Almost two weeks after our scheduled finish, the legislative session officially concluded. It was a busy end to the session as we worked on several major issues and priorities to finish the year. more

Rest assured, Iowa. Republicans in Des Moines have heard your concerns about high prices, and they’re doing something about it. more

House Republicans released their spending plans for Fiscal Year 2026 on Monday afternoon (April 28), once again committing to moving forward a responsible, conservative budget for Iowa.  The plan spends $9.453 billion starting on July 1.  This represents an increase of $505 million over the current year.   more

Did you know today is the targeted date to end the 2025 legislative session? In odd numbered years, legislators stop receiving per diem pay after 110 days, and May 2 (today) is day 110. We are allotted ten extra days in odd numbered years (per diem lasts 100 days in even years), but even with the extra ten days to get our work done in 2025 we’re still not finished. In a sporting event, the prospect of overtime can be thrilling. It means you’re watching a particularly close and entertaining game with evenly matched competitors and tense action. In the world of state politics, however, overtime indicates disarray and inaction, disagreement and delays. more

May 2 marked the final scheduled day of the 2025 legislative session, but lawmakers are heading into overtime to finalize budget agreements and address remaining issues. The Senate met Monday and Tuesday to advance key bills, either sending them to the governor’s desk for signature or to the House for consideration upon its return. more

I cannot express how excited I was to read the headline of the Governor’s Early Childhood and PreK bill (SF445) for what I was hoping would provide funding for all day 4-year-old preschool. This was especially encouraging knowing that Iowa has nearly $100M in the Child Care Development Fund. All day 4-year-old preschool was a top legislative priority for the Iowa Association of School Boards (IASB) and as a former member of the Central DeWitt School Board supported. Unfortunately, the old adage, “the devil is in the details” quickly emerged as each division of the bill provided clarity. more

Session is beginning to wind down. As we look for agreement on tax and spending issues, we continue to work on important piece of policy legislation that has a positive impact on a lot of folks back home. I continue to appreciate feedback from everyone. The more than 15 Listening Posts/Forums we hosted were also helpful. Despite a very few who interrupted, shouted, and tried to politicize them, the vast majority of you gave me opinions and ideas that I carry with me. Many of your ideas make their way into legislation. more

Taxes on gambling continued their downward trend in March as revenue from both casino wagering and sports wagering. more

This week a bill I have been pushing for years finally got passed by both Chambers and is sitting on the Governor’s desk.  For firefighters and police officers in the 411 system, this bill provides full cancer coverage.  These individuals work in extremely stressful and dangerous environments yet in code they were only covered for 14 different kinds of cancer.  We all know there are dozens and dozens of varieties of cancer and its unacceptable we had officers and firefighters not getting coverage for cancers that their job may have caused. I have championed this bill for years and I am thrilled we are finally getting it done.  more

The late newspaper columnist Bill Wundram of the Quad-City Times in Davenport wrote seven days a week for 31 years. Many of his columns, highlighting a wide variety of concerns in his home community, included the refrain, “Is anybody there? Does anybody care?” more

As the 91st Iowa Legislative Session begins to wind down, the financial situation for FY26 (the fiscal year that begins on July 1) is becoming clearer. Gov. Reynolds and Senate Republicans have each proposed an approximate $9.4B expense budget. Meanwhile, the Iowa March Revenue Estimating Committee stated that Iowa will collect $8.5B to pay for the budget. more

During the 13th week of the legislative session, lawmakers focused on debating bills that made it past the final legislative deadline. With just one month remaining, the focus now turns to passing Iowa’s state budget for the upcoming fiscal year. more

Iowa’s economy had its strongest months in three years, according to a Creighton University survey.  The duration of the move into positive territory is unknown with impact of new tariffs acting as a wildcard. more

Four House Public Safety Bills have made it to the Governor’s desk. It is my honor to serve as chair of the House Public Safety Committee. more

There have been numerous culture war bills brought up during the 91st legislative session, and on Thursday, April 3, the companion bill HF 856 DEI, “prohibition for state/local government and all higher education” to SF 507, “Restricting County and city, diversity, equity, and inclusion programs” came before the Senate Education Committee. These two similar bills specifically prohibit any state, county, school district, post-secondary or any other local government agency from promoting any trainings, programming, policies, procedures, or a whole host of other diversity, equity, or inclusion initiatives. more

Last week was the final funnel deadline for bills to be considered.  We did not have floor debate so I wanted to give you some insight into a day on the Ways and Means Committee I Chair. We met Wednesday and passed 15 bills out of committee.  All 15 bills received bipartisan support and were about a variety of topics. Committee work rarely garners headlines but as you see below – that work does impact many of you in many ways.  more

Last week the House took significant and historic action on eminent domain abuse reform.  From Day One, I have been one of the leaders in the state in ensuring that wealthy individuals cannot bulldoze their way through your Fourth amendment private property rights.  It started with a lake in Clarke County where wealthy developers wanted to condemn hundreds of acres of prime farm ground for a recreational lake. I knew that if it could happen in Clarke County it would not be long before someone tried that in Scott, Cedar, or Muscatine Counties.  We were successful in those endeavors and a law is on the books.  more

Iowa’s 99 counties are spending your money to mislead you about property taxes. But don’t blame the people at your county courthouse. The Iowa Legislature is forcing them do it. more

On March 13, the three-member Revenue Estimating Conference met for its spring meeting to go over Iowa’s economic activity and to forecast state revenue.  The panel is required to adjust its forecasts for Fiscal Year 2025 (the current budget year) and Fiscal Year 2026 (the next budget, which will be developed in the upcoming weeks).  The panel is also required to put forward an initial forecast for Fiscal Year 2027.  The panel also revises the gaming tax and interest forecasts for FY 2025 & FY 2026. more

Last week in the Legislature we spent a marathon day debating education bills.  We passed four pieces of Legislation from the Higher Education Committee that I serve on and four pieces of legislation for our K-12 public schools. All four higher education bills had the support of the Board of Regents and all four of the K-12 education bills had wide bipartisan support. more