Iowa Senate Democrats

Fighting for a Better Deal for Iowans.

Our Agenda: A Better Deal for Iowans

Iowa Senate Democrats are working each day toward a Better Deal for Iowans.

By focusing on solutions to the issues facing our friends and neighbors in their day-to-day lives, we’re working to expand freedom, opportunity, and accountability for all who call our state home.

Here’s how Iowa Senate Democrats are working for YOU:

Housing Iowans Can Afford

Background

Iowans deserve housing they can afford. From our big cities and suburbs, to our small towns and rural communities, providing greater access to quality, affordable housing is critical. 

Attracting and maintaining Iowa’s growing workforce is an economic priority, and essential to that effort is providing robust access to housing Iowans can afford.

Legislative Package

Senate Democrats have unveiled a legislative package that includes efforts for neighborhood revitalization and rehabilitation, affordable housing development, first-time homeownership expansion, and combatting predatory practices to help expand housing options for Iowans around the state. 

Dilapidated and abandoned properties are both a deterrent against neighborhood growth and a waste of existing, livable space. Senate Democrats introduced SF 144 to create Land Redevelopment Trusts to address areas based on community need. 

  • We can empower local communities to reinvigorate and rehabilitate existing properties to create more livable space without requiring new builds.
  • Communities can focus their redevelopment efforts, targeting abandoned or dilapidated properties, to address local housing needs.

Existing homeowners and local entities can also benefit through SF 357, which creates forgivable loan programs for improvement needs.

  • Homeowners can make upgrades or undergo renovations to beautify and add additional value to their homes. 
  • Community revitalization can begin with existing properties, making neighborhoods more appealing and attracting further growth and development.  

For many Iowans, especially young people, buying a home feels out of reach, but it doesn’t need to be. SF 505 will make home ownership a reality for more Iowa families.

  • We can ease entry into home ownership by enhancing the first-time home buying down payment program, increasing down payment and closing costs assistance grants. 

Iowa’s housing supply should be developed, managed, and owned by Iowans. SF 414 seeks to help bring down housing costs by providing greater oversight over out-of-state private equity firms attempting to gobble up our housing supply. 

Cracking down on predatory practices that diminish housing supply and raise prices on Iowa families can make homeownership a reality for more Iowans.

Iowans are being priced out of previously-affordable properties.

Economic Security for Iowa Workers

Background

Years of rollbacks on workers’ rights, unemployment insurance, and collective bargaining have left Iowa’s workers in a precarious position. Senate Democrats are unveiling a legislative package designed to protect workers from unfair labor practices and reinforce the critical safety net of unemployment insurance. Re-prioritizing Iowa’s workers is crucial to the long-term health of Iowa’s economy and its continued growth. In order to attract and retain a growing workforce, a state must show that it values its workers.

Legislative Package

Protecting Iowa’s Workers Against Wage Theft

Wage theft is a pervasive and persistent problem that isn’t limited to one industry. Iowa workers are without the necessary protections to ensure their employers are not garnishing wages unlawfully. According to a report by Common Good Iowa, 250,000 Iowa workers are impacted and collectively lose $900 million a year due to wage theft violations.

Senate Democrats are introducing SF 147 to strengthen Iowa’s weak wage theft laws. The legislation introduced seeks to require employers to have written records of the terms of employment, protect whistleblowers from retaliation, end the defense of “unintentionally” not paying workers, mandate Iowa to employ wage enforcement investigators, and increase the penalties on employers who commit wage theft violations. 

  • Workers should be paid for their labor.
  • All Iowa workers deserve the chance to earn a paycheck that respects their work, supports their family, and ensures their economic security.
  • The businesses who are following the law also deserve a level playing field by not letting bad-acting employers get away with not paying their workers. 

An Unemployment System That Values Iowa Workers

After repeated cuts to the state’s unemployment system, Iowa’s workers have been left with a diminished safety net and a mess of bureaucratic hurdles designed to prevent Iowans from even applying for unemployment. 

Senate Democrats are introducing a series of bills to respect Iowa’s workers and rebuild the job loss safety net and make the unemployment process less complicated.

SF 157 restores unemployment benefits to 26 weeks (from 16), bringing Iowa back in line with the vast majority of the country.

SF 358 restores unemployment for plant closings to 39 weeks (from 26).

SF 372 waives unnecessary work search requirements for seasonal employees.

  • Unemployment is an earned benefit and Iowa workers deserve better than the years of benefit cuts. 
  • Every other week brings new headlines about plant closings or layoffs. Iowans who lose their jobs due to no fault of their own deserve a better system in place to ensure their financial stability while they search for new opportunities. 
  • Short-term layoffs are commonplace for seasonal and temporary workers across Iowa. Although they’ll be returning to their positions in the future, they must complete arduous work-search requirements to access their earned unemployment benefits. 
  • By eliminating some of the bureaucratic hurdles and making the unemployment process easier, we can get Iowans the benefits they’ve earned and help make the unemployment and job search process far less complicated and frustrating.
  • By removing hoops for seasonal workers we will save time for both the workers themselves and also the businesses fielding applications from workers who are applying simply to fulfill a UI requirement. 

Restoring Collective Bargaining Rights for Public Sector Employees

In 2017, Iowa Republican lawmakers gutted public sector employees’ rights for collective bargaining. Prior to the law change, the law had served Iowans, employees, and public employers across Iowa well for more than 40 years. It simply required Iowans and their public employer (school, city, county, the state) to sit down and work together to discuss issues and reach mutually agreeable solutions in the workplace.

Senate Democrats are introducing SF 263 to repeal those harmful 2017 changes. This legislation will restore employees’ voices in the workplace, allow them to sit down with their employer to discuss issues like health and safety matters, and this restoration of rights will address the recruitment and retention of Iowa’s public employee workers. 

  • Working Iowans have been stripped of the protections and dignity that used to come with an honest day’s work.
  • For the second year in a row, Republican lawmakers have introduced bills to directly undermine our brothers and sisters in public sector unions. Senate Democrats are standing in solidarity with Iowa’s workers and fighting to restore the protections that keep Iowa’s workforce strong and secure.

Addressing Iowa’s Childcare Crisis

Background

Iowa is in the midst of a serious, ongoing childcare crisis. Our demand for childcare slots significantly outpaces our supply. We have far too many working families who should qualify for state assistance but don’t. Rising monthly costs make childcare unaffordable for many working families. And there are corners of our state with no childcare options whatsoever. 

Taking meaningful action to address Iowa’s childcare crisis would positively impact thousands of working families and children in need of care while also helping to grow Iowa’s economy.

Legislative Package

Senate Democrats are committed to tackling Iowa’s childcare crisis with a robust package of legislation addressing rising costs and expanding accessibility around the state.

To start, Senate Democrats introduced SF 353, helping Iowans afford childcare by expanding eligibility for state assistance to thousands of working families who do not currently qualify. This legislation will help drive down costs for Iowa families, lowering the monthly financial burden while allowing parents to re-enter the workforce. 

  • Childcare is one of the largest expenses Iowa families face each month. Annual costs can rise as high as college tuition at one of our Regents universities. 
  • The cost of childcare is a significant barrier for parents trying to re-enter the workforce and for Iowa businesses trying to recruit and retain top talent. 

The legislative package also includes SF 122, expanding automatic qualification to childcare assistance to children under 18 who have children of their own, and SF 352, expanding automatic qualification to childcare assistance to siblings, ensuring parents can continue to access assistance while their family grows.

  • Ensuring young families can easily access state childcare assistance is critical.
  • Removing any additional hurdles and burdens will ease the pressure on growing Iowa families.

Finally, Senate Democrats introduced SF 434, doubling investment in the state’s Child Care Solutions Fund pilot program, allowing childcare centers to raise childcare worker wages, maintain staffing levels, and build capacity without having to raise rates for working families.

  • The Child Care Solutions Fund was a successful program, creating childcare slots and raising worker wages, but it is limited both financially and in scale. 
  • The original pilot program relied solely on federal dollars and private contributions. This is not a sustainable model for long-term viability – those federal dollars are now gone and relying on private dollars for statewide growth is not a long-term solution.
  • We need to expand state childcare assistance to cover the existing gaps and ensure working families have greater access to affordable options.

Providing Security Through Paid Family Leave

Background

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, 73% of private sector workers in the United States currently do NOT have access to paid family leave through their employers. Here in Iowa, that number rises to 79%, or roughly 1,371,000 Iowans. Even unpaid leave under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act is inaccessible to 64% of Iowa workers. 

The United States is the only industrialized nation without paid family leave, and too many Iowans are forced to make impossible choices between caring for their loved ones in need or providing for their families by continuing to work.

Legislative Package

As a part of an ongoing commitment to create a better deal for Iowans, Senate Democrats introduced legislation to provide real paid family leave for all working Iowans, truly putting Iowa’s families first.

The Iowa Family and Medical Leave Act, SF 109, is an extension of the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), and establishes a family and medical leave insurance program to provide paid, job-protected leave for specified family and medical reasons to private and public sector employees.

The entire Senate Democratic caucus has signed on as co-sponsors of the legislation. 

  • Unexpected emergencies can happen to anyone. This bill puts Iowa families first by allowing workers to care for their loved ones without the extra worry of lost pay during their time away from work, easing their financial burdens.
  • SF 109 would allow for 12 weeks of family leave, 12 weeks of medical leave, or 16 weeks of combined family and medical leave in a defined 12-month period.
  • The bill treats maternity and paternity leave the same, and extends the same leave availability to adoptive and foster parents.