– Week Sixteen –
Sixteenth Week of the 91st General Assembly
Passing our End Date and Heading into Overtime
The sixteenth week of the legislative session has come to a close. Although May 2 is the last scheduled day of the 2025 legislative session, the Iowa Legislature still has much important work to finish. Therefore, we will be back again next week to work on budget compromises and wrap up other issues to finish out the year. As with every session, there will be some bills that will not come to completion this year, and those bills might possibly be brought back up again during next year’s session. Although our clerks will no longer be there to assist us with secretarial tasks , I anticipate that we will most likely be in Des Moines for at least a couple more weeks.
The Senate debated Monday and Tuesday this week. Bills that had already been passed by the House were sent to the governor’s desk for her signature and those that had only been passed by the Senate were sent over to the House for their consideration. The Appropriations Committee also met this week to discuss some important sections of the overall budget. Once passed out of committee, these budget pieces will then be brought before the entire Senate before being sent on for House approval.
No Eminent Domain for Private Gain
One group of senators are totally committed to ensuring that the property rights of Iowans continue to be protected from eminent domain. For this reason, I along with eleven other Senate members have signed a pledge to vote against remaining budget bills until a vote is held on HF 639. This is the bill that addresses eminent domain associated with the carbon sequestration pipeline in Iowa. Our objective is to pass both HF 639 and HF 943. These bills complement each other and both contain language specifically preventing eminent domain for carbon dioxide pipelines. Both bills have already passed out of the House with votes of 85-10 and 82-12 respectively. It is our hope that the Senate can also come to agreement on this soon. Click below to see an article containing details about this pledge and the twelve Senators who are fighting for your rights.
Iowa Senate Property Rights Protectors!
PBM Reform to Protect Iowa Patients and Help Rural Pharmacies Across the State
For the past few years we’ve been hearing from our local, smaller pharmacies about the unregulated stronghold they were under due to Pharmacy Benefit Managers and asking for reform to this system that has caused many to close their doors. In the past years the legislature has passed legislation to start bringing more transparency to this complicated system and to help protect patients. This week the Senate passed Senate File 383, implementing additional protections for Iowa patients, cost-saving measures, and practices to help rural pharmacies.
Senate File 383 enacts a series of regulations on PBMs, including prohibiting them from restricting patients from using the pharmacy of their choice and from designating a prescription drug as a specialty drug to prevent or limit access to the drug by a patient. Under this legislation, PBMs also cannot require a patient to solely use a mail order pharmacy. This bill also ensures 100 percent of all rebates received by a PBM are passed on to the health carrier or the plan sponsor for the purpose of reducing premiums. Another major provision reforms current PBM reimbursement practices, which cause a pharmacy to operate at a loss when dispensing a prescription, by setting a dispensing fee be paid to certain retail pharmacies in Iowa. Lastly, this provides a platform for pharmacists and pharmacies to directly appeal any matter to the PBM to eliminate red tape in the system.
A majority of states across the country have implemented PBM reforms to help control costs for patients, ensure network access, and to help their local communities, especially in rural areas. The measures passed this week move Iowa in line with those states. SF 383 implements sound regulation on pharmacy benefit managers, while providing opportunities to support network adequacy, consumer choice, and provide further transparency on reimbursements and costs. This bill passed the Iowa Senate with a vote of 36-14 and has been sent on to the Iowa House for consideration.
Establishing a Specialty Court with a Focus on Business
We also passed Senate File 639 this week. I mentioned this bill in a previous newsletter, and its goal is to establish a business court in Iowa. This special court will be based on a pilot program that was initially begun in 2012, and has reported great success in a variety of districts across the state including our own District 7. We can attribute a large amount of the growth and success of Iowa to our local businesses that were started by Iowans to serve the needs of their communities, to people across the state, and even across the world. Therefore, we must continue to seek ways to encourage more and more businesses across the country to relocate from unsafe, high tax, overly regulated states like Illinois to the pro-growth, pro-jobs state of Iowa. As an employer-friendly state, it is important that we ensure a fair system to make Iowa more hospitable for potential investment or future business development. SF 639 intends to do just that. This bill establishes a business court for the purpose of resolving complex commercial and business litigation. Having a business court that is staffed by judges who have particular experience in business litigation and that is dedicated to those complicated issues, along with the pro-growth environment Republicans have created in Iowa, will help make our state even more attractive to business owners who are looking to find a competitive home to grow their business in.
Having a Plan for Administering Seizure Rescue Medication at School
A bill to help students who may face seizures in school and ensure they have the support they need when it is the most crucial passed the Iowa Senate this week and is headed to the governor’s desk for signing. House File 835 will require a least one employee at each school be trained to administer or assist self-administration of seizure rescue medication during a time of need. This preparation reduces the risk of injury or harm to the student, ensures timely administration of emergency protocols, and creates an environment that is supportive of students with epilepsy or other seizure disorders. This bill also helps to alleviate the stress of parents, students, and staff who otherwise would not actively be able to administer potentially life-saving medication. This is a proactive measure we can set into place to ensure continued safety and security for Iowa’s students.
The Importance of Conservative Budgeting
Senate Republicans announced this week a budget deal with Governor Reynolds, moving us one step closer to a budget agreement to close out the legislative session. The agreement is an overall budget of $9.417 billion, an increase of nearly $470 million or 5.25 percent from Fiscal Year 2025. This includes the $240 million increase in education funding, meeting the state’s Medicaid need, supporting our correctional officers, institutions, and troopers, and sustaining our commitments across state government.
A budget of $9.417 billion continues our conservative budgeting practices, remains sustainable for future years, and puts Iowa taxpayers first. This budget implements the policy that one-time spending means one-time spending. Senate Republicans understand that federal, one-time pandemic dollars cannot be sustained indefinitely by Iowa taxpayers. As hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars are returned to hard working Iowans this year due to fully implementing the 3.8 percent flat tax, our budget is built to keep Iowa on pace for new growth.
The first year Senate Republicans were in the majority, our first task was to pass a de-appropriations bill because the Democratic legislature had pushed spending too far. Since then, with careful, targeted spending, we have been able to pass multiple bills to put money back into the pockets of Iowans. We started bringing down the number of tax brackets Iowa had and lowered Iowa’s complicated 8.98 percent income tax rate to a simple, flat 3.8 percent income tax. We eliminated the inheritance tax, the tax on retirement income, and provided tax relief for small businesses. We reduced the corporate tax rate to keep Iowa competitive, and limited tax credits for special interests. All of these achievements have been possible with a consistent and unwavering commitment to responsible budgeting.
Best regards,
Mark