Reynolds takes home wins, setbacks in legislative session

With the Iowa Legislature finished with this year’s session, Iowa Republican leaders applaud legislative success

Emily Wangen, Politics Reporter| April 30, 2019

Iowa Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds is shown speeaking at Community Choice Credit Union Convention Center-Ballroom on Friday, January 16, 2015.

With the legislative session completed, Gov. Kim Reynolds called the session — her first since being elected as governor in her own right — a win for Iowans despite leaving key legislative-agenda items on the table for next year.

“I said now is the time to deliver on the promises we made to Iowans looking for a way up,” Reynolds said in a press release. “Through collaboration and compromise, those Iowans will be better off today than they were before.”

Two of Reynolds’ priorities, which she outlined in her Condition of the State Address, did not pass the Legislature this session. Those included expanded access to birth control, which passed the Senate in March, and an amendment to the Iowa Constitution that would restore felons’ voting rights. Restoration of voting rights unanimously passed the Iowa House, but it was not brought to a vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee, effectively killing the bill.

Reynolds said in the release that both measures will be addressed in the next legislative session as well as a continuing focus on the economy and job creation.

“While the votes fell short in the Legislature, I remain committed to getting this done,” she said in an email statement from a spokesperson to The Daily Iowan regarding felons’ voting rights.

Issues at the forefront of Reynolds’ legislative agenda for the session included the creating a children’s mental-health system, increasing funding to the state’s K-12 system, and funding the Empower Rural Iowa Initiative — which was signed by Reynolds on April 24 and appropriated $30 million for workforce housing credit and broadband infrastructure.

The committee was co-chaired by Lt. Gov. Adam Gregg, who was appointed by Reynolds to put together recommendations after hearing from Iowans.

“By significantly funding the broadband-grant program and doubling the rural set-aside in the workforce housing tax credit, we coupled two of Iowa’s greatest assets: our rural spirit and our people,” Gregg said in a press release.

Senate Majority Leader Jack Whitver, R-Ankeny, said he came into the session seeking to make big changes in the Legislature. In his closing remarks to the Senate, he highlighted the $89 million in funding the Legislature passed for K-12 education and a measure that would require employers to check potential employees’ citizenship status using E-Verify.

“We did not want to just make small changes to a couple lines in an Iowa Code book,” Whitver said during his closing remarks to the state Senate. “Instead, we focused on generational changes to bring more prosperity, growth, and opportunity to our state.”

Senate Democratic Leader Janet Petersen, D-Des Moines, said she was glad to see the Legislature pass bills to create a children’s mental-health system and open the doors for hemp production in the state, but she critiqued Senate Republicans for “fixing things that weren’t broken” and not addressing other issues.

“While I am disappointed that we did not accomplish more good things for Iowans in 2019, I am hopeful we can work together to make bigger strides next session,” Petersen said during her remarks to the Senate.

Other key legislation passed during the session include emergency refills for prescription drugs, the removal of licensing sanctions against individuals delinquent or defaulted on student loans, sports betting on college and professional sports, and free speech on college campuses. The Legislature will reconvene in January 2020 to finish the second half of the 88th Legislature.