the most unfair tax because they rise whether your income rises or not.
Energy
- Create a Nuclear Energy Task Force to make recommendations on advancing nuclear power in Iowa.
- Allow businesses and cities to obtain low-interest loans for energy and water infrastructure projects.
- Electric Transmission “Right of First Refusal” – would grant owners of electric transmission lines in Iowa the first option to construct new interconnecting lines plus land restoration standards to protect agriculture.
Workforce
Since the Unemployment Trust Fund at $2 billion is full, she proposed to reduce how much employers need to put into it and encourage businesses to reinvest savings into their employees.
Education
- Improve math and problem-solving skills with early identification and intervention for students, additional training and professional development for teachers, and resources for families to help at home. Hopefully this will move us away from the frustrating experiences many parents have had assisting their children with Common Core math homework.
- Require schools to have a policy governing cell phone use with the goal to restrict cellphone use during instructional time for K-12 students. She is seeking to balance the need to protect the mental health of children with the need to allow local control of schools. Also require “effects of social media training” for all middle school students (6-8th grade)
- Require all high school graduates to pass the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ Naturalization Test. In my opinion this is a test that a student should be able to pass in 8th grade and so my concern is that it sets too low a bar for high school graduates.
- Establish 3-year grants for preschool programs and childcare providers to integrate their services, partly using federal funding. I always have a concern when government money is used to make parents more dependent on government-funded child care and incentivizing pulling preschool children out of the home. I’ve seen studies touting immediate academic benefits, but there are also studies that demonstrate the benefits to children of parental input and nurturing in the home, which cannot be wholly replaced by anyone else. It will be interesting to take a look at the exact proposal.
Health Care
- Increased funding of loan repayment programs for health care and mental health care providers and open the program to any health care provider who commits to practice in rural Iowa for 5 years even if they come from out-of-state
- Expand to 115 new residency slots at Iowa’s teaching hospitals, uses federal funding
- Apply for Medicaid waiver to implement work requirements for able-bodied adults on Medicaid.
- Maternal Health – Seek federal approval to permit Medicaid rate flexibility to hopefully increase rates to health care providers for complex pregnancies.
Other
Hands-Free Driving: She proposes to prohibit the use of cell phones while driving with a few limited exceptions.
Chief Justice Priorities
Chief Justice of the Iowa Supreme Court Susan Christensen outlined her priorities for the legislature to tackle this session. She is asking for increases for judges and for attorneys that serve as public defenders for those who cannot afford an attorney. Current pay for judges and attorneys is quite a bit below their counterparts in other states in the Midwest. This is something I advocated for last session and hopefully we will make more progress on it this session.
The pool of applicants for judgeships has dropped quite a bit in the past 10 years as well as the pool of attorneys willing to do public defender work. We need well-qualified people in those positions so our citizens can get the justice they should get from our judicial system.
Iowa National Guard
The Adjutant General of the Iowa National Guard, Major General Stephen Osborn gave an update on the condition of the guard. Iowa National Guardsmen were deployed in 14 countries in 2024 as well as in our state to address disaster emergencies: Kosovo, Guam, Texas to support Operation Lone Star on the southern border, Middle East, North Carolina to help the people devastated by Hurricane Helene. They will also be in Washington D.C. on Monday to provide security and support for the presidential inauguration.
