Budget Agreement Reached, Session Nearing End

Amy Campbell on April 24, 2026

The Senate and House have agreed to spend $9.659 billion for the next budget year, which begins July 1, 2026.  This is just $3 million below what the House had suggested.  The HHS Budget numbers actually increased in these negotiations!

  • Administration & Regulation: $73,301,113 ($30,000 below original House target)
  • Agriculture & Natural Resources: $47,505,670 ($244,000 above original House target) 
  • Economic Development: $39,948,145 ($400,00 below original House target) 
  • Education: $1,042,048,417 ($4.6 million below original House target) 
  • Health & Human Services: $2,560,094,417 ($344,000 above original House target) 
  • Justice Systems: $938,006,002 ($1.5 million above House target) 

You can track the real-time budget status here. The House bills include more funding for water quality monitoring and aquifer mapping, victim services, Medicaid, and child welfare providers. It’s not much, but it does show movement in the right direction. Of course, there are cost containments and changes to align with the One Big Beautiful Bill that will make getting and keeping food assistance (SNAP) and Medicaid harder. Watch this blog & the League’s Facebook page for updates as we enter the (hopefully) last week of session.

Budget Targets Announced, Let the Negotiations Begin!

Amy Campbell on April 13, 2026

The one thing the Iowa Legislature must do each year is pass a budget.  With just nine days left in the scheduled legislative session, we now have budget targets. The Governor made her budget recommendations in January.  The Iowa Senate set its budget target on March 30.  The Iowa House of Representatives came out with their spending target on April 10.  Now the negotiations can begin.

The good news is that the House-Senate targets are only about $39 million apart and are not far off the Governor’s budget. The bad news is that they are using more than $1 billion in one-time funds to balance the budget. All three budgets spend more than the state will collect in revenues.

$9.67 billion – Governor’s Recommendation
$9.66 billion – House Target
$9.62 billion – Senate Target+
$8.47 billion – March Revenue Estimate

You can see our real-time budget tracker here. It includes the most current bill numbers, information on where the bills are in the process, and links to staff detailed budget reviews.