January 17, 2025
Greetings from the Golden Dome! I hope you have had a great holiday season and are as excited as I am to get back into the swing of things. On Monday, January 13, the 91st General Assembly gaveled in for the official start to the 2025 session.
The first week is always full of speeches and the process of getting settled into our new roles and committee assignments. I am excited to serve on both the spending and tax committees which is Appropriations and Ways and Means. The benefit of being on both committees will be that I can have more input on every single issue that has a direct impact on our budget. I will also be serving on the State Government Committee which handles many types of issues that range from gaming, election law, and licensing bills just to name a few topics. Judiciary is a new committee for me, and I will still be serving on Education, Agriculture, and International Relations. My chair assignment this year will be the Education budget subcommittee. This committee handles over 10% of the entire state budget (it does not include K-12 funding). The large conversations that take place within this budget is the Regents and community colleges funding.
The highlight of the first week every year is when the Governor lays out her Condition of the State speech. This is the first real opportunity we are given to see what priorities are on her mind to help set the tone for the rest of session. The Governor began her speech by noting the top national rankings for the state of Iowa in several different categories. Iowa is the number one state in the nation for retirement, millennial home ownership, and is ranked number one for the third consecutive year for fiscal responsibility. Iowa ranks high in many other important metrics like being second in cost of living, third for opportunity, and fourth for health care and educational choice nationwide. To cap it all off, Iowa is now enjoying the benefits of a 3.8 percent flat income tax, opposed to the 8.98 percent tax we faced just six years ago.
While there are many great accomplishments the state of Iowa has made in recent years, many issues still facing the state are at the forefront of the governor’s focus for 2025. One of these critical issues is improvements to health care and cancer research. In her commitment to finding answers on Iowa’s high cancer rate, Governor Reynolds asked the Legislature for $1 million to fund a partnership between the University of Iowa and Iowa Health and Human Services to further promote research. In addressing the workforce, the governor proposed increased funding and loan re-payment programs to provide incentives for both in- and out-of-state health care workers to practice in rural Iowa. Additionally, she is proposing to utilize federal resources to expand residency slots at our 14 teaching hospitals with the goal of adding 460 new physicians over four years.
The governor also outlined her proposals to assist communities to expand preschool and child care for hard-working Iowans. Over the past two years, the legislature and governor enacted policies to increase child care workers’ pay, new child care slots, and funding opportunities for new facilities. This year the legislature will review her proposal to encourage partnership between preschools and community child care centers to help fill the need in local communities.
Additional policy discussions noted include a disaster assistance package for communities impacted by natural disasters in NW and SW Iowa, addressing unemployment insurance, providing more ways to find waste in state and local government, and addressing energy challenges while diversifying our energy sources.
Iowa continues to make significant strides into becoming one of the most prosperous states in the country. From the growth we have made in just the last few years, the future looks bright for all of us who are lucky enough to call ourselves Iowans. As Governor Reynolds put it, “Iowa is a state with endless opportunity, and timeless charm.” There is much left to do, but Iowa stands as a beacon of freedom and opportunity for the world to see and Iowans to enjoy.
