Iowa Senate Democrats

Fighting for a Better Deal for Iowans.

  • Limiting disruptions in the the classroom

    By State Sen. Zach Wahls, Coralville (Senate District 37)

    The Senate has approved SF 2360, which is a step toward fixing what has become an overwhelming concern for our schools.

    Classroom safety and disruptive classroom behavior received a lot of attention during the interim. There has been a lot of media attention on this topic, including the use of classroom measures like “seclusion rooms” and “classroom clears.” Fundamentally, issues of classroom safety are about resources and staffing levels—classrooms are much more difficult to manage as class sizes grow and we have fewer teachers per student.

    As I worked on this bill in the Education Committee, I asked all of the school districts in my Senate district to weigh in with their feedback. I am grateful they were able to provide input as the Senate considered this proposal.

    Responding to those concerns, the Iowa Senate adopted SF 2360, which will give teachers and schools more tools for addressing disruptive student behavior. This legislation is not perfect, but because of good Democratic work in the Education Committee, on which I serve, it has improved significantly from where it started.

    The legislation does the following:

    • Sets up a competitive grant program that will help schools create therapeutic classrooms to provide intensive help for students who need it. Therapeutic classrooms are designed to be short-term breaks for students to “reset” and develop new coping strategies before returning to their regular classroom. Schools may collaborate or partner with local nonprofits and mental health agencies to establish a regional therapeutic classroom.
    • Provides funding to train educators on how to manage classroom disruptions and address student behavior. 
    • Increases job and whistleblower protections for teachers who report violence and personal attacks to school administrators and the police.

    New information and data will be collected from schools so that we can see how often incidents of disruption and classroom clears occur. This will help us continue to make improvements that ensure safe and productive learning environments for all Iowa students.   

    I still have significant concerns about this legislation, especially how little funding was appropriate to deal with what is rightly recognized as a significant statewide challenge. I supported doubling the funding for the first year of implementation. Republicans in the Senate voted against this proposal even though the bill’s manager agreed that more funding was need. That doesn’t make sense.

    I supported this bill, but I’m disappointed in the decisions the majority party continues to make with the resources people give us to improve this state. We must make sure that this first step is only the beginning and not the end.

  • Mental Health System Under Threat

    Plan by Gov. Reynolds and Farm Bureau jeopardizes Iowa’s mental health system

    By State Sen. Joe Bolkcom, Iowa City (Senate District 43)

    I have been working for the last three weeks to draw attention to Governor Reynolds’ proposal to undermine stable, core funding of our local mental health system.

    I understand that every major business organization will support this deal, but I was shocked this week to learn that NAMI Iowa has endorsed Governor Reynolds’ destructive proposal. Why is NAMI Iowa joining Governor Reynolds and the Iowa Farm Bureau to hurt our mental health care providers and people that need their services? I don’t understand.

    State Sen. Joe Bolkcom is interviewed Feb. 12 on the Governor’s plan to shift the tax burden onto seniors and low-income Iowans, while undermining stable funding for Iowa’s adult mental health system.

    Here are some details about the Governor’s plan.

    While the main thrust of Governor Reynolds’ tax shift proposal is to give another massive tax cut to wealthy Iowans that will drain hundreds of millions from state priorities, she also proposes to do great damage to our mental health system.

    The Governor’s plan is a disaster. It cuts $80 million in stable, predictable local funding from our mental health system, and replaces it with unpredictable and insufficient state appropriations.

    The strength of our adult system is that it was created and is financially supported by local elected officials, families and mental health providers. It is the backbone of our mental health system. The reason it exists today is that it has NOT had to rely on annually begging the Legislature for resources over the past 50 years. It is successful because local elected officials are accountable for making it work.

    More state control of the system will result in less stable funding, less local accountability for results and more broken promises. Why would the Governor, who says she cares about mental health, propose to take away much of its most secure financial support?

    Because the Iowa Farm Bureau told her too. It has been a Farm Bureau priority for 30 years. Why should Farm Bureau members have to pay for mental health services? “What do social services like mental health have to do with farm fields,” they ask.

    I investigated who pays the dedicated county mental health property tax levy that funds our local providers. Implied in Farm Bureau’s complaint is that they are paying more than their fair share for local mental health services. For the record, agricultural property accounts for 18 percent of the total statewide contribution for our local mental health services. Apparently, they want to pay zero.

    So the Governor and the Farm Bureau want to destroy the most reliable source of funding for our mental health system because Farm Bureau does not want to pay their fair share for mental health services. I don’t understand why NAMI Iowa agrees?

    I wish I had more faith in Iowa state government to keep its word. I don’t aim to be mean, but just look at the GOP’s major health care initiatives over the past five years to see how Republican control of our health care has been amazingly ineffective.  

    Everyone but Governor Reynolds and legislative Republicans still agree that privatizing Medicaid has been a costly disaster. Governor Reynolds’ and Republican’s closure of two state mental health facilities (Clarinda and Mt. Pleasant) resulted in premature death for several vulnerable Iowans and significantly reduced much needed mental health beds.

    The GOP gutted Iowa’s successful family planning programs that have led to a documented maternal mortality crisis and dangerous outcomes for pregnant moms and their babies.

    The GOP’s medical cannabis program is the worst, most bureaucratic, unworkable program in the nation.

    And now the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating the Reynolds’ Administration for its operation of two state resource centers (Glenwood and Woodward) for our most vulnerable intellectually disabled and mental health patients, following an unusual number of recent deaths and serious violations of federal law.

    More state control over Iowa’s local mental health system will lead to serious decline. Please speak up NOW if you care about maintaining and improving Iowa’s mental health system.

  • 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: