Session Ends
After a marathon 30+ hour run, the Iowa Legislature has officially adjourned for the year on Sunday evening (May 3). The bill tracker has now been updated with final action – all bills that did not make it to the Governor’s desk are now marked “inactive.”
All told it was another record-breaking year for the number of bills filed – our intern will be getting the final count sometime before we send out our final session report. Most disturbing was the last minute passage of SJR 11, which will be on the ballot for Iowans to consider. This proposed constitutional amendment would require a supermajority (2/3 vote) for any income tax increase, or any other new tax based on a person’s wealth or income. That’s 34 Senators and 67 Representatives.
After considerable lobbying by the Family Leader, legislators also passed new restrictions on medication abortions, which they are now calling “chemical abortions.” All prescriptions would now require an in-person consultation and require health providers to disclose the warnings that appear on the label, but more concerning language that required informing a person of the opportunity to reverse a medication abortion (untrue) and added new reporting language that was seen as onerous to health providers that use the medications for other purposes.
Perhaps the best news at the end of session was the Governor’s announcement that she would be investing more than $20 million in new funds for water quality – including funding to help Des Moines Water Works remove nitrates from water. While this is good news – it came at a price for other infrastructure projects, including a missed opportunity for public transit agencies to draw down millions in federal funds for bus replacements, only partial funding of a new interactive exhibit at the Hoover Presidential Library, more funding for the Battleship Iowa, and more.
We hope to get a complete report out within the next week – so hang in there and check out the LWVIA Bill Tracker for more information in the meantime!