2018 End-of-Session Report

This session, we heard from thousands of Iowans who work hard but struggle to get by. They just want a decent-paying job and the chance to lead a happy, healthy life. Our job in the Legislature is to listen and work to improve the lives of everyday Iowans.

May 5, 2018 by · Ag & Farming, Blog, Consumer protections, Education, Energy & Enviroment, Fiscal responsibility, Health care, Issues, Jobs & Economy, Official, Quality of life, Safer communities, Transparency & accountability, Veterans & service members, Working families

The Democratic plan for 2018 calls for Putting Iowans First

  • Investing in public schools & preventing more school closures
  • Keeping job training & college affordable for all Iowans
  • Making child care more affordable for working parents & those training for better jobs
  • Raising wages for Iowans
  • Increasing use of renewable energy & fuels
  • Revitalizing rural Iowa with good jobs & a great quality of life
  • Examining tax breaks for big, out-of-state corporations that put the state budget in the red & don’t create Iowa jobs
  • Requiring the Senate GOP to pay for their $1.75 million sexual harassment suit instead of taxpayers
  • Ending privatized Medicaid, especially for our most vulnerable Iowans
  • Keeping health care affordable & accessible for all Iowans
  • Fixing & investing in Iowa’s mental health system
  • Cleaning up the corruption & cronyism in state government


 Gov. Reynolds & Republican lawmakers: Misplaced priorities & mismanagement

  • Instituting the most restrictive abortion ban in the country (SF 359)
  • Slashing investment in skilled worker initiatives (SF 2117, HF 2493)
  • Making record-low investments in public schools (HF 2230)
  • Sending more money to out‐of‐state, for‐profit online schools (SF 475)
  • Raising tuition & reducing opportunities with millions in mid‐year cuts to community colleges & state universities (SF 2117)
  • Allowing unregulated health care plans that can deny people based on pre‐existing conditions (SF 2349)
  • Reducing services at county courthouses with mid‐year cuts (SF 2117)
  • Cutting $4.3 million from an already strapped Department of Human Services (SF 2117)
  • Eliminating protections in current gun ownership laws (HJR 2009)
  • Banning sanctuary cities even though Iowa doesn’t have any (SF 481)
  • Putting Iowans’ safety at risk with lower inspection standards (HF 2297)
  • Cutting energy efficiency programs & discriminating against renewable energy options (SF 2311)
  • Passing a huge tax giveaway that overwhelmingly benefits corporations & the wealthy (SF 2417)
  • Failing to extend funding for school infrastructure & providing more than $100 million in property tax relief with SAVE (HF 2481)
  • Failing to take advantage of industrial help as a promising agricultural commodity (SF 2398)
  • Allowing doctors to give incomplete information to pregnant women (SF 2418)

 

Several bipartisan bills were approved

  • Requiring ignition interlocks & no temporary license restrictions for OWIs (HF 2338)
  • Ensuring health care coverage for telemedicine services (HF 2305)
  • Expanding mental health services for complex needs (HF 2456)
  • Expanding Move Over law to make the roads safer (HF 2304)
  • Expanding consumer security freezes to protect credit (SF 2177)
  • Expanding Safe Haven laws (SF 360)
  • Helping more veterans by expanding the Veterans Trust Fund (SF 2366)
  • Creating security plans for all Iowa schools (SF 2364)
  • Prohibiting shaming of students who can’t pay for their lunch (HF 2467)
  • Protecting student athletes with new concussion protocols (HF 2442)
  • Requiring suicide prevention training for school employees (SF 2113)
  • Cracking down on electronic forms of identity theft (HF 2199)
  • Licensing for genetic counselors (SF 2228) & autism counselors (SF 192)
  • Enhancing funding for EMS transportation (HF 2285) & 911 HF 2254)
  • Establishing Future Ready plan to train more skilled workers (HF 2458)
  • Expanding work background checks for those with access to personal info (HF 2321, HF 637)
  • Cracking down on electronic eavesdropping (HF 2392)
  • Expanding help through Crime Victims Compensation Fund (SF 2165)
  • Giving schools (HF 2441) & communities (SF 2258) flexibility with certain funding to meet local needs
  • Improving teaching for those with dyslexia (SF 2360)
  • Approving a plan to start combatting Iowa’s opioid crisis (HF 2377)
  • Providing sharing incentives for schools to improve efficiency & save money (HF 633)
  • Protecting the privacy of student data (HF 2354)
  • Taking a first step toward fairer funding for rural schools with high transportation costs (SF 455)

 

Good news: These GOP bills failed

  • Raising property taxes & reducing local services by ending the state’s property tax backfill for local governments & school districts (SF 2420)
  • Shifting $200 million from public schools to private & home schools through vouchers (SF 2091)
  • Eliminating the Iowa Department of Public Health (HF 2017)
  • Reinstating the death penalty (SF 335)
  • Instituting political discrimination for university faculty (SF 288)
  • Intimidating abortion providers to limit health care choices for women (SF 26)
  • Ending retirement security for public employees, including teachers, fire fighter, & police officers (IPERS, PORS & 411) (SF 45)
  • Defining abortion as murder, even in cases of rape or incest (SF 54)
  • Putting Bible literacy classes in public schools (HF 2031)
  • Removing gender identity protections from Iowa Civil Rights Code (HF 2164)
  • Making Iowa Supreme Court Justices part‐time & paying them like lawmakers (HF 2036)
  • Giving Iowans a “license to discriminate” against fellow citizens who are different from them (SF 2338)
  • Creating new requirements & drug testing for recipients of Medicaid, FIP & SNAP, while limiting food items (SF 2370)
  • Requiring a super‐majority vote for Iowa Supreme Court decisions (SF 2282)
  • Ending state accreditation for community colleges (SF 2272)
  • Extending school bus riding times for K-12 students (SF 2137)