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February 14, 2022
2022 Legislative News
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It's deadline week. The first funnel is this Friday, when all non-tax and non-spending bills need to be voted out their originating committee to stay alive. As this week progresses, full committee meetings with jam-packed schedules will take the place of subcommittees. By the time deadline week is over, hundreds of bills will be dead for the year.
Floor work will begin to heat up the week of February 21 following the funnel. The work will shift to passing bills out of each chamber, so they have time to get out of the other chamber's committee by the second and final funnel deadline on March 18. Few updates as we enter this busy week:
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The only bill that the Legislature is required to debate and get to the Governor early every session is the School Supplemental Aid (SSA) bill that sets funding for the upcoming school year. Late Thursday, the House passed a 2.5% increase in the SSA ($150 million), which the Governor supports. The Senate’s bill has an increase of 2.25% that will be debated early this week. While the Senate’s increase is lower, their proposal devotes more money to paying down the difference between the district cost per pupil and the state cost per pupil.
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Typically tax bills are the last thing discussed during session; this year both chambers have decided agreement on a tax bill needs to happen early. The Senate (SF 2206) and House (HF 2317) have their bills ready for debate. It sounds like the House will be ready for debate on their bill as early as this week. The non-partisan Legislative Services Agency (LSA) released a fiscal note this week on HF 2317 that you can review here. They have not yet completed an analysis of SF 2206.
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There are three things that have to happen before a budget can be developed each year: 1) school aid set; 2) tax cuts determined; and 3) the March revenue estimates. This year legislators are expecting the March estimates to look good, which means they'll base their budgets off the more conservative of the more recent two estimates (likely December). Legislators are building their budgets around the estimated school aid and cost of their tax plans; we're hearing a pretty status quo budget. In fact, the House Health & Human Services Budget Subcommittee met for the last time on Monday, a new record for early end to the public-facing budget discussion. The REC meets early this year - March 10. By that time SSA will be signed, a tax compromise will be in the works (if not done), so budgets may be done in March, paving the way to an early adjournment.
Friendly reminder for those of you wishing to virtually attend and speak on bills that are in a Senate subcommittee via Zoom. You must be logged into a Zoom account in order to listen or participate. It doesn’t need to be a paid account, but it must be an account with your name and email address (to prevent zoom-bombing). The House uses the WebEx system for their subcommittees, and you do not need an account to watch these meetings. However, in the House, you cannot speak about a bill under unless you are physically in the room.
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Looking Ahead at Health & Human Services Bills
The IPA bill tracker is the best place to look for updates on bills; we update them daily and the bill status box pulls from the Legislature's website twice a day. There are a few bills that have been or will move this week:
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Psychological Testing Materials: Despite a great subcommittee with overwhelming opposition to HF 2042, the bill allowing defense counsel access to psychological testing materials passed out of committee with only four "no" votes. The Senate bill still seems tied up and has not yet been listed on a committee schedule, so we're hoping to hold it back in one chamber. More on this to come as your advocacy team regroups after this week's funnel.
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Professional Licensing: A new take on professional licensing reform, a subcommittee will take a look at SSB 3114, which no longer allows any professional licensing board (other than nursing & medicine) to require the submission of official transcripts or diplomas in order to be licensed. Copies are allowed, and if the institutional granting the diploma is no longer in operation, this is waived. IPA will ask to be included with Board of Medicine & Nursing in being exempt from this legislation.
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MH/DS Regions: A Senate subcommittee advanced SSB 3116 last week; it makes a small fix to freeze regional fund balances at 10% (instead of 5%) to help with cash flow needs. Regions can be over this 10% fund balance, but they will not receive the full amount of state dollars until they are below that amount, and will not be eligible for incentive funds. The Iowa State Association of Counties wants this changed to 25% in alignment with Triple-A bond rating status requirements and the MH/DS Commission recommended 18%. DHS and Senators were not willing to go higher than 10%.
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MH/SA Privacy: A bill IPA supported last year - SF 513 - is coming up in subcommittee again this week. It passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee last year, but was re-referred to committee when it failed to pass out of the Senate. The bill makes law enforcement agency reports on persons experiencing a mental health, substance-related, or housing crisis confidential when the report is generated specifically for crisis intervention or referral. The report is to be available to the people who are the subject of the report, upon request, as well as mental health or substance use providers treating that person and homeless service providers.
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Prior authorization: The Iowa Medical Society asked for HSB 650 to be introduced this year to end utilization reviews that end up canceling prior authorization for medical treatment or procedure after it has been completed. IMS had numerous examples, including a knee replacement surgery that was denied after the replacement was made (do you take back the knee?). There was a lot of concern amongst MCOs and insurers on this, so while it is scheduled to come out of House Human Resources Committee this week, it may face a tough road in the Senate.
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Medical Privacy and Freedom Act: After the Legislature passed the vaccine mandate bill during special session (which required a religious exemption and allowed unemployment compensation for those fired for failure to comply with company vaccine mandates), a subset of legislators continued to work on stronger anti-vaccine legislation. Their leader, Rep. Jon Jacobsen of Council Bluffs, came up with HSB 647. The bill is so drastic it has drawn concerns from not only the health care community, but also the business community. Rep. Jacobsen held a four-hour subcommittee hearing that included physicians from outside the state that debunk the use of vaccines and instead push for hyperbaric chambers and airplane therapy. New York civil rights attorney Kevin Barry flew to Iowa to speak, saying "The militarization of public health in the past two years should be of concern to every American who values life and liberty. Coercion to get a COVID-19 shot went from ‘get the vaccine, have a free doughnut’ to ‘you better get your third dose or you're fired.’ " You can read all the public comments here. The bill made it out of subcommittee, and may make it out of the House State Government Committee this week, but its future after that is very uncertain. IPA has chosen to wait to weigh in on this bill should it start to get legs.
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Public assistance program integrity: There are a dozen bills this year dealing with "program integrity" of SNAP/food assistance, Medicaid, and family assistance (FIP); HSB 698 is the most recent iteration of these and will be up in subcommittee this week. It requires each person getting public assistance to complete a computerized identity confirmation process, but allows it to be completed online, in person or over the phone as an increased level of account security. IPA is watching this bill carefully and is currently registered "undecided."
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Certificate of need: A Senate subcommittee moved forward in eliminating the certificate of need process for everything except nursing facilities (SF 2255), but likely it will be pared down before passing the full Senate. The House will consider HSB 699 this week, which lowers the cap on nursing home construction from $1.5 million to $750,000 (but makes exceptions for HVAC replacements). A wholesale elimination of CON is not in the cards this year, but the Senate does want to look at updating the thresholds (from $1.5 million for existing facilities, and $0 for new) and consider removing for smaller birthing centers and psychiatric hospitals.
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Private staffing agencies: The Iowa Health Care Association wants to crack down on private staffing agencies, but the bill they are proposing only requires additional registration, fees, and assurances of training staff. While they are looking at CNA staffing, it applies to traveling nurses and other health care professions. It stops short of price capping, something Minnesota and a few other states have done. The bills are going to make the funnel - HF 2371 already is; SF 2210 will get out this week.
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Your Bill Tracker
Click above to see status of important bills, or create your own report with our custom download.
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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.
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Your Legislative Team:
Your Advocacy Toolkit:
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