2026 Iowa Legislative Session Begins

The Iowa Legislature started its 100-day session on January 12, 2026, welcoming four new legislators after a record-breaking year of special elections. Rep. Wendy Larson (replacing Mike Sexton), Sen. Catelin Drey (replacing Rocky DeWitt), and Sen. Renee Hardman (replacing Claire Celsi) were all elected after the 2025 legislative session adjourned. The session also started off with a new set of leaders: Rep. Brian Meyer (House Minority Leader), Rep. Bobby Kaufmann (House Majority Leader), and Sen. Mike Klimesh (Senate Majority Leader) all took over the leadership reigns this summer/fall.

Before we dive into the first week – a few reminders:

• Legislators who want to sponsor bills need to ask for those bills by Friday, January 23.
• Bills need to be voted out of their originating committee by Friday, February 20 (“first funnel”).
• February 26 is LWVIA Capitol Day! Stay tuned for more information.
• Bills must be voted out of committee in the second chamber by Friday, March 20 (“second funnel”).
• The 100th “Last Day” of session is April 21.

Governor’s Budget & Priorities: Governor Kim Reynolds kicked of the session with her annual Condition of the State Address, sticking with her priorities of cancer prevention, property tax relief and educational choice as centerpieces to her 2026 agenda. You can read her budget documents here and review the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency (LSA) analysis here.

• Governor recommends spending $9.67 billion for next fiscal year (FY 2027). That is $206.5 million below the 99% spending limit, but is a 2% increase over the current year. This includes $8 million more to pick up the cost of SNAP (food assistance) administration that prior to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBA) was paid for by the federal government. It also includes $70.0 million supplemental for Medicaid and savings of $51.4 million in yet-to-be-defined Medicaid “cost containment” strategies.
• Schools would receive a 2% increase under the Governor’s plan, but spending on ESA (private school vouchers) increases by 6.6% because of higher demand.
• There no additional money allocated for water quality, Medicaid provider rates, human trafficking, or victim assistance.
• Governor recommends allowing pharmacists to dispense ivermectin and contraceptives to adults without a prescription; considering a state health insurance exchange; allowing counties to appoint (rather than elect) the county treasurer, auditor, and recorder; and increasing penalties for lying about citizenship on voter registration to a class “D” felony.

Dueling Property Tax Plans: The Senate Republicans announced their approach to property tax relief on the first day of session (SSB 3001). The Governor announced her plan during her Condition of the State address (SSB 3034/HSB 563). The House Democrats have their plan, but we’ve yet to see the House Republicans’ approach.

• Governor’s plan puts a hard 2% cap on the growth of property tax revenue but allows for additional revenues for new development and boundary changes. It also freezes property taxes for homeowners who are age 65+ if their homes are valued at $350,000 or less.
• The Senate’s plan adds an inflation-based adjustment factor to property tax growth, allowing between 2-5% growth each year based on some other factors. It also freezes taxes on properties owned outright (that is, no mortgage).

You’ll hear more about these plans in future posts, but it’s safe to say that local governments are not thrilled by any of the plans they’ve heard to date.

Bills, Bills, Bills: The first four days of session saw the introduction of 296 new bills, including a bill that changes the constitution to limit the number of bills filed by each legislator annually (no more than ten). The bill tracker is updated daily with new bills and status has real-item updates. Here are a few to note:

• HF2068 allows political parties to publish notice of political party precinct caucuses via official party social media accounts as an alternative to newspaper publication. Some groups are asking this to be amended to include posting on an official website, as many older Iowans do not use social media.
• HF2073 requires ballots to include the party affiliation after the name of each candidate for an office with the authority to propose, approve, levy, or vote for a tax (not just those running for a “partisan” office). This means nonpartisan city council candidates will now have their party affiliation next to their name.
• SSB3026 allows bond elections to be held at the same time as a June primary election (in addition to the November general election).
• SSB3039 requires disclosure when “synthetic media” is used in campaign materials (AI generated or digitally manipulated images/audio/video that create false but realistic depictions).
• SJR2002 proposes a constitutional amendment to prohibit Iowa courts from exercising judicial review over laws passed by the General Assembly, with a narrow exception for apportionment plans.
• SSB 3009 eliminates townships as a form of government in Iowa (transferring duties to county supervisors).
• HF2007 establishes a rural emergency response enhancement program to enhance emergency response capacity in rural areas through EMT training grants for small rural police and volunteer fire departments.
• SF2057 creates a fundamental right to contraception in Iowa law.
• HF2041 requires all state and local law enforcement officers/agencies to cooperate with ICE.

Again, there are a lot of bills and a lot of issues that we track for LWVIA, so check the bill tracker for a complete list.

Action Alert: A bill to require parental consent for STD vaccinations has been voted out of a House subcommittee this week. SF 304, which passed the Senate on a party line vote in 2025, is now ready for a vote in the full House Health & Human Services Committee. Since the committee chair was a “yes” vote in subcommittee, it is likely to pass if brought up. LWVIA opposes this bill.

This bill would no longer allow a minor to consent to HPV (cancer preventing) vaccines, as well as other STD-preventing vaccines. While parents consent most of the time, advocates were concerned about the few who disagree with their parents’ opposition to the vaccine or come from unsafe homes. If you want to take action on this bill – contact the members of the House HHS Committee and ask your own Representative to lobby their colleagues on the committee for you.

• Category: Iowa Legislature