The week in a recap:
It was a snowy and busy week in Des Moines! We got around 7 inches of snow within 24 hours Tuesday - Wednesday. I got home at noon today in Kingsley and had plenty of shoveling to do back home as well!
Monday: I drove to Des Moines in the morning! I had a Budget committee meeting with Admin and Regulation after gaveling in.
I attended a SNAP meeting Monday night relating to food stamp programs in Iowa.
Monday night I also attended the Council of State Governments Legislative Reception
Tuesday: The Agriculture committee meeting was cancelled this week.
I was a part of two sub committee votes Tuesday relating to Economic Growth and Technology. I voted in favor of both: HF 112 & HSB127
I met with students with FFCLA. The students were from Hinton and Onawa.
I also met with Dr. Martin from Sioux City regarding workers compensation legislation. I have made a career in the work comp space, so it was great to talk to an MD and get his thoughts on legislation!
Tuesday night I attended the Iowa Bankers Association Legislative Reception.
Wednesday: I chipped a tooth due to chewing on a lifesaver Tuesday morning, due to the large amount of snow we got in Des Moines I decided to go to the dentist (How is that for being transparent)! My Economic Growth and Tech was cancelled due to weather.
The republican house members caucused most of the afternoon and discussed multiple issues before debate on Thursday.
Wednesday night I attended the Iowa Wholesale Beer Distributors Association legislative reception.
Thursday:
Thursday morning I had a Labor and workforce committee meeting and voted in favor of a bill that allows companies to decide what a safety sensitive position is and loosens drug testing requirements (HSB 26). Due to my background in Safety and Insurance I spoke in great detail to how I felt it would impact companies and more importantly, employees.
Thursday afternoon we had a caucus meeting and then a vote / debate on two different bills. The first was a resolution stating that the Iowa House of Representatives stands with Israel. I proudly voted aye. The second bill had a broader debate. HF 319 / The state supplemental aid bill (see details below). I voted aye reluctantly. While I personally advocated for more school funding; I also understand that the house republicans need to negotiate with the senate. This is a reasonable package and I hope the senate agrees! I reached out to multiple superintendents within the district to discuss my vote well before taking it.
Where will I be this weekend:
I will be at Fifty Nine Grind in Marcus Iowa on Saturday 2/15 from 9:30AM - 11AM to give a legislative update. Address: 100 W Pine St, Marcus, IA 51035
Looking Ahead:
This coming week I look forward to meeting with more constituents from district 13. I am meeting with college students who Call Remsen and Kingsley Home! Next week I have all 5 of my committee meetings. Things can tend to be “on the fly” in the statehouse. I haven’t been assigned any subcommittee votes yet, but I likely be assigned a few early next week!
If you are in the Des Moines area during legislative session please contact me via my legislative email! I would enjoy meeting with you!
Week 5 Legislative Update:
House Study Bill 138: House Republicans’ SSA proposal
This week, the Senate passed a bill to increase SSA Funding for the next fiscal year by 2%. This is in alignment with what the Governor proposed in her budget.
Iowa House Republicans are interested in getting more funding to public schools and have a proposal of our own. We passed our bill through the Iowa House on Thursday. Here’s what it entails:
Altogether, these increases equate to a 3.93% increase instate funding to public schools.
The new state cost per pupil under this proposal would be$8,039 per pupil. That includes $27 per student for the .6% increase.
In FY 2025, we allocated $3.7876 billion to public education. This proposal would allocate $3.9368 billion.
These increases represent the many specific funding issues we hear from our school districts. While each line item may not affect each individual school district equally, one line item may have a big impact on addressing the issue a specific district is facing.
House Republicans are working to respond to the specific concerns we’re hearing from our schools in a responsible manner.
We recognize that our 30-day deadline to settle an SSA number has passed. We are hopeful that this delay will be worth it as we work to secure additional dollars for our public schools. We will continue to work to reach resolution on this issue in a timely manner so that our school districts have adequate time to set their budgets.
How does this compare to ESA Funding?
Democrats have circulated the misleading claim that we are increasing ESA funding by 44% while increasing public school funding by 2.25%. They say this to make it sound as if we are spending more on private schools than on public schools. But that is far from the truth.
The cost of ESAs increases each year at the same rate as the number we set for SSA. This year is the final year of expansion in the ESA program that allows all families to qualify. Which is why the increase looks greater this year.
The increase to the ESA program under the House proposal would be $97.4 million. To be clear, this is on top of the $149.2million increase outlined above that is just for public schools.
Even with this expansion, the cost of the ESA program does not even come remotely close to the amount we spend each year on public schools. Check out this graph for a side by side comparison.
In the FY 2025 budget, state aid to public schools accounts for 43.62% of the entire state budget. That’s the biggest piece of the pie by far. ESAs, meanwhile, account for 2.01% of the total state budget.
ESAs are not breaking the state budget and they are not preventing us from properly investing in our public school system as well.
Bills to Address Iowa’s Doctor Shortage Move Forward
Like every state in the nation, Iowa is dealing with a shortage of doctors and healthcare staff, rising costs of care, and the need to ensure access to quality services in rural and underserved areas of our state.
This week, the Health and Human Services Committee moved forward three bills to help address the doctor shortage in the long term.
Two of these bills aim to ensure the medical schools in Iowa prioritize students with an Iowa connection. This will increase the chances of having those students stay in Iowa to practice after they complete their training.
House File 12 requires the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics to offer interviews for medical residencies to applicants with an Iowa connection. This can mean they grew up in Iowa or went to undergraduate school in Iowa. This bill passed the HHS committee.
House File 137 would require that at least 80% of students accepted in University of Iowa’s College of Medicine, Nursing and Dentistry are Iowa residents or were enrolled in a university or community college in Iowa. This bill passed subcommittee this week.
Similarly, the HHS committee passed HF301 last week that codifies language to require medical residencies at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinic to give priority to applicants that have an Iowa connection. It also requires primary care residencies like family medicine, OB, psych and internal medicine at UIHC to provide the opportunity to participate in a rural rotation.
House File 146 would require the University of Iowa College of Medicine and Des Moines University’s College of Osteopathic Medicine to conduct a study on turning their four-year medical schools into three-year programs. This bill passed the HSS committee.
Other states have had success implementing three-year medical school programs to get more physicians providing care as soon as possible.
Governor Reynolds has proposed a bill to train more doctors here in Iowa and expand rural access to care. The committee will consider these ideas as well as we work to get all Iowans the quality, affordable care they need.
Verse of the Week:
Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight.
This week I met students from Hinton and Onawa that are part of the FCCLA (Family Career and Community Leaders if America). Hinton Student, Addison Kovarna is the State Chapter President!
My sister, her husband, and their 4 children visited me Thursday night! We had the capitol all to ourselves and the kids had a blast. They may have even taken a vote or two!
Quote of the Week:
“Before I refuse to take your questions, I have an opening statement.”
Ronald Reagan
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