Week 5 on the hill was packed with subcommittee meetings, committee meetings and floor debates. As we move closer to funnel week, the activity on moving bills through the process is picking up.
On Tuesday the Coalition for Life of Iowa organized its annual Prayer for Life rally at the Capitol. Several pro-life organizations in Iowa united to help spread awareness and advance the pro-life movement.
Wednesday was STEM Day at the Capitol. Hosted by the Iowa Governor’s STEM Advisory Council, students and educators from across Iowa joined legislators to showcase many exhibits for increasing awareness on education and careers in STEM. I had the pleasure of meeting with the ASCEND students from Storm Lake. They discussed their parks and playgrounds project that they are currently working on.
Thursday was Career and Technical Education Day at the Capitol. Students from MMCRU requested to meet with me to show me all of the really interesting projects that they have been working on through their Industrial Technology program. They also taught me about the Skills USA program. I also ran into one of my former students Matt Padgett! He is the Culinary Arts instructor at Central Campus in the Des Moines Public Schools.
Last week, the Iowa Senate released two proposals to help address the concerns of Iowans regarding rising property taxes and providing some relief to property taxpayers in the state. Senate Study Bill 1124 gets Iowa’s property tax system back to the basics by streamlining and simplifying the complicated tax code. The release of this bills follows the passage of Senate File 181 in the Iowa Senate, another bill protecting Iowa property taxpayers and urging local governments to take responsibility in their spending.
This week the Iowa Legislature passed a major reform to help reduce costs and increase access for health care. House File 161 works to achieve that goal by implementing a limit, $1 million for doctors, $2 million for hospitals, on the amount of non-economic damages a jury may award to a plaintiff in a medical malpractice case. This reform has been a priority for medical professionals in Iowa for many years. Limits on non-economic damages exist in 33 other states, including California and several states surrounding Iowa. Medical professional recruitment is difficult and extremely high malpractice insurance premiums discourage doctors from working in Iowa. HF 161 seeks to balance awards for those injured and rural health care availability and affordability.