The 14th week included a lot of floor debate as we work through bills going through both the House and the Senate. more

The 14th week of the 2024 legislative session brought more bills to the House floor. As Chairman of the House Appropriation Committee, I have scheduled budget bills to start being voted on within our committee. We will soon be reaching the end of our session. more

If you were having a conversation with your best friend and he said your outfit looked horrible that day, would that make you feel good? more

City officials in Davenport have managed to accomplish the impossible this year: They have brought Republicans and Democrats in the Legislature together to agree on something. more

Things are starting to wrap up at the capitol as we end the session, and the House of Representatives is busy working on the budget for the 2025 Fiscal Year. more

As week 13 comes to a close I find myself with a growing appreciation for my opportunity to live here in Iowa, not to mention the great honor of serving you all in the Iowa House. more

The 13th week of the 2024 Legislative Session brought more bills to the House floor. As chairman of the House Appropriation Committee, I received our budget targets for this session. We will soon begin building the budget for the State of Iowa. more

The 13th week of the legislative session involved a lot of debate, finding an agreement on the state budget, and confirming governor appointees. Bills of note include: more

As a kid have you ever wanted to get something expensive but your parents say, “No,” or “pay for it yourself.” more

One of the topics we have been hearing a lot about is area education agencies (AEAs). I appreciate all the messages I have been getting from my constituents, teachers, administrators, and parents/grandparents on this issue that demonstrate a strong commitment to our kids. more

On March 28, Senate Republicans released the total general fund spending goal for next year. The general fund target of $8.872 billion is a 3.74 percent increase over FY 2024. It includes the increase of $172 million in funding for public K-12 schools and minimum starting teacher pay approved earlier this week in HF 2612 and $51.25 million in new money for ESAs for a total $223.2 million in new money for K-12 education. more

Last week we took action on two major pieces of legislation – combating illegal immigration and fighting against eminent domain abuse. more

Changes to Iowa’s Area Education Agencies (AEAs) have been a central focus of many Iowans this year. The reality is this - the status quo of Iowa’s special education system is not good enough, and something has to change. It is not just the legislature that thinks so. The federal government has designated our state as “needs improvement” and is starting in-state monitoring this fall. more

I wanted to begin the column by thanking all of the citizens who attended my Listening Posts and forums this year. We held over 12 events in three different counties. Of course, you always have the occasional person there who wants to score political points through disruption or a litany of loaded questions but the overwhelming majority of people were thoughtful concerned citizens with great ideas! Thank you. I learn from these experiences. more

Iowans found their way back to the state’s 19 casinos in February, as gaming tax payments rebounded from January’s dip. more

Our second legislative deadline has passed, which means we had another busy week working on moving House bills through the Iowa Senate. Policy bills are required at this time to be through a committee in the opposite chamber to be considered for the rest of the legislative session. more

Last week, the House of Representatives had a busy week of debate. more

The Iowa House unanimously passed House File 2581, a bill to make changes to the Iowa One Call system. Iowa One Call is the 8-1-1 phone number that Iowans call before they dig to ensure that underground utilities are not harmed. The Iowa One Call system currently processes over 540,000 tickets and coordinates more than 2.7 million locate requests per year throughout Iowa. more

For the 20th time since 1933, Congress is writing a multiyear farm bill that will shape what kind of food U.S. farmers grow, how they raise it and how it gets to consumers. These measures are large, complex and expensive: The next farm bill is projected to cost taxpayers $1.5 trillion over 10 years. more

We were called into a special session by the governor to vote on the heartbeat bill on July 11. Such an exciting time to be a part of the legislation. more