Iowa Senate lawmakers advanced a bill requiring state agencies to submit legislative proposals to Iowa lawmakers annually to pitch their plans for how to use the state’s millions in opioid settlement funds.

The proposal comes after lawmakers have been at a stalemate on how to use the funds for years, which are expected to increase by $325 million through 2039. Currently, the state has more than $56 million sitting in the state fund.

Iowa Sen. Janet Petersen, D-Des Moines, said she’s glad there is a plan for the money after the extended delay in appropriating the funds.

“I’m glad to see that we have this bill before us because I wouldn’t have been waiting too long with this money stuck in the freezer,” Petersen said.

The funds come from a nationwide settlement in a class action lawsuit that Iowa participated in against opioid manufacturers, distributors, and pharmacists. The settlement totaled $26 billion nationally and will be paid out over 18 years.

Most states are using the funds to combat drug and opioid addiction.

The bill, Senate Study Bill 1226, would require the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services, or HHS, and the Iowa Attorney General to submit a bill to the general assembly before the start of each legislative session recommending appropriations for the fund for the next fiscal year.

The bill would require that 75 percent of the unspent funds go to Iowa HHS and 25 percent go to the Iowa Attorney General’s office. The bill also requires HHS and the Attorney General’s office to consider recommendations from regional behavioral health councils.

“The needs across Iowa are different, the resources across Iowa are different, and if we’re not individually looking at what’s going on in those areas we can’t maximize the funds,” Lisa Cushatt, a lobbyist with Iowa ACEs 360, a behavioral health nonprofit, said during the hearing on the bill Monday.

The bill would also appropriate $12 million for the current fiscal year to fund a grant to create a substance abuse recovery campus and $30 million to fund programs in the master settlement agreement for the current fiscal year.

The bill was advanced unanimously on Monday and will next be considered by the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Iowa Senate approves election recount reform, sends bill to governor

Iowa Senate lawmakers approved a bill that would make vast reforms to the state’s election recount laws on Monday, sending the bill to the governor’s desk.

The bill, House File 928, would:

• limit which candidates can request a recount
• require county election officials to conduct recounts
• require vote tabulation machines be required to conduct recounts unless extenuating circumstances require a hand count
• require county election officials to comply with guidance from the Iowa Secretary of State

The bill would prohibit candidates from requesting recounts unless the margin of votes between the winning and losing candidate is less than 0.15 percent for statewide and federal offices and less than 1 percent of 50 votes, whichever is less, for all other races.

The bill, if it becomes law, would mark the most drastic changes to Iowa’s recount laws. County auditors and Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate have long said these laws need reform and standardization to ensure trust in Iowa’s election system.

The bill seeks to create that standardization and require that election officials conduct recounts rather than maintain the current system, which requires recount boards to be selected by the candidates in the recounted race with one of the three members agreed upon by both candidates or appointed by a district court judge.

The bill also creates a $25,000 fine for county auditors if they purposefully skew a recount.

Under current law, recount boards can decide most parts of the recount process and decide to keep or exclude ballots from the recount.

Iowa Sen. Ken Roozenboom, R-Oskaloosa, said the bill will correct flaws in the state’s election laws.

“This legislation will correct flaws in our current system,” Roozenboom said. “Campaigns will no longer be in a position to manipulate the recount system for their own partisan ends. These changes will bring consistency, reliability, fairness, uniformity, and enforcement, correcting a fair process for recounting our close elections, and strengthening the trust Iowans have in our elections.”

Democrats argue the current process ensures fairness by having a third party picked by a candidate counting the votes rather than election workers who tabulated the initial count.

Iowa Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott, D-Windsor Heights, said having a representative in the process helps give candidates confidence in the results since they have an advocate in the process. Trone Garriott was a candidate in a handful of races that were subject to recounts in legislative races last election cycle.

“The ability to pick your own representative is significant for the candidates because it is such an overwhelming and stressful time. You need to know that you’ve got someone there to advocate for you and represent you,” Trone Garriott said. “When the candidates can have their representative in the process, they are more confident of the outcome because their representative was there.”

Bill requiring civics test to graduate high school approved by Iowa Senate

Iowa Senate lawmakers approved a bill that would require high school seniors to take and pass the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ Naturalization Test to graduate high school on Monday.

The bill, Senate File 369, passed 38-7, with a handful of Democrats voting against the bill.

The bill now heads to the Iowa House where a companion bill has advanced, making the bill eligible for floor consideration.