Iowa Senate Democrats

Fighting for a Better Deal for Iowans.

  • Nursing students aim to fill health care needs

    By Senate Intern Kylie Spies, University of Iowa MSW student

    Richie Gibbs, Erica Altemeier and Madelynn Rhodes are nursing students at Des Moines Area Community College.

    Students from DMACC’s RN training program were on hand for Career and Technical Education Day at the Capitol. They shared with legislators how their program is helping prepare Iowans for high-demand jobs.

    Iowa is experiencing shortages in OB-GYNs, mental health providers, nurses and other health professions. In 2018, U.S. News ranked Iowa 36th in the nation in overall health care, and 46th in hospital quality.

    State-of-the-art training can help turn things around. The Healthcare Simulation Lab, located on DMACC’s Capitol Center campus, offers high-tech learning opportunities for future nurses and other health care professionals.

    While at the State Capitol, nursing students demonstrated surgical technology, hospital newborn care equipment and a child-sized dummy with a pulse. They take pride in the skills they’re gaining, but are well aware of the challenges facing Iowa’s health care system.

    Take Medicaid, for example.

    Richie Gibbs, Erica Altemeier and Madelynn Rhodes are all in the last semester of their Registered Nurse program. Even before entering the field, the three have witnessed how privatized Medicaid is squeezing providers.

    “We are close to the bottom in pay here in Iowa,” Gibbs said.

    As of 2017, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics ranked Iowa 48th in the nation in average nursing salary—$57,930, or $27.85 per hour. That includes many nurses with decades of experience.

    In addition to the usual college courses, nursing students must take clinicals. Clinicals involve shadowing a practicing nurse to get hands-on experience in the field. DMACC nursing students have seen overworked, underpaid hospital staff that cannot keep up with the demand for care.

    For many nursing students, the first career step is as a Patient Care Technician. PCTs are entry-level health care workers who do hard physical labor, like feeding, dressing and bathing patients. Most make only about $13 per hour.

    Rhodes, who works as a PCT in a facility for seniors with dementia, says patients pay more than $100,000 per year at the facility, and that her pay is higher than many of her classmates.

    Altemeier received a grant from Central Iowa HealthWorks to help pay for tuition, books and gas to get to her classes and clinicals. Iowa HealthWorks is a United Way program that helps adult learners reach their health care career goals. Altemeier is grateful for the assistance, and says she wishes more money was available to help Iowans get into the profession. Some of her classmates come from other states to take advantage of DMACC’s program, but always intend to return home where they’ll make more money.

    Altemeier wants to see the state invest in people who are interested in becoming nurses or Patient Care Technicians, as well as competitive salaries that will keep talented nurses here in Iowa.

    Iowa cannot provide adequate health care services to those most in need without a bigger investment. Let’s not continue this race to the bottom.

  • Our children are our future

    By State Sen. Liz Mathis, Hiawatha (Senate District 34)

    There are few things more important than the future of our children. As legislators, I believe we need to reflect that in our work at the State Capitol.

    This year I have introduced several bills about children’s needs. After working on the children’s mental health system design and sitting on the Children’s Behavioral Health System State Board, I have learned from educators and mental health providers about immediate needs and long-term goals for alleviating the crisis and anxiety that kids are experiencing in their lives.

    The bills include creating a grant program using $15 million in Instructional Support Levy dollars to develop and improve mental health services in the schools (SF2042 and SF2071), creating mental health days with follow-up from school mental health staff (SF2067) and making certain the Your Life Iowa crisis line is on school IDs (SF2027).

    Since passing the children’s mental health system bill last year, we are working together on next steps: organizing core services needed at local levels and funding the system. Hard work is ahead to ensure the system is developed and supported.

    Other bills I’ve introduced include expanding pre-school programs and using vacant schools to house pre-schools and daycare centers in urban and rural areas and other legislation to help more pregnant women and new moms for a longer period of time. 

    I’ve signed up as a sponsor to lower the cost of day care for families (SF2110) and to allow for supports for our direct-care workforce (SF2098). This week I joined three other legislators, two across the aisle, to mandate that health insurance includes treatment for a pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric syndrome (PANS). 

  • Working together, we can help kids in need

    By State Sen. Nate Boulton, Des Moines (Senate District 16)

    Over the past year, I have had the chance to learn about a serious and heartbreaking illness that affects children who suffer from complications associated with strep infections. While most of us would not panic to hear our child has a diagnosis as common as strep throat, the unfortunate reality is that for some kids, that infection leads to a much more serious condition.

    PANDAS/PANS refers to several neuro-psychiatric conditions that can result from a simple streptococcal infection. Children affected suffer from a variety of problems, some as simple as headaches. Others, however, may become emotionally unstable and even suicidal. The National Institute of Mental Health Treatment describes the symptoms as usually dramatic, come on suddenly, and can include motor or vocal tics, obsessions and compulsions. Otherwise happy and healthy children can get a strep infection that one day causes a “trap door” to be triggered.

    While the condition alone is scary, parents face another frightening reality: treatment can be expensive and some health insurance companies refuse to cover it. To help ease the burden on these families facing a tough road ahead, I drafted legislation that requires coverage for treatment related to a PANDAS/PANS diagnosis.

    I was proud to see that as I spoke with other legislators about the issue, I was joined by Senators Tom Greene of Burlington (R), Liz Mathis of Hiawatha (D) and Mark Segebart of Vail (R) who signed on to co-sponsor the bill. We are making this a bipartisan effort to help families in need. SF 2084 has now been assigned to the Senate Human Resources Committee and awaits review by a Senate Subcommittee.

    Just as pediatric illnesses don’t afflict only Democratic or Republican children, our party labels should not prevent us from getting kids the health care they need when they need it.

    You can learn more about the issue in this short video with two Iowa moms:

  • Improving health for Iowa moms and babies

    Maternal health in Iowa is experiencing a crisis. Maternal mortality has increased at an alarming rate in recent years. Maternal deaths went from fewer than 15 in 2008 to almost 50 in 2019, according to Dr. Stephen Hunter, co-director for Perinatal Care at the Iowa Department of Public Health.

    A big part of the problem is Iowa’s shrinking health care options and workforce:

    • Iowa has seen 34 labor and delivery units close since 2000.
    • Our state has the lowest number of obstetricians per capita in the country; 64% of rural Level 1 hospitals have no obstetrician on staff.
    • Iowa has a high rate of cesarean births, as a result, which can lead to future health problems.

    About 40% of births in Iowa are covered by Medicaid, but privatized Medicaid doesn’t cover the costs for delivering babies if health care providers follow the recommended standard of care, so hospitals lose money by providing labor and delivery services.

    That’s why we are proposing the Healthy Moms and Babies Act (SF 2062), which will:

    • Adjust Medicaid rates so that hospitals are adequately reimbursed for the care they provide.
    • Ensure labor and delivery units use proven practices—known as “safety bundles”—that save lives during delivery.
    • Expand home visiting services for pregnant women, new moms and babies.

    Changes to reproductive health care have real consequences

    During a recent visit to the State Capitol, former State Senator Chris Brase of Muscatine shared his daughter’s devastating pregnancy experience during the summer of 2019.

    Sen. Brase’s daughter experienced a loss of amniotic fluid at around 24 weeks, meaning that her baby’s lungs and other vital organs would be harmed and her baby would not survive birth.

    Because of legislation approved by the Republican-controlled Legislature and signed by the Governor in 2017, she was forced to continue the pregnancy, risking her own health, while knowing that her baby would suffer after birth.

    She was only able to receive the medical care she needed when sepsis set in and her life was at risk.

  • Committee remarks on SJR 21

    Prepared opening remarks to the Senate State Government Committee on SJR 21 by State Sen. Claire Celsi, D-West Des Moines

    SJR 21, Constitutional Amendment: legis.iowa.gov/legislation/BillBook?ga=88&ba=SJR21

    Good morning and welcome to all Iowans who’ve traveled here today to witness this meeting and those who are listening online.

    For many Iowans, this proposed Constitutional Amendment by the Republicans may seem like its coming out of left field.

    Let me assure you. This Iowa bill is just a small part of a coordinated effort to overturn Roe vs. Wade at the national level – and if the Supreme Court kicks the decision back to the states – it’s an effort to weaken the protections of the Iowa Constitution.

    Republicans know that once the Iowa is weakened, if their plan succeeds – then they can go back to the bad bills they’ve tried to pass and get them all out of the trash heap of history and pass them without fear of the Iowa Supreme Court overturning their laws.

    Let’s review. They’ve passed telemedicine abortion bans, a 72-hour waiting period and a 6 week heartbeat bill. Each attempt to limit Iowans’ rights to a safe, legal abortion was more extreme, medically inaccurate and insulting than the one before.

    All of these extreme laws have been nixed by the courts. In the 72-hour waiting period case, the Iowa Supreme Court had enough and the majority opinion went into great detail as to all the ways that Iowans’ constitutional rights had been usurped.

    Republicans complain of activist, unelected judges making these decisions on behalf of Iowans. But what’s ironic is that Republicans in Iowa and nationally are working to stack the courts with judges that will rule in their favor on the issue of abortion.

    A Constitutional amendment is the most extreme action that can be taken a democratic political body. The Republicans are sick of the courts standing up for Iowans’ rights. They want to make sure they have the final say.

    Since this bill has been introduced, I’ve heard from women from all over Iowa. Women who have had life threatening conditions such as preeclampsia that have killed their baby and nearly killed them, too. I’ve heard from Iowans who had an aunt, mother or grandmother who had an illegal abortion and died. I’ve heard from retired nurses from Western Iowa who worked in rural hospitals that provided safe yet illegal abortions to women who had the means and access to the procedure.

    I’ve talked to women whose sisters went to college, tried to self abort their pregnancy in a bathroom, and never came home.

    I’ve talked to women who lost babies much wanted babies at 8 weeks, 12 weeks, 24 weeks for various reasons.

    Thanks to Iowa’s law that limits abortion after 20 weeks – “except for the life and health of the mother” some women have had to wait until they were septic before having a life-saving D&C.

    Some Republicans in the Iowa Senate are determined to weaponize our Constitution to eliminate rights that we currently have. Today, my Democratic colleagues and I are standing up against that overreaching concept.

    Instead of focusing on Iowa’s maternal health crisis, Republicans choose instead to ignore those problems and go the most extreme route possible.

    On behalf of my constituents and the millions of Iowans who support safe, accessible and legal reproductive healthcare – I take great offense to this completely unnecessary bill.

    Thank you Mr. Chair.

  • Statement on constitutional amendment on women’s health

    Read and track Senate Joint Resolution 21

    State Sen. Claire Celsi’s prepared remarks for subcommittee meeting on SJR 21

    January 16, 2019

    Good morning, and welcome to all Iowans who came to express their opinions here today. This is the one and only time that a public expression of opposition or support of an amendment to our constitution will be allowed.

    It speaks volumes to me that the notice for this meeting was requested from my clerk barely in time to meet the 24-hour notice Senate handshake agreement. But the notice was not received through the normal channels by Senate staff, the lobby or the public due to a technical malfunction. When asked to move the meeting to a more amenable time so that more members of the public – those who would be affected most by this law – the suggestion was rejected by the majority.

    It’s a sad day for us when we have four large public meetings for sports betting here at the Capitol, and one poorly noticed public meeting in a small room for such a consequential one here today.

    The Iowa Constitution has been updated a number of times in our state’s history. In every circumstance – it was to update and modernize, right a wrong, or expand the rights of our citizens. This amendment would take rights away. And that is the wrong direction for Iowans. Public poll after public poll affirms that our constituents trust pregnant Iowans to make decisions about their own bodies with the advice of their physicians, their partner and their God.

    In contrast, if approved, this Constitutional amendment seeks to take away a right to bodily autonomy and privacy. The Supreme Court recently elevated its recent decision to include the phrase “strict scrutiny to applies to the right to an abortion.” That means that this right is so important that any attempt to diminish this right should be considered a very serious encroachment on individual rights.

    Some Republicans in the Senate are determined to continue this war on pregnant Iowans – to stand directly between an individual who is making a serious and consequential decision for themselves and their family. These senators want to metaphorically gown up and come right in to the surgical suite and tell that trained physician and the person giving birth and their family that THEY KNOW BETTER. They get to make those decisions.

    My Senate democratic colleagues and I are standing up to say – No way. Not on our watch.

    We have a serious maternal health crisis on our hands. More than 30 labor and delivery departments have closed around our state. There are serious shortages of obstetricians around the state. Options for prenatal care are shrinking. Instead of focusing on these solvable problems, Republicans are choosing instead to focus on a long odyssey of restricting rights through a constitutional amendment and a public vote.

    Iowans deserve public servants who listen to their needs and respond. Iowans from all over the state are asking me to maintain their rights.

    ###

  • 2020 Session Must Fix Iowa’s Medical Cannabis Program

    (Des Moines)  Improved health care for tens of thousands of Iowans depends on passing major reforms of Iowa’s medical cannabis program during the 2020 session according to two legislative leaders on this issue.

    At a statehouse news conference today, Senator Joe Bolkcom of Iowa City and Representative John Forbes of Urbandale listed reasons why the 2020 session will determine whether Iowa’s struggling medical cannabis program is able to improve.

    “Time is running out.  Recreational cannabis sales in Illinois will soon be undercutting Iowa’s legal, regulated medical cannabis businesses,” said Senator Bolkcom.  “As that program expands, it threatens the goal of making affordable, regulated medicines available to Iowans regardless of where they live.”

    For the last six years, legislators have debated various efforts to establish a working medical cannabis program. 

    “Iowa’s state government has so far failed to meet the needs of Iowans,” said Representative Forbes, an Urbandale pharmacist.  “Today, less than 4,000 Iowans have managed to become approved to legally purchase medicines made from cannabis.  That’s far less than the number that could be helped and not nearly enough to create a viable system.  The vast majority of all Americans live in states that have successfully created regulated, affordable, sustainable medical cannabis programs.  Why not Iowa?”

    In 2019, the Iowa House and Senate overwhelmingly approved major reforms to Iowa’s medical cannabis program.  The reforms would have expanded the number of conditions and made other changes that would have made Iowa’s program more similar to successful programs in other states.  After the session ended, Governor Reynolds unexpectedly vetoed that legislation.  Republicans, who control both chambers, unanimously refused to override Reynold’s veto.

    “Eliminating Iowa’s current 3% cap on the level of THC is very important for some patients with severe medical conditions,” said Representative Forbes.  “Adopting the standard of a 25 grams/90 days purchase cap would provide effective, affordable medication and put Iowa in line with what other states have done.””

    “When faced with serious, life threatening medical conditions, Iowans want better choices than opiods and other potentially dangerous drugs,” said Bolkcom.  “In just the first half of 2019, Iowa doctors wrote 850,000 prescriptions for narcotics.  Why are we preventing Iowans from having access to less dangerous alternatives?”

    ###

    Representative John Forbes and Senator Joe Bolkcom argue for reforms to Iowa’s “worst in the nation” medical cannabis program in a news conference at the Iowa Statehouse on Friday, November 15, 2019.

    Key reforms for Iowa’s “Worst in the Nation” Medical Cannabis Program

    • Eliminate the 3% THC cap and adopt a 25 grams/90 days purchase cap to provide effective, affordable medicine.
    • Add additional chronic conditions, including PTSD. (See the list from SF 506, the legislation overwhelmingly approved last year by the Iowa House and Senate.)
    • Allow twelve more dispensaries, particularly in small towns and rural Iowa.
    • Allow other practitioners, such as PAs, ARNPs and podiatrists, to certify medical conditions.
    • Revise the membership of the Advisory Board to include at least three medical cannabis patients.
    • Eliminate the Iowa Department of Transportation from the cannabis card process and allow IDPH to issue cards directly. Lower the cost to apply for a card to $25.
    • Eliminate the Iowa Board of Medicine from the process of getting approval for new conditions and cannabis products.
    • Add additional chronic conditions, including PTSD. (See the list from SF 506, the legislation overwhelmingly approved last year by the Iowa House and Senate.)

    Additional Conditions for Iowa’s Medical Cannabis Program

    Stop forcing sick Iowans to come to the Capitol and beg legislators for treatment options that could help them.

    Instead, Iowa should simply adopt the conditions covered by most other states.  That would mean adding the conditions listed below.

    • Glaucoma
    • Hepatitis C
    • Ehlers-Danlos syndrome
    • Post-traumatic stress disorder
    • Tourette’s syndrome
    • Muscular dystrophy
    • Huntington’s disease
    • Alzheimer’s disease
    • Complex regional pain syndrome, type I and II
    • Rheumatoid arthritis
    • Polyarteritis nodosa

  • Add PTSD to Medical Cannabis Program

    Unlike most American veterans, Iowa vets cannot legally use medicines made from cannabis (marijuana) to treat PTSD.  That restriction also applies to other Iowans suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.  Any Iowan with PTSD should not be denied access to effective treatments, especially those that are safe alternatives to risky opioids.

    11/2019 meeting med cannabis call to action

    It is important to note that the Veterans Administration policy on medical cannabis has changed:  “Veteran participation in state marijuana programs does not affect eligibility for VA care and services. VA providers can and do discuss marijuana use with Veterans as part of comprehensive care planning, and adjust treatment plans as necessary.” 

    The Iowa Medical Cannabidiol Advisory Board decides which conditions can be treated with medicines made from cannabis. The current list of qualifying conditions can be found here: Medical Cannabidiol Information for Patients and Caregivers.

    Key meeting on Friday, November 1, 2019:
    Link to Agenda

    On Friday, November 1, the Iowa Medical Cannabidiol Advisory Board will decide whether to add PTSD as a qualifying condition under the Iowa medical cannabis program. The meeting will take place at the Iowa Laboratory Facility, 2240 DMACC Blvd in Ankeny.

    8:30 AM – A subcommittee on medical cannabis takes public comments (3 minutes per person) and then decides on a recommendation to the full committee. 

    10:00 AM – Public comments will also be heard at the start of the full Board meeting at 10:00 a.m.

    Before the meeting, you can email your comments to the Board at medical.cannabidiol@idph.iowa.gov or call the office at 515-725-2076.

    Tell them why you think Iowa veterans and other Iowans should have legal access to safe, professionally prepared medicines made from cannabis, just like most other Americans .

    More about how the Veterans Administration views medical cannabis

    Facts from the VA’s policy on medical cannabis :

    1. “Veterans must not be denied VHA services solely because they are participating in State-approved marijuana programs.”
    2. VA doctors cannot sign medical marijuana certifications, and the VA doesn’t pay for marijuana or provide it. 
    3. Veterans/others can’t possess marijuana on federal property.
    4. VA employees can’t use medical marijuana 

     Additional links regarding VA policy:

    Iowa Senate Democratic Research Staff research papers and blog posts on Medical Cannabis

  • Statement on new Human Services chief

    Iowa Senate News Release
    For Immediate Release:  9/5/19

    Statement from Senate Democratic Leader Janet Petersen on appointment of Kelly Kennedy Garcia to Iowa DHS Director

    Iowans need a leader at the Department of Human Services who will stand up for people instead of for-profit companies.

    Apparently Governor Reynolds shared her ‘ambitious goals’ for serving Iowa’s most vulnerable populations with newly appointed director Kelly Kennedy Garcia.

    It is time for Governor Reynolds to also share those goals with Iowans.  The Reynolds Administration has been working behind closed doors on a ‘new direction’ for the department for nearly a year.  Yet Governor Reynolds has continued to keep Iowans in the dark about what to expect.

    Like most Iowans, Senate Democrats are hopeful the new Iowa DHS director will have the courage to help Governor Reynolds fundamentally change course. Her to-do list should start with:

    1)    Fixing Iowa’s privatized Medicaid system, a failure that is unsustainable, unaffordable and unaccountable.

    2)    Reversing the policies that destroyed Iowa’s once successful family planning network.  The result has been more unintended pregnancies, more risky births, and more teenage mothers.

    3)     Addressing Iowa’s maternal health crisis which has more than doubled maternal mortality in less than three years.  Reynolds Administration policies have contributed to making Iowa a more dangerous place to have a baby.

    4)    Establishing a comprehensive, adequate source of funding for child and adult mental health services.

    5)    Ending dangerous practices and procedures in use at Glenwood, Eldora and other state-operated facilities.

    6)    Rebuilding Iowa’s child protective safety net by mending the holes that have resulted in abuse and death.

    The Reynolds Administration does not have a good record on helping Iowa families. Senate Democrats hope the Garcia appointment signals real change rather than more failure.  Iowans deserve better.

    end

  • Iowa needs better medical cannabis program that meets patient needs

    Statement by Senator Joe Bolkcom
    Iowa Medical Cannabidiol Board Meeting
    August 2, 2019

    Members of Iowa Medical Cannabidiol Board, with all due respect.  It’s time to face facts.

    Between the misguided actions of the Governor, the Republican controlled legislature and this Board, you have created the nation’s worst medical cannabis program.

    Residents of 32 other states — the majority of all Americans — have much better access to affordable, effective medicines made from cannabis.

    In Iowa, the medicine is too expensive and not potent enough to help most people. Getting approved as a patient is cumbersome and bureaucratic. There are only five dispensaries, none located in rural Iowa.

    After five long years, only 3,300 sick Iowans have been able to cut through the red tape to legally obtain medical cannabis. More than 70 percent of these patients suffer from intractable, severe and chronic pain.

    Patients want the choice of medical cannabis when they are faced with serious, life threatening medical conditions.

    Sadly, a few short months ago this board derailed very modest improvements supported by 137 Iowa legislators that would have helped these patients suffering from intractable pain.

    Meanwhile, Iowa remains awash in powerful, highly addictive narcotic pain pills.  It’s astonishing that in the first six months of 2019, Iowa doctors wrote 850 thousand narcotic prescriptions for 307 thousand Iowans. More than half were prescribed addictive opioids like fentanyl.

    So follow this. There are more than 300 thousand sick Iowans taking narcotic pain pills while only 3,300 patients have been able to access safer, medicines made from cannabis.

    When are we going to start protecting Iowans from deadly, drug company opioids?

    The board’s misplaced obsession with THC has clouded your ability to actually help people. THC is medicine and Iowa patients are capable of managing it.

    This is NOT about having a party, it’s about helping people that are dying and sick.

    Earlier this year Illinois ended marijuana prohibition.

    On January 1, adults 21 years of age and older will be able to legally buy products made with marijuana.

    The good news is that Iowa medical cannabis patients will have much easier access (albeit illegally) to less expensive, far more effective medicines closer than Colorado.

    The bad news is that this could put Iowa medical cannabis companies out of business.

    These companies that have invested millions are all losing money now and they will lose much more as their patients take their business to Illinois.

    Like it or not, without thoughtful and immediate improvements to Iowa law, Illinois businesses will become major suppliers of medicine to Iowa patients.

    This mess is Governor Reynolds, the Republican legislature’s and yours to fix.

    It won’t happen until you start listening to patients and put their needs first.

    Thank you.