Author: Amy Campbell

Believe it or not, the 2026 Iowa Legislative Session is nearing the end. As of Monday (March 23) there are only 30 calendar days left in the scheduled 100-day session. Since legislators only work four days each week, that leaves them with only about 18 working days before their per diems run out. We know they can work longer than the April 21 target adjournment, but they’ll do so on their own dime and without clerks.

Friday (March 20) was the second funnel deadline. While you will be happy to see some of the bills that died, there are still a bunch out there that will cause League members heartburn in these final weeks. Moving forward, the only bills eligible for debate are those that cleared committees in both chambers, bills on the unfinished business calendars, and bills coming from exempt committees (Appropriations, Ways & Means, Government Oversight, Administrative Rules Review).

The second funnel arrives at a consequential moment. Lawmakers came into this session focused on three major issues: use of eminent domain for pipeline projects, the state budget, and property tax reform.  None of these are close to the finish line, but legislative leaders will be working over the coming days to come up with budget targets. Once overall targets are set, they will divide those up amongst the ten budgets, and the budget subcommittee leaders will start making decisions on how to spend their allotted funds.  Watch the blog for updates on targets.

You can see the full list of surviving bills in the LWVIA Bill Tracker here.
You can see the bills that failed the funnel here.

---

Funnel Survivors

Voting & Elections

• HF 2192 raises the threshold for passing school district bonds from 60% to 80%.
  
• HF 2501 makes a number of non-con changes to election law, as proposed jointly by the Secretary of State and county auditors. The House added a few changes that were controversial, including eliminating the ability of a voter to attest to the identity of another voter who does not have proper identification. The Senate took that out, and it’s back in the House with that amendment.
  
• SF 140 prohibits the use of school property as a satellite voting location if there is a school bond/issue on the ballot.
  
• SF 2204 prohibits foreign nationals from contributing to or influencing ballot issue campaigns, either directly or indirectly.

Government Operations

• HF 936 adds applies open records laws to any instrumentality of city/county/township.
  
• HF 2304 & SF 2386 are the bills that cap indirect administrative costs in state-funded grants and contracts at 5%. This would hurt non-profit social services and safety net providers (vs. large companies that have other profit bases to spread this out). The House amendment would change the cap to 15% and allow a waiver for cause.
  
• HF 2255 expands the list of individuals who may request redaction of their name from electronic public documents displayed by county assessors and recorders to include US Senators & Representatives, statewide elected officials, and legislators.
  
• HF 2328 requires the state to publish state employee salary reports on a website.
  
• HF 2490 revises Iowa’s open meeting laws to change where public notices are physically posted, requiring posting on a website, and requiring the posting of any amended agendas.
  
• SF 2461 sets up a process for continuing appropriations if the Legislature cannot pass a budget by July 1 of each year (requiring automatic status quo budget, which would be problematic for Medicaid and school funding since level funding would be a cut in services).
  
• HF 2618 eliminates the requirement that local governments consider smart planning principles.
  
• HF 2711 strikes all requirements for affirmative action (race, gender, citizenship) from state employment, contracting, and educational programs.
  
• HSB 563 & SSB 3034 are the Governor’s property tax bills. While still technically alive, they have been tabled for the House & Senate approaches to property tax reform.
  
• HSB 596 is the House’s property tax reform proposal. You can also read about this in the bill tracker and in an upcoming blog post.
  
• SF 579 prohibits local governments from enacting any civil rights ordinances or laws that are broader than those in the Iowa Civil Rights Act of 1965 (i.e. no transgender protections). This has been signed into law.
  
• SF 2431 abolishes townships as a form of government.
  
• SF 2432 eliminates city public health departments (only Dubuque has one) and requires all county public health departments to contract with their county hospital to deliver public health services unless they can show it will not save money and they have the capacity to do it themselves.
  
• SF 2434 changes public notice requirements for local government.
  
• SF 2472 is the Senate’s property tax reform bill. Check the bill tracker for a description – we’ll do a blog post soon on this.

Health Care, Medicaid & Reproductive Rights

• HF 571 is the health care right of conscience bill, which gives health care providers and institutions the right to not participate in a health care service that violates the provider’s or institution’s conscience. This bill was recently amended by the Senate, which completely rewrote the bill. The House plans to vote on whether to accept the Senate’s changes on Monday.
  
• HF 2253 replaces the term “pregnant person” with “pregnant female” for no apparent reason other than to make sure Iowa law is binary.
  
  HF 2406 is the tobacco coalition’s bill that increases taxes on cigarettes by $1.50/pack.  No action has been taken on this bill since it was introduced earlier this month, and we are hearing the Senate does not have the votes to pass any cigarette tax.  These funds would be used for tobacco cessation/prevention and Medicaid.
  
• HF 2563 puts new restrictions on medication abortions by limiting the ability to provide via telehealth and requiring medically inaccurate information be provided (including information about the ability to reverse the medication abortion). This bill was dead on the House Calendar, but leadership moved it to the House Appropriations Committee to keep it alive, despite the fact there is no fiscal impact and no reference to an appropriation in it.
  
• HF 2564 allows pregnant minors to consent to their own prenatal, intrapartum, and postnatal care. Right now they can consent to their child’s care, but not their own.
  
• HF 2676 is the Governor’s MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) bill. It requires physicians to receive at least one hour of CEUs on nutrition every four years, adds courses in nutrition as a condition of graduating from medical school, requires Iowa to continuously apply for the summer EBT (nutrition) program, allows pharmacists to make ivermectin available without a prescription, limits additives in school breakfasts and lunches (and food sold in vending machines), requires kindergarten programs to include nutrition information on the importance of animal-based proteins, dairy, fruits, and vegetables, limits screen time for students, enacts the Psychology Interjurisdictional Compact (PsyPACT), sets new guidelines for student physical activity, and requires high school students participate in at least one extra-curricular or co-curricular activity each year of school (student government, theater, yearbook, FFA, competitive mathematics, robotics, athletics, dance, band, show choir, debate, scouting, or “youth groups”). 
  
• HF 2739 temporarily and retroactively raises the HMO premium tax from .95% to 3.5%, which will raise $123 million for Medicaid. Of that amount, $73.1 million will be used to fill the current fiscal year hole in Medicaid. Wellmark said this will increase premiums for a family of four by $500, despite legislators reminding them they could take these taxes out of their profits and not pass it along to those buying insurance. This was allowed by Congress to help state Medicaid programs for one year. This is one Senate vote away from going to the Governor.
  
• HF 2743 creates the Iowa Rural Health Transformation Fund, where all federal grant funds for the Governor’s “Healthy Hometowns” initiative are deposited.
  
• SF 638 imposes taxes on vape and alternative nicotine products but does not include cigarette tax changes. (Senate Ways & Means Committee)
  
• SF 2422 is the Senate version of “public assistance reform,” which locks the state into Medicaid managed care (requiring legislative approval to exit it), restricts Iowa Medicaid’s ability to apply for a waiver or make a state plan amendment (must be cost neutral), and requires citizenship and legal immigration status checks for all state public assistance programs (food assistance/SNAP, Medicaid, Hawki, Iowa Health & Wellness Plan, Family Investment Program/FIP, childcare assistance), and reduces retroactive eligibility for Medicaid (leaving many hospitals with much higher levels of uncompensated care). The House HHS Committee Amendment took out the codification of Medicaid managed care and said more changes are coming. The House version of this bill had many other components, but it is now dead, so all of those things are still on the table for the amendment.

Mental Health

• HF 2256 expands the circumstances under which a child can be adjudicated CINA (child in need of assistance) to include serious chemical dependency and other behavioral health conditions. Iowa HHS says this is unnecessary, Iowa law already has a mechanism for doing this, and this change could actually have unintended consequences.
  
• HF 2523 allows parents to directly commit their minor child for substance use or mental health treatment without going through the courts if both the parents and the child’s health care provider agree it is needed and the child meets the criteria for admission.  This was prompted by a family whose 12-year-old child refused to be admitted into an MHI, despite the parents, provider, and law enforcement all agreeing it was needed. This led to delays in treatment while the courts went through the commitment process.
  
• HF 2543 removes barriers to the expansion of subacute mental health treatment options in Iowa, including scaling back insurer’s ability to use prior authorization to limit access.
  
• HF 2557 is the controversial and very poorly written conversion therapy bill. The bill states that it is not child abuse for a parent to raise their child according to their gender assigned at birth, including allowing them to seek conversion therapy and stating that a parent’s views on this topic are not allowed to be factored into child custody and foster parenting decisions.
  
• SF 2055 & HF 2571 updates the rules of criminal procedure to make sure absence of overt acts of dangerousness cannot be the only determining factor in deciding risk to self/others in commitment hearings. Instead, courts are required to consider a comprehensive list of factors, including the original offense, behavioral and psychiatric history, substance use, institutional behavior, environmental factors, and expert assessments.
  
• SF 2417 & HF 2507 are the AI chatbot regulation bills, which set requirements and guidelines for chatbots to make sure they are not misrepresenting as human or a therapist and do not encourage self-harm or harm to others.

Education & Anti-DEI Policies

• HF 884 allows public schools to employ or use volunteer chaplains. This is a hold-over from last year and has not yet seen any action in 2026.
  
• HF 2231 establishes a Seal of Civics Excellence program in high schools to acknowledge graduating seniors who demonstrate civics knowledge.
  
• HF 2240 imposes a new annual tax on college and university endowment values exceeding $500 million (this is going after Grinnell College).
  
• HF 2244 requires expanded instruction in civics and US government for students in grades 7-12.
  
• HF 2336 prohibits schools from discriminating against students for engaging in religious, political, or ideological speech and expression on equal terms with other students. This creates an opening for litigation beyond current protections.
  
• HF 2361 is another civics bills, but this one targets undergraduate college students by requiring a course in American history and government.
  
• HF 2487 allows the Iowa Attorney General to investigate and file charges against a state university or state agency for violating the ban on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and critical race theory (CRT) activities. The bill also requires the Board of Regents (beginning Fall 2028) to review all undergraduate general education requirements and core curriculum and identify those that include DEI/CRT content. The universities are directed to eliminate all requirements containing DEI/CRT elements.
  
• HF 2539 repeals the Board of Regents’ minority and women educators enhancement program.
  
• HF 2670 makes a number of changes to educational policy, including the removal of requirements for multi-cultural, gender-fair, and global perspectives in curriculum, elimination of mandates for schools to adopt protocols identifying adverse childhood experiences and strategies to mitigate toxic stress.
  
• HF 2713 makes comprehensive education policy changes intended to expand funding and operational flexibility for charter and nonpublic schools.
  
• SF 2201 increases school aid funding by 2% (signed by Governor).
  
• SF 2319 requires school websites to include Your Life Iowa links and information. Current law requires this to be on student IDs, but many schools only have electronic IDs.
  
• SF 2335 establishes a work group to examine how school-provided technology affects student cognitive function and academic performance.
  
• SF 2336 requires state universities, community colleges, and public schools to file annual antisemitism reports (but no reporting on any other type of religious intolerance or discrimination).

Immigration/Citizenship

• HF 2700 requires commercial drivers to demonstrate sufficient English language proficiency to receive or renew their CDL/CPL.
  
• SF 2412 requires E-Verify and SAVE database for citizenship and legal immigration checks for all state employment and professional licenses.
  
• SF 2426 requires driver’s license and permit applicants to demonstrate English proficiency.

Other Stuff

• HF 1034 creates an individual tax credit to offset the cost of purchasing a gun safe, lock or other firearm safety device.
  
• HF 1036 makes significant changes to human trafficking laws, including annual stakeholder meeting to develop legislative proposals, expands the definition of commercial sexual exploitation, extends the civil statute of limitations for survivors, requires standardized screening of children for trafficking, changes procedures for prosecuting and handling victims, and requires Iowa HHS to increase the number of restoration facilities for youth who have been trafficked.
  
• HF 2527 limits liability for damages/injuries “allegedly caused” by the effects on climate from greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural and renewable fuel sources.
  
• HF 2542 changes Iowa’s three strike law (not in a good way) – creating new levels of qualifying offenses, assigning new point values, and changing mandatory minimums. This bill was thought to be dead until the last day of funnel week when the Senate Judiciary Committee popped it out unexpectedly. The fiscal note is crazy – $474.1 million annually!
  
• HF 2598 requires people applying for a commercial driver’s license to complete human trafficking prevention training.
  
• HF 2687 creates a new groundwater monitoring pilot program using a network of 100 existing wells owned by private entities. Participation if voluntary and $100,000 is appropriated to support this pilot.
  
• HF 2696 establishes a process for human trafficking victims to expunge their criminal history for offenses occurring as a result of their trafficking (aka “safe harbor” legislation).
  
• SF 2263 makes a lot of changes to Iowa’s firearm laws, including allowing lawfully possessed weapons in locked cars in public parking lots, prohibiting any rules that restrict weapons in cars transporting foster children, stopping Regents universities from banning weapons in personal cars, weakening laws for “weapon free zones” near schools, and a lot more.
  
• SF 2274 prohibits the sale of “trigger crank” devices, replacing broader language restricting the sale of other trigger-activating devices.
  
• SF 2379 & HF 2704 are the Attorney General’s victim rights bills, which contain a number of updates to improve victim protections, but have some controversial parts that open up victim confidentiality and eliminate references to international sexual assault nurse examiner (SANE) standards.
  
• SF 2462 & HF 2712 restructures the state’s early childhood and family services system by aligning the early childhood districts with the state’s seven behavioral health districts. The final “deal” has not yet been struck and Early Childhood Iowa remains quite opposed to the change, but is reluctantly working on an amendment. What we know is that decategorization funding is cut, home visitation will be moved to the state so it can be matched by federal funds, and some services will remain with the 38 early childhood districts. There will likely be more oversight on what is funded and limits on administrative expenses.

---

Bills That Didn’t Make The Cut

• HF 621 allowed carrying of firearms on school property.
• HF 2068 eliminated caucus location notices in newspapers and allowed them to be posted on a party’s official social media feed (not website).
• HF 2102 allowed driver’s license exams to be only in English.
• HF 2134 allowed victims of domestic violence/sexual assault to break a lease.
• HF 2137 directed public health agency websites to include info about vaccine waivers.  
• HF 2171 eliminated the requirements for public school immunizations. 
• HF 2292 required Iowa HHS to double the number of MHI beds.
• HF 2294 increased the time to file an open meeting/record complaint.
• HF 2324 prohibited shared public library/school library spaces, including use of book mobiles.
• HF 2338 extended the gender theory/sexual orientation teaching, testing, or surveying ban passed last year to grades 7-12.
• HF 2415 required insurers to allow a special enrollment period for pregnant women. 
• HF 2488 would have barred private universities with DEI offices, staff, or activities from receiving Iowa Tuition Grants. 
• HF 2495 allows forfeited weapons to be released back to local law enforcement for their use or disposal.
• HF 2512 required removal of a teacher’s license if they publicly celebrate an act of political violence.
• HF 2518 required a Medicaid rate review every four years for disability (HCBS) and child welfare providers.
• HF 2520 changed how local elected official vacancies are handled.
• HF 2530 limited DNR’s ability to put waterways on impaired water list.
• HF 2565 created specialized human trafficking investigation units.
• HF 2584 would have created drug free homeless zones around shelters.
• HF 2597 allowed legislators to use their campaign funds for home security.
• HF 2609 required notice if synthetic/AI-generated content appears in campaign materials.
• HF 2622 cut public libraries off state funding if they didn’t comply with book censorship.
• HF 2616 clarified that a person cannot stand on a road and shoot.
• HF 2659 set up an affordable housing task force.
• HF 2681 allowed video recordings to be placed in special education classrooms.
• HF 2710 limited the Governor’s powers in a public health emergency.
• HF 2716 is the House version of “public assistance reform.” All of the changes in this are still being considered for SF 2422, the Senate’s version of public assistance reform that is currently alive in the House. This bill did not codify managed care, but did take WIC away from undocumented mothers/babies. It also increased reimbursement for disability service providers that serve rural Iowans, set up a high-acuity pediatric work group, codified reimbursement for special population nursing facilities (only ChildServe and On With Life qualify), and allow some Iowans with disabilities to work/earn/save more and get married without risk of losing their Medicaid health care coverage (expanding the Medicaid for Employed Persons with Disabilities program to 300% of the federal poverty level, disregarding pension and spousal income, not counting one car toward assets, and requiring Iowa HHS to allow premiums for the program to be paid electronically).
• SF 493 prohibited local governments from hiring or having lobbyists.
• SF 507 prohibited any DEI or DEI-adjacent activities in local government.
• SF 2203 required proof of citizenship for existing voters & new registrants.
• SF 2389 cut legislator per diems in half (creating a 55-day session).
• SF 2404 set up a pilot program to allow segregated schools for special education students and/or students with challenging behaviors.  
• SF 2424 would have required colleges to find clinical rotations that do not require vaccinations if requested by a student.
• SF 2444 would have legalized cigar bars in Iowa, creating a new loophole in Iowa’s Smokefree Air Act.

You can find the links to the biweekly legislative check-ins here:

• January 29, 2026 – Watch | Listen
• February 12, 2026 – Watch | Listen
• February 25, 2026 – Watch | Listen
• March 12, 2026 – Watch | Listen | Slides
• March 26, 2026 – Watch | Listen | Slides
• April 9, 2026
• April 23, 2026

You can sign up here to join any (or all) of these 30-minute checkins. We just ask that you take a look at the Bill Tracker and be prepared to ask questions about the bills important to you, your family, your community, and your local League!

The LWVIA Capitol Day at the Iowa State Capitol is Thursday, February 26 (10 am to 1 pm). League members are welcome to come anytime during that time – no registration required! Our booths will be on the First Floor Rotunda – along the North side. Wear your League gear and get ready to advocate!

• Get ready with our LWVIA 2026 Legislative Priorities.
• Sign up for our Capitol Day Prep Zoom (February 25 at 6:30-7:30 pm).
• Let your legislators know you are coming – Senators & Representatives.
• Can’t make it? No worries – lobby from home using this document: