Legislative wrap-up and Iowa's Congressional races
April 29 "Capitol Week" is online
After the usual frenzied end to the Iowa legislature’s session, last week was relatively slow for political news. That hasn’t happened for a long time!
As I mentioned last week, Dennis Hart has retired from “Capitol Week” after more than three years and 170 programs. He’ll stay involved with KHOI, reading the statewide news for “Local Talk” on Monday mornings and occasionally co-hosting that program. But he will be missed on Monday evenings at 7 pm!
KHOI’s station manager and longtime “Capitol Week” producer Mike Murphy filled in for Dennis on this week’s show. The station is still working on a long-term plan for the program. We may have a rotating cast of co-hosts instead of the same person every week. Your feedback and suggestions are welcome.
A quick reminder: “KHOI’s Capitol Week” is available on all podcasting platforms, so please subscribe if you prefer to listen on the go. I will continue to share every episode here as well, for those who like to have the written list of topics covered. The full “Capitol Week” archive going back to February 2021 is available on KHOI’s website.
On to the April 29 broadcast:
Mike and I had time to revisit a bunch of legislative news that Dennis and I didn’t have time to discuss on last week’s show.
We began by discussing some policy language that ended up in the budget bills Republicans approved during the final days of the session. Most policy bills go through the committee process, but it’s common for Iowa lawmakers to revive some previously “dead” ideas in appropriations bills;
The education budget (Senate File 2435) includes language codifying what the Iowa Board of Regents is already doing with diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. Only DEI initiatives that are required by law or for universities’ accreditation will be considered. The Iowa House had approved that policy as part of a broader higher education bill, which the Senate did not take up in March;
The education budget also includes language requiring K-12 school districts to adopt certain policies related to absenteeism. This grew out of another House bill that didn’t make it through the second funnel in the Senate. Schools would need to notify the county attorney’s office as well as parents or guardians. Democrats expressed concern that parents may pull their kids out of school completely if they are afraid of getting in legal trouble with the county attorney;
The judicial branch budget (Senate File 2436) includes several provisions House Republicans were seeking: a 5 percent raise for judges (the House had sought a 6 percent raise, while Governor Kim Reynolds and Senate Republicans initially offered 2 percent);
The budget includes some changes to the judicial pension system, a topic Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Susan Christensen had raised during her annual address to state lawmakers. The final language is not exactly what the judicial branch was seeking, but it should help resolve an issue that was lowering judges’ take-home pay;
House Republicans had sought an increase in juror pay, but that didn’t make it into the final budget bill;
One important point: House Republicans held the line against the Senate’s effort to change the judicial selection process. State Senator Julian Garrett has been trying for years to remove judges from the district judicial nominating commissions and give the governor one extra appointee to those bodies;
The justice systems budget (House File 2693) included funding to raise pay for corrections workers to a minimum of $24/hour. Contract attorneys who handle indigent defense will also have a small increase for their fee. Republicans rejected Democratic efforts to increase victim assistance funding, which may experience a big shortfall if the federal government cuts funds states receive from the federal Victims of Crime Act;
The “standings” budget bill (Senate File 2443) includes another big cut (around $32.5 million) to Area Education Agencies. It’s not clear how AEAs will be able to replace staff who are leaving in large numbers due to recent legislative changes;
The same bill does include $14 million earmarked to raise pay for para-educators who work with special education students. That was part of the final AEA compromise and was very important to House Republicans. But that funding stream is not guaranteed to continue beyond the coming fiscal year;
A late addition to the standings bill will give the Iowa Department of Public Safety $2 million to create a task force on “the rise in illegal immigration and related criminal conduct.” That wasn’t well-defined, so I don’t know exactly how that agency will spend the money;
We heard some chatter about changes to the required law enforcement presence in Iowa casinos, but that did not make it into the standings bill;
The Senate amended an education bill (House File 2545) a few days before adjournment to add language on new social studies curriculum requirements. This bill is not as detailed as one House Republicans approved earlier in the year, but it does mandate a focus on “western civilization” and certain topics in U.S. history;
We ticked through a bunch of bills that one chamber approved and the other chamber didn’t take up, in addition to the ones Dennis and I discussed last week. I expect at least some of these proposals to come back during next year’s legislative session;
As a general philosophy, Iowa Senate Republicans aren’t interested in passing as many bills as are their counterparts in the House. But the Senate did approve a few bills that never got to the House floor. One would have undermined the state auditor’s ability to routinely audit state agencies;
Another bill (which was originally proposed by the Iowa Attorney General’s office) would have limited “defense subpoenas,” which criminal defendants can use to obtain information to assist their defense. My impression is that the scandal surrounding warrantless surveillance of athletes charged with gambling violations is one reason that bill got tripped up in the House;
Senate Republicans also passed another bill this year that would limit the state’s ability to acquire new public land. Big Ag interests tend to be behind those proposals, so I anticipate that concept will return in some form in 2025;
A lot of House bills didn’t make it through the Senate this year. We talked about some of them last week, but we didn’t get to these. An election bill included many terrible ideas to make it harder to vote by mail, as well as a total ban on drop boxes;
The House added “personhood” language to a fetal homicide bill. Although Senate Republicans had approved a nearly identical bill in 2019, the upper chamber buried the bill this year out of fears it would cause problems for fertility treatments such as IVF;
House Republicans voted to create specialty license plates featuring the Gadsden flag (“Don’t Tread On Me”), with some proceeds going to the NRA’s Iowa affiliate;
A couple of tax bills that had broad bipartisan support didn’t make it through the upper chamber. I would welcome insight on whether senators had substantive concerns about creating a film tax credit or increasing the adoption tax credit. My impression is that those bills became casualties of unrelated disputes between the chambers;
House Republicans also sought to cap tuition at state universities;
On the very last night of the legislative session, House Republicans voted for a new five-year moratorium on casino licenses. The Senate adjourned without considering it. I have no idea why the House waited so long to put that on the calendar;
I was intrigued that neither the House nor the Senate approved a bill on electric transmission lines. This is a complicated issue but Republicans were enraged last year when the Iowa Supreme Court enjoined the policy, saying it was passed through unconstitutional means in 2020. I thought the chambers might approve the legislation as a stand-alone bill this year, and the House and Senate Commerce committees both advanced the bill in time for the first “funnel,” but the bill got no further;
A quick bit of Congressional news: the entire Iowa delegation approved a $95 billion foreign aid package for Ukraine, Israel, and the Far East;
U.S. Representative Ashley Hinson finally spoke publicly last week about her recent visit to Ukraine, which she and Senator Joni Ernst for some reason weren’t eager to talk about a few weeks ago;
A coalition of environmental organizations petitioned the EPA this month, urging the federal government to step in and protect Iowa drinking water in the northeast part of the state;
The EPA did agree to allow sales of higher ethanol blends (E-15) this summer. The Biden administration has done this for the third year in a row; many Iowa politicians would prefer the federal government to permanently allow E-15 sales year-round;
Wrapping up with a little news about the Iowa Congressional races: GOP incumbent Randy Feenstra (IA-04) is taking nothing for granted as he faces a primary challenger. Kevin Virgil. He spent more than $770,000 during the first quarter of this year, including more than $200,000 on media buys and some $215,000 on direct mail;
The National Republican Congressional Committee signaled this past weekend that defending Representative Zach Nunn in IA-03 will be a high priority for them. On Saturday they launched a “battle station” (campaign headquarters) in West Des Moines;
Nunn has struggled a bit in the fundraising department and was out-raised last quarter by Democratic challenger Lanon Baccam;
GOP incumbent Ashley Hinson continues to have a big financial advantage over Democratic challenger Sarah Corkery in IA-02;
House Speaker Mike Johnson headlined an event for Mariannette Miller-Meeks in Iowa City this weekend. Democratic challenger Christina Bohannan has out-raised Miller-Meeks three quarters in a row and is close to matching the incumbent’s cash on hand total.
Thank you for reading or listening! This newsletter is very close to 2,000 total subscribers. I’m grateful every day for people who are willing to follow me into the Iowa politics weeds.
Avery Gregurich, author of The Five and Dime, is the newest member of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative. Full list of authors: