|
State Capitol Report
January 29, 2023
| |
This Week's Highlights
-
IPA's Psychologist Prescribing Bill (SF 133) ready for debate in Senate.
-
PSYPACT (HF 24) fails in subcommittee.
-
OTs as mental health professionals (SSB 1045) dies in Senate subcommittee.
- Tort Reform will be debated this week and may be law by Friday.
-
Governor's Health Policy Bill (HSB 91) has a subcommittee on Wednesday.
-
Public Assistance Integrity Bill (HF 3) is up for committee vote this week.
-
House unanimously passed ban on mental health non-competes (HF 93).
-
Brain illness bill introduced and moving fast (HSB 76, SSB 1078).
-
Studying technology's impact on student cognitive function is advancing (SF 39)
- Newborn drug screening bills dies after panel sees danger (SF 88).
- Government reorganization bill rumored to be over 2,000 pages long.
| |
Legislators are checking boxes this session. The Governor's "Student First Act" flew through the House and Senate on Monday, and was signed into law on Tuesday. This checked the Governor's first box on her 2023 to-do list.
The Senate will debate Tort Reform on Tuesday, after the House Health & Human Services Committee gets their companion bill out Monday evening. These caps on non-economic damages in medical malpractice lawsuits might be law by the end of the week. That checks the Governor's second box.
The next issues on the list may be heavier lifts. This week the Governor's "Health Policy Bill" (HSB 91) was introduced, which is a virtual checklist of her plan to shore up rural health care, provide support for pregnant women and new parents, provide more access to rural specialty care, and more. The bill, which is set for a subcommittee on February 1, includes the following:
- Adopts language from federal government on Rural Emergency Hospitals, so that rural hospitals in danger of closing can adopt this model to preserve urgent care services. The House already has a bill ready for debate on this (HF 144) and the Senate bill will come out of committee sometime early in the week (SF 75), so this part will likely run separate from the Governor's bill.
- Includes $250,000 cap medical malpractice non-economic damages ($1 million for death/loss of bodily function), but tort reform is also being done separate from this bill.
- Adds $560,000 to add a state-funded family medicine obstetrics fellowship to train four family practice physicians to go through a one-year fellowship in obstetrics at the University of Iowa. This, along with the regional centers of excellence, will probably be addressed in budgets, rather than as a part of this bill.
- Brings back the Governor's previous push to allow birth control pills over the counter, without a prescription. This piece has been highly controversial within the Republican caucus, so it is unclear where (and if) this might be addressed.
- Expands the MOMS (More Options for Maternal Support) program to include grants to organizations for fatherhood initiatives that work to engage fathers in managing their child support obligations, transitioning from incarceration, providing parenting education, and understanding child development. The program includes a mentorship component and development of a list of public assistance resources available to new moms and dads, appropriating a total of $2 million ($1.5 million increase from last year). This too is likely to be addressed in budget discussions, rather than separately in this bill.
- Gives state employees who adopt a child or give birth to a child up to four weeks of paid parental leave, and gives the non-birthing parent up to one week of paid parental leave.
- Prohibits insurance plan policies from being "unjust, unfair, inequitable, misleading, deceptive, encourage misrepresentation of a public policy, or contrary to a public policy." More on this as its discussed but this may be a much bigger issue than it looks on paper, depending on what "public policy" is being targeted.
- The bill also expands the existing college scholarship program for Iowa students who were in foster care, covers more adoption expenses in the adoption subsidy program (for people adopting out of the foster care system), and changes how child care centers are assessed for property taxes (lowering assessments for the portion of the facility housing the child care center).
While the Governor's Health Policy Bill may be parceled out to budget subcommittees and as separate bills, the massive 2,000+ page government reorganization bill is sure to slow things down when it's introduced, especially since the Governor is rumored to be asking for no amendments. The bill is so big, it has crashed the Legislative Services Agency system, which was never meant to house this size of bill. It's not introduced yet. We expect to see the bill in the coming weeks, if they can figure out how to upload it to the system.
| |
Separate Approaches to Mental Health Loan Repayment
The House may be taking a different approach to the mental health professional loan repayment program this year. The House Health & Human Services Committee advanced a bill (HSB 9) that eliminates the program passed last year, and replaces it with one that includes both prescribers and non-prescribers (the current program only includes non-prescribers). It requires local communities to provide a match of $4,000/year (non-prescribers including psychologists), $10,000/year (ARNPs, PAs) and $40,000/year (psychiatrists).
All of Iowa is eligible for the program, but priority is given to mental health shortage areas and Iowa students. The bill also requires any recipient to be enrolled and actively serving Medicaid patients.
The Senate Education Committee pushed out a different approach this week (SSB 1024). This is the College Student Aide Commission fix to the program passed last year; it only changes the timing of the award. It pays the award after the year is completed, thus avoiding having to seek repayment if someone does not live up to their commitment. The House Education Committee has a similar bill (HSB 47); a subcommittee will meet Monday to determine its fate.
| | |
The IPA bill tracker is the best place to find updates on bills. IPA had some great success over the last two weeks, thanks to the State Advocacy Team for attending meetings and sending emails:
-
The Prescribing Psychology Bill (SF 133) is ready for debate in the Senate (having passed unanimously out of the Senate Health & Human Services Committee), and a House Subcommittee will meeting on Monday to hopefully move its companion forward (HF 23). This bill removes the requirement that practicum supervising physicians must be board-certified, eliminates requirement that a person graduate their program within five years of licensure, and updates primary care provider definition to include PAs and ARNPs.
- A subcommittee in the House defeated PSYPACT (HF 24), the interjurisdictional psychology compact that is fraught with problems despite many states jumping on board. The compact would allow a psychologist to temporarily practice in the state for 30 days; Iowa's Board of Psychology already allows this for 60 days. It would also allow telepsychology between compact states, but the psychologist would have to follow the rules of their home state (not the receiving state).
- Another attempt (SSB 1045) to add occupational therapists (OTs) to the list of mental health professionals has again failed in subcommittee, but they may be reworking their strategy in an attempt to resurrect it. All others currently defined as mental health professionals are qualified to diagnose and treat mental health conditions; OTs are not.
- A subcommittee advanced a bill (SF 39) that would investigate the impact of technology on a student's cognitive functioning, with recommendations on how schools can minimize impact. The subcommittee chair Sen. Jeff Taylor (R-Orange City) said he agrees that a psychologist should be on this committee, so he will eithe ramend the bill or make that recommendation to the Department of Education.
Quickly, several bills we're keeping an eye on moved this week:
- Ban on mental health professional non-competes (HF 93) passed the House.
- The Senate is ready to debate the professional counselors compact (SF 127).
Subcommittees approved the following bills this week, so they can come up for committee vote at any time;
- Developing new Medicaid substance use inpatient and outpatient rates. (HF 20)
- Adding two psychiatry fellowships to the current residency program. (HSB 57)
- Defining brain health and allowing use instead of mental illness, mental health, and behavioral health, but HHS says it will not change the terminology it uses for programs, licensure and reimbursement (HSB 76, SSB 1078)
-
Putting up all types of barriers under the guise of Public Assistance Integrity (HF 3), but there will be an amendment (the subcommittee chair declined to say what would be in it, except that the food assistance limits would only be for soda and candy).
Also of note, a subcommittee declined to move a bill that would have mandated newborn drug screening and arrest of mother (SF 88). There are a lot of bills that address student social/emotional learning, and enact anti-LGBTQ+ policies in schools in this list. IPA is watching which bills advance, but has registered against HF 9 (which would require teachers to "out" students if parents ask).
| |
Your Bill Tracker
Click above to see status of important bills, or create your own report with our custom download.
| |
Town Halls & Public Forums
Find a local event with your state or federal elected officials here. Three weeks are shown at a time on this website.
| | | | |