• March 12: The Revenue Estimating Conference (REC) will meet for its quarterly check-in to see if state revenues are on track. The meeting will inform appropriators on how much they can spend for next fiscal year; budget targets will be coming soon after this meeting.

• March 13: Candidates must file their paperwork to run for legislative office by the end of the day on this date. The candidate filing deadline is important to the public as well as legislators themselves; we'll know who is retiring and they'll know if someone is running against them in the primary or general election.

• SENATORS (14): Joe Bolkcom, Nate Boulton, Claire Celsi, Chris Cournoyer, Eric Giddens, Rob Hogg, Pam Jochum, Tim Kapucian, Kevin Kinney, Carrie Koelker, Jim Lykam, Zach Nunn, Amanda Ragan, Zach Wahls

• REPRESENTATIVES (18): Rob Bacon, Mike Bergan, Molly Donahue, John Forbes, Joel Fry, Mary Gaskill, Tedd Gassman, Jon Jacobsen, Kenan Judge, David Kerr, Monica Kurth, Dave Maxwell, Andy McKean, Ann Meyer, Brian Meyer, Jeff Mitchell, Art Staed, Beth Wessel-Kroeschell

• PsyPACT (HF2094): The bill did not make it out of the House Human Resources Committee, so is dead for the year. The bill originated from the Council of State Governments, so this should stay on our radar for 2021. No one was pushing for this in the lobby, so its unlikely we'll see this pop up again this year.

• LMSW Supervision (HF2008): This bill allowed any licensed mental health professional to supervise a licensed master's level social worker (LMSW) in order to receive payment for the services provided. The supervision would not count toward an LISW degree; there wasn't any formal opposition so not sure why it ended up falling short. I would expect to see this come back to life as an amendment.

• Medicaid Managed Care Changes: Despite getting a favorable review in subcommittee, SSB 3094 didn't make it out of committee. This would have streamlined the Medicaid (MCO & Fee for Service) prior authorization process and required use of single credentialing agency and criteria. A Democratic-sponsored bill (SF 2177) is technically still alive (but it's clear the majority party doesn't plan to touch it). These issues will be something minority party members will try to get into a budget bill; the credentialing piece has been done successfully in other states (Georgia was cited in subcommittee).

• Student Mental Health Days (SF 2067):  School boards say they already excuse absences from school due to mental illness; advocates disagreed and said allowing up to three mental health day excused absences will allow parents to be honest about their child's reason for staying home. In the end, Senators believed school boards and allowed the bill to die. You may see an amendment on this.

• Inmate Prescription Portability (HF2231): Prisoners being transferred between correctional facilities would have their medications and scripts travel with them to make sure they stay on their medication. Great idea, but sponsored by minority party members, so it died.

• Also dead are bills that licensed clinical art therapists (SF2021), required insurers (including Medicaid) to pay for a person's hospital stay when an alternative placement cannot be found (SF2280), super scary sunset of all professional boards unless legislative action taken (SF2163), prohibitions against medication and surgeries to change a minor's gender (SF 2213), ban on conversion therapy (HSB698), and all manner of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation.

• Occupational Therapists added to definition of "mental health professional" (SF2303): The bill did survive the deadline, but only because the bill's sponsor (Sen. Mark Costello) asked for the occupational therapists to figure out a different strategy in their effort to be viewed positively as a member of a mental health treatment team, one that didn't define them as "mental health professionals" and was acceptable to the groups that oppose (psychologists, psychiatrists, medical society, autism groups, ARNPs, nurses, MCOs). IPA met with OTs after the IPA legislative breakfast; they offered no alternative solution and we are not sure they will come up with one. We know that the bill is dead in the House, and we've confirmed several times the bill will not move in the Senate unless all groups are okay with a compromise (which is highly unlikely). We're going to remain vigilant on this, including an action alert you all will see to combat OT messaging at their Capitol Day on Tuesday. While we are sure the bill will die in the March 20 funnel, we don't want to take it for granted. If a nail will do, put a spike in it....

• Professional Licensing (Governor's Version): The House State Government Committee passed the Governor's professional licensing bill without any changes (HF 2470); it's been referred to the Ways and Means Committee where discussion on the fee waivers will be discussed before moving to the floor for debate. The Governor's bill waives licensure fees for individuals who have not previously applied for a license and their household income is at or below 200% of the federal poverty level. Licensing boards are not allowed to deny licenses to individuals with criminal convictions, with some exceptions including presenting an "unreasonable risk to public safety" (the board would need to develop a list of criminal convictions that would disqualify an applicant from consideration). The bill sets up universal licensure recognition for all state issued licenses; if a psychologist licensed in another state moves to Iowa they would be automatically awarded a license if 1) their license has substantially the same scope of practice, 2) they were in good standing in the other state and have been practicing for at least one year without discipline or complaints; 3) their license has never been suspended/revoked or voluntarily relinquished; 4) they had to comply with the other state's minimum educational requirements, work experience and clinical supervision; and 5) have previously passed a licensing exam required by the other state. Boards can continue to require fingerprinting, background checks, and additional exams that test knowledge of Iowa laws related to licensure requirements. The subcommittee and committee resisted all attempts to allow a board to express minimum criteria for training (such as graduating from an APA accredited program or requiring same supervision). This does allow New Mexico trained and practicing psychopharmacologist psychologists to come practice in Iowa, but Iowa's own psychologists would either need to abide by Iowa law to become licensed as a prescribing psychologist, or move to New Mexico and practice a year before returning to Iowa. This is a top priority, so something is going to pass on this topic. Of note, compacts are not subject to this, so if PsyPact ends up with better minimal requirements for training and supervision, it may be worth reconsideration in 2021.

• Professional Licensing (Senate Version): While the scarier version of professional licensure reform failed to advance in the Senate, they did move their version of a universal licensing bill (SF 2114) out of committee. This bill allows an out-of-state licensee (including those moving here for military relocation) to be licensed automatically in Iowa if they 1) are currently licensed in another state and in good standing; 2) the other state imposed minimum initial education requirements, work experience, and supervision requirements (but they don't say they have to be equivalent); 3) person previously passed an exam; and 4) the license hasn't been revoked, suspended, or voluntarily surrendered. and there are no complaints or discipline against them. The bill does state that a person must comply with all laws regulating the profession in Iowa. Compacts are also unaffected in this bill, and boards can continue to require fingerprints, etc. An easy amendment to both of these bills would be to add "substantially equivalent" to the training and education requirements (amendments you could send to your legislators can be found here).

• Public Assistance Income Verification: The House killed their bill to require more frequent income verification of those receiving public assistance (Medicaid and food assistance, aka SNAP) after DHS said they would have to hire between 250-280 new employees to comply. The Senate decided to advance their more restrictive version (SF2272) which requires income verification of all household members for not only Medicaid and SNAP, but also the children's health insurance program (CHIP) and family investment program (FIP) and requires "cooperation with state child support enforcement." The number of databases checked for income verification are extensive and include other state databases that may or may not be accurately updated. People have 30 days to appeal decisions to end assistance. While the House didn't advance their bill, they did vote a bill out of committee that allows DHS to charge a person who drops off the Iowa Health and Wellness Plan because of failure to comply with the required wellness activities a re-instatement fee (HF 2492).

• Work Requirements (SF 2366): The Senate Labor & Business Relations Committee saved a work requirement bill from the funnel deadline last week; the bill requires all "able-bodied" recipients of Medicaid and SNAP to work, volunteer, or be in a training or education program for at least 20 hours a week, unless they have a disability recognized by the federal government, are under 18 or over 64, pregnant or caring for a child under the age of one, caring for a dependent child with a serious medical condition or disability, receiving and complying with unemployment compensation, or participating in a drug addiction or alcoholic treatment and rehabilitation program.

• Other bills surviving require DHS to seek a waiver to allow Medicaid reimbursement payment for services in larger (more than 16 beds) Institutes for Mental Disorders (HF 2222), creation of a veteran's treatment court (SF2287), printing YourLifeIowa suicide and addiction hotline on student ID cards (HF2120), telehealth payment parity (SF2261), student behavioral health telehealth (SF2261), and therapeutic classrooms/classroom clears (SF2360).