From the Desk of Senator Boulton
As we close the door on the 2023 legislative session, now is the time to start thinking about what should be the priorities of the 2024 session.
After a lot of hyper-political, and fiercely partisan social issues took center stage, Iowa can choose a better course next year. Simply put, the focus on creating winners and losers with a divisive agenda only serves to hold our state back. Consistently opting to score political points results in hollow partisan victories when we could be achieving victories for our state’s future.
We can do that by making Iowa communities stronger and safer, building up our economy by valuing and protecting our working families, enhancing our natural resources, and restoring Iowa to its status as an education leader.
In short: Iowans deserve a better deal in 2024.
While there were a few key points of compromise and achievement on helping protect Iowans from extreme property tax increases (while still ensuring growing communities have the resources they need) and other balanced legislative action, those bright spots need to be the standard rather than outliers. I’m committed to continuing to work with members of my party and across the aisle to help make that happen.
Final Constituent Coffee of the 2023 Session
Join me for coffee and conversation about the recently-concluded legislative session at 10:30 a.m. this Saturday, May 13, at The Hills in Pleasant Hill.
The 2023 Legislative Session is Over
At 12:04 p.m. on Thursday, May 4, the 2023 legislative session adjourned sine die, ending our work for the year.
This session, unfortunately, will go down in history as one of the most divisive and cruel ever seen in Iowa. Over the last four months, Republican politicians poured gasoline on the flames of the culture war by undermining and politicizing our public schools, banning books, and attacking the freedoms of parents and the LGBTQ community.
Politicians in Des Moines spent this session protecting political insiders while leaving the public in the dark and eroding transparency and accountability in state government.
On education, Iowa Republicans rammed through an expensive, unpopular private-school voucher scheme that will divert $1 billion away from our public schools over the next four years. This private school giveaway will hit rural Iowa the hardest – while doing very little to make private schools more accessible to lower- and middle-income families. Already, many private schools are raising tuition in response to the coming influx of taxpayer dollars.
Beyond vouchers, Republican politicians passed new laws slashing educational standards, banning books from school libraries, and even micromanaging where students go to the bathroom.
They did almost nothing, meanwhile, to address Iowa’s biggest challenge: our workforce crisis.
Statehouse Republicans’ one major action on workforce actually takes us in the wrong direction: they weakened child-labor protections by allowing teenagers to serve alcohol and work in dangerous jobs. This will make those occupations less safe, drive down wages, and jeopardize the future livelihood of Iowa’s young people.
This session was a disappointment that sets our state back rather than moving it forward. But in our frustration, we must not forget: it doesn’t have to be this way.
Senate Democrats are committed to representing all Iowans. We’re committed to listening to you, and reflecting your interests and values here in Des Moines. We’re committed to solving the big challenges facing our state.
We’ll never give up on you, and we’ll never quit fighting for an Iowa that you can be proud to call home.
A New Deal on Property Taxes
This week, Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate came together to pass a $100 million property tax package that will provide real relief for middle-class Iowa families.
Spiking assessments and rising property taxes are hitting every Iowa community, and placing heavy burdens on middle-class Iowans – especially our seniors, veterans, and those living on fixed incomes.
The property tax package passed this week is an important, needed step forward that will provide real relief for the taxpayers who need it most. Big corporations and the wealthiest Iowans have gotten their tax cuts – it’s about time the middle-class caught a break, too.
Under this agreement, cities and counties will be able to provide the essential services that Iowans rely on, while also providing transparency to help taxpayers understand what they’re paying and what they’re getting in their local government budgets.
This has been a difficult and divisive legislative session, but I’m glad Democrats and Republicans are able to come together to address one of the real challenges facing our fellow Iowans.
Quick Updates
- Thank a teacher: May 8-12 is Teacher Appreciation Week! We love our teachers and respect the hard work they do to strengthen our kids and our communities. Please take a moment to thank the teachers in your life this week – I’ll be doing the same!
- Mental Health Awareness Month: May is Mental Health Awareness Month and the Iowa Healthiest State Initiative has tools and resources you need to Make It OK in your workplace, school, community and beyond. Download the free Mental Health Awareness Month toolkit and spread the word about the fight against stigma in Iowa. Together we can #MakeItOK to not be OK.
- Water Quality Cuts. Since 2013, the Iowa Flood Center at the University of Iowa has been working with the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Center on supervising water quality monitoring across the state, including the network of approximately 70 sensors on Iowa’s streams and rivers that measure nitrate levels and send real-time data to the Iowa Water Quality Information System. But now, the budget written and supported by statehouse Republicans diverts one-third of the state’s funding for water quality projects. That adds up to a $500,000 cut to the Nutrient Reduction Center funding, and is almost guaranteed to hinder the Iowa Flood Center and water quality measurement statewide. No Democratic senators supported this step backwards on safe drinking water.
- $30M less for AEAs. Legislative Republicans are fond of claiming they don’t cut education, they just don’t fund it as much as public schools need. But this week, they explicitly cut $30 million from the state’s Area Education Agencies (AEAs), which provide special education and other essential services for students and schools across our state. AEAs have sustained cuts in funding every year, but this year’s $30 million cut could mean losing 8-12 staff members at each AEA – at a time when demand for AEA services will increase with the private-school voucher program enacted by Republicans earlier this year.
- Ending non-competes. Last week, Senate Democrats supported HF 93, which eliminates non-compete agreements for mental health professionals. The move will allow mental health professionals to provide services to Iowans immediately after leaving any hospital, removing contract restrictions on future employment. While Senate Republicans need to do more to support our state’s lackluster mental health infrastructure, this legislation is a move in the right direction.
- Supporting local producers. The legislature created a new Dairy Innovation Fund, which will provide $750,000 in grants and loans to support Iowa dairy farms. Iowa ranks 12th nationally in dairy production, but our industry has seen waves of consolidation and increasing challenges for family farms and small producers. This new fund is aimed at supporting smaller producers and keeping them stay competitive.
- Improving the probate system. The Senate moved a bill last week making a wide range of fixes to the probate code. It will give more flexibility and protections for the inheritance of minors who have lost their parents, and it will simplify the transition for people who can’t afford long-term care but have too much income for Medicaid. Moving loved ones into long-term care can be a stressful and complicated time, and I’m glad we’ve taken steps to simplify it.
- NAEP: The National Assessment of Educational Progress, commonly called the Nation’s Report card, showed a decline in history and civics scores this month. No one disputes the educational disruptions from the pandemic have had a huge impact on students learning in all areas. But when it comes to subjects such as history and civics, we need to increase support for schools to provide students with more learning opportunities about America’s history and government. What we shouldn’t be doing is pumping public money into private school vouchers and banning books, or censoring and scaring teachers from teaching important history and civic lessons.
- Inaction on opioids. Republicans in the legislature refused to invest the opioid settlement funds awarded to the State of Iowa this session. Their inaction requires over $20 million (and quickly growing) to languish for another year. Those funds should be helping people right now, and instead, Republicans have chosen to let people suffer until next session.
- Inadequate support for Iowans. Senate Democrats voted against the Republican’s Health and Human Services budget which did not include necessary investments for maternal health, seniors living in nursing homes, and childcare. Democrats offered amendments on each issue, but Republicans voted them down. Senate Republicans are more concerned with taking care of the wealthiest few rather than working- and middle-class Iowans.
This Week in the Capitol
