The first legislative deadline has passed, and many pieces of legislation have been dropped from consideration while others continue to move forward. Floor debate will now be picking up as legislators are working to send bills to the other chamber.
Soon we will be sending you some action alerts and encouraging your contacts with legislators on specific proposals. In the meantime, you can contact legislators on your priority items anytime at the ICC Action Center.
Let’s go through last week’s committee action on legislation supported by the ICC that survived the “funnel”:
The “school choice omnibus” bills, SF 2175 and HSB 735, passed the Senate and House Education Committees. The bills would:
- Include a sign-up period in the fall for a parent to receive an Education Savings Account for the second semester
- Require school districts to offer better access to the state preschool program for nonpublic preschools
- Establish a state revolving loan fund to help charter and nonpublic schools get cheaper money for school infrastructure
The Senate Health and Human Services Committee passed SF 2315, the “Work Without Worry” bill. It slightly improves the Medicaid for Employed People with Disabilities Program by expanding eligibility from 250% of the federal poverty level to 300% (about $7,000 a year more). It allows persons with disabilities to work additional hours and continue to have access to medical assistance. The provision is also found in HSB 696.
HSB 314 passed the House Health and Human Services Committee unanimously. The bill would permit the Board of Parole to consider a petition to release a profoundly ill inmate to hospice. Iowa is the last state without a similar law.
The Senate Technology Committee passed SF 2417 unanimously. It prohibits designing chatbots that encourage users to commit suicide or perform acts of violence, and requires chatbots to frequently disclose during a chat that they are not human. Sen. Kara Warme of Ames, the bill manager, gave Pope Leo a shoutout in committee, saying “things that aren’t human shouldn’t pretend to be human.” Studies indicate that 72% of U.S. teens have tried AI companions, with about 1 in 3 using them for social interaction or relationships. The House Economic Growth and Technology Committee voted out a similar bill, HSB 647.
The House Commerce Committee passed HSB 629, the Local Generation Act. It would establish a “community solar program” and allow multiple Iowans to subscribe to a single, local solar project and receive credits directly on their utility bills.
The House Judiciary Committee passed HF 2145, which would allow churches to stay open during an emergency, as well as HF 2144, which allows people who were trafficked to petition the court to erase the record of crimes they committed (not serious felonies). This should help victims get back into the workforce. The Committee also advanced HF 2606, which would require age verification before visiting an “adult” website.
The ICC opposes provisions in other bills approved by a committee last week:
HSB 696 passed the House Health and Human Services Committee. It makes several changes to Iowa’s safety net programs, for example, requiring 12 months of residency in Iowa before a person could receive any form of public assistance, except for Medicaid and SNAP. A residency requirement for those particular programs is forbidden by federal law.
Unfortunately, the bill would also take away the WIC nutrition program from persons who are undocumented or are eligible to work without being a Legal Permanent Resident. WIC is one of the few federal programs that undocumented people can qualify for if their income is low enough. WIC helps provide essential nutrition to pregnant women and infants during their most vulnerable stages.
The Senate Health and Human Services Committee passed a similar bill (SSB 3140) that does not have the WIC exclusion. It does require HHS to review the citizenship of all household members in a home receiving SNAP and notify the federal Department of Agriculture of the citizenship status of any household member listed on a SNAP application regardless of whether that household member is applying to participate in SNAP.
HSB 668, passed by the House Judiciary Committee, would eliminate any affirmative action measures by the state, including law that prohibits discrimination in licensing of professionals based on immigration status. This includes professional licensing in areas such as health care, engineering, and architecture.
HF 2608, also passed by the House Judiciary Committee, requires a presumption in court that any undocumented immigrant arrested on a crime other than a simple misdemeanor should not be granted bail.
HF 2584 passed the House Public Safety Committee. It would label all areas where unhoused (homeless) people receive services as Drug Free Homeless Service Zones. The bill imposes additional criminal penalties on program participants if they use drugs and criminal penalties for shelter staff if they allow drug violations to occur. At best the bill enhances penalties for things that are already illegal.
Subcommittees to consider proposals to legalize assisted suicide, and to prohibit abortion after conception, were canceled last week at the last minute.
Agreement reached on state aid for public schools
The House, Senate and Governor have agreed to increase supplemental state aid for public schools by 2%, an increase of about $106 million over last year. Public schools in Iowa receive more than $11 billion in government funding. This leaves eminent domain and property tax reform as the other big items the majority Republicans want to address this session.
“The thought of holding thousands of families in massive warehouses should challenge the conscience of every American,” says Bishop Cahill
Newly released details show how the Administration plans to double federal immigration detention capacity, spending an estimated $38.3 billion from last year’s reconciliation bill to implement a new detention model by the end of Fiscal Year 2026. This amounts to nearly fifty times the annual budget for the entire immigration court system and almost five times the funding provided this year to operate the federal prison system. The plan partly entails opening eight “mega‑centers,” each of which would be capable of detaining 7,000 to 10,000 people. Aside from the internment camps used to incarcerate Japanese Americans in the 1940s, such facilities have no precedent in American history.
In response, Bishop Brendan J. Cahill, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Migration, urged the Administration and Congress to pursue a more just approach:
“Last November, my brother bishops and I unequivocally opposed the indiscriminate mass deportation of people and raised concerns about existing conditions in detention centers. We specifically highlighted a lack of access to pastoral care for detainees. On many occasions, we have also opposed the expansion of family detention, recognizing its harmful impacts on children in particular.
“The thought of holding thousands of families in massive warehouses should challenge the conscience of every American. Whatever their immigration status, these are human beings created in the image and likeness of God, and this is a moral inflection point for our country. We implore the Administration and Congress to lead with right reason, abandon this misuse of taxpayer funds, and to instead pursue a more just approach to immigration enforcement that truly respects human dignity, the sanctity of families, and religious liberty.”
