| 2024 Legislative Session Top Accomplishments
While we saw many victories this year, below is a list of what I would consider our top accomplishments this legislative session:
- Raised beginning teacher pay to the 5th highest in the nation, set the minimum standard salary for 12-year teachers to $62,000, and allocated an additional $14 million to raise pay for paraprofessionals.
- Delivered significant income tax relief for all taxpaying Iowans by speeding up the implementation of the flat tax and lowering the rate to 3.8% in 2025.
- Made our students and staff safer in school with investment in school safety infrastructure and by lowering emergency response times with the creation of a new permit program allowing staff to carry firearms if they meet the high standards of training laid out in code.
- Gave Iowa law enforcement additional tools and $2 million of new money to protect Iowans from illegal immigration and related crimes such as drug crimes and human trafficking.
- Prioritized history and civics in K-12 education, while directing the Department of Education to do a thorough review of all curriculum standards to ensure they are setting teachers and students up for success.
- Prohibited Iowa’s regent universities from spending one dime on so-called “diversity, equity and inclusion” offices that divide students, silence conservative voices, and impose ideological conformity on campus.
- Continued to fund financial assistance programs for health care professionals who stay in Iowa and serve the communities in need of greater access to care.
- Incentivized businesses of all sizes to choose Iowa as their home and targeted investment in rural Iowa with the creation of a new certified sites program to spur economic development in counties with less than 50,000 people.
- Supported law enforcement with additional investment in the Department of Public Safety and Iowa Law Enforcement Academy, and with policies such as covering costs for peace officers moving to Iowa and ensuring a person cannot receive bail for the murder of a police or corrections officer.
- Protected Freedom of Religion by prohibiting government entities from substantially burdening a person’s exercise of religion.
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