Screen Shot 2022-01-06 at 10.50.39 AM.png

The Scoop

Most bills need to be out of committee by Friday, or they are done for the year.
College transition scholarships for students with disabilities will get out of committee.
The Senate’s guardianship bill looks like it will survive the Friday deadline.
The Senate passed the public assistance reform bill that could impact your services.
We do not know what the House will do with this bill, so advocates can take action.
Budgets and tax bills can be taken up at any time.
You will start to see budgets soon.
The Senate and Governor plan to spend $8.5 billion.
The House wants to spend more to help nursing homes ($8.6 billion).
These targets spend much less than allowed, leaving nearly $2 billion unspent.

Last Funnel Deadline Hits Friday

This week is a very important week in the legislative process, the second funnel. By the end of this week, bills must have passed either the House or Senate, and then out of committee a second time. If a committee does not vote on a bill before this March 31 deadline, it’s done for the rest of the year. We have heard the Senate will not debate this week. They will reserve all their time for subcommittee and committee work. The House may do the same.

In last week’s Capitol Snapshot Carlyn Crowe, the Iowa DD Council’s public policy manager, reviewed the bills legislators are still considering at the Iowa Capitol. She grouped them by the good, the bad, the ugly, and the confusing and disappointing. This week, we are starting off with the hopeful.

Legislative funnel deadlines do not apply to budget and tax bills.

The Senate Education Committee did not take up House File 252 in their Thursday meeting as planned. This bill sets up a scholarship program for individuals with intellectual, developmental, and learning disabilities to help pay for college-based transitional programs. The University of Iowa’s REACH program and Northwestern College’s NEXT program are the current programs We have heard from good sources that the committee plans to pass the bill out this week. This gives us something to be hopeful about!

The subcommittee assigned to the Senate’s Guardianship & Conservatorship Bill (Senate File 295) will meet today (Monday) at 11:30 a.m. The three members of this subcommittee are well-versed on this issue. They were also assigned to the House version of this bill. They have been waiting for the Senate version to come over which is the one that most advocacy groups support, including the Iowa DD Council, the Brain Injury Alliance, Iowa Association of Community Providers, Coalition for Integration & Employment, AARP and the Older Iowans Legislature. The subcommittee for this bill is Rep. Bill Gustoff (R-Des Moines), Rep. Charley Thomson (R-Charles City), and Rep. Sami Scheetz (R-Cedar Rapids).

Now for the bad news. The Senate passed a bill they call “Public Assistance Reform.” This bill (Senate File 494) requires the state to spend $3 million to hire a private company to check to see if there are any red flags that would cause a person to be ineligible for certain programs. This includes Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (called Hawk-I), the Supplemental Food Assistance Program (SNAP), or the Family Investment Program (FIP). The state will also hire more than 230 people to go out and verify what each member of the household owns. This is to make sure they do not have too many “assets” that would make them ineligible for any of these programs.

If there is a “discrepancy” when they do these checks, a person only has ten days to prove they are still eligible for the program. If they do not respond, they risk having their assistance stopped. Right now, there are no state laws requiring an asset test for Medicaid and Hawk-I. The federal government requires Iowa to submit a Medicaid asset test plan that meets its federal requirements (which is already in place and being used). There is no law requiring asset testing for kids receiving insurance through the Hawk-I program.

The Iowa DD Council and many other organizations are opposed to this bill. It requires the state to spend more than $30 million to (maybe) save some money in four years. The Legislature estimates that 8,000 Iowans could lose their Medicaid coverage because of this, and another 2,800 could lose their food assistance.

You can read more details about this bill here.
You can take action on this bill here.
You can watch the debate on the bill here.

NEXT UP: Budgets

The only committees that will meet after this week are the Ways & Means Committee and Appropriations Committee. They deal with taxes and budgets, which can be debated at any time.

It is clear legislators want to cut property taxes for Iowans. Cities and counties are concerned about this. It could limit their ability to build trails, maintain roads, keep libraries open, pay for police and fire service, staff meal sites, provide public transportation, and more. Look for debates on property taxes to start up in the coming weeks.

Legislators will also be starting to talk about budgets. They need to decide how to spend the $9.65 billion that the state expects to collect in taxes over the next year. The House and Senate took the first step this week in the budget process – setting their budget target. That’s the total amount of money they want to spend.

The state’s current budget is $8.21 billion.
The Governor’s budget recommendation was $8.486 billion, which is a 3% increase.
The Senate set their budget target at the Governor’s level, $8.486 billion.
The House target is a little higher at $8.58 billion, which is a 4.5% increase.
The House said they want to use the additional money to help nursing homes.

The Legislature is allowed to spend 99% of the money the state collects, but they have set targets well below the $9.65 billion allowed. They are only spending 88% of what they are allowed. The rest of the money, nearly $2 billion, is set aside for future tax cuts. This is money that could also be used to increase Medicaid provider rates, improve direct support worker wages, or eliminate waiver waiting lists.

It is not too early to TAKE ACTION on the budget. Let your legislators know where you want to see your tax dollars going. How it would improve your life or ability to work and live in the community. Personal stories are what make the difference!

Join Us for Post-Funnel Update

11 am on Friday, March 31

The Iowa DD Council will review where all these bills end up in this Friday’s Capitol Chat (11 am on Friday, March 31). Hear how things turned out, which bills survived the funnel, and which ones will be set aside until next year.

We will also have a presentation on the HCBS waiver reform report and the next steps the state will be taking to make these services more accessible to those who need them.

Take Action to Eliminate Waiver Waiting Lists

Speaking of waiver reforms, the US Congress is currently considering two bills that would end state waiting lists for home and community-based services (HCBS) waivers. The HCBS Access Act (S. 762/H.R. 1493) would allow Iowans with disabilities to get the services they need to live and work in their communities of choice immediately, without sitting on a waiting list for years. If these bills were to pass, states would no longer be able to put institutional care above services that support individuals in their homes.

At the beginning of the year, there were more than 19,000 people on Iowa’s waiver waiting lists (although some are on more than one waiting list). Iowa could fix this by adding more money to the system. The federal government could pass these bills and provide extra funding that would eliminate waiting lists.

You can read more about this here and here.
You can take action on this here.

Amy Campbell (a white woman with shoulder length brown hair and glasses) and Carlyn Crowe (a white woman with shoulder length blonde hair) look like the NPR ladies on Saturday Night Live doing a recipe review. Seriously they are in a green committee room sitting at a table!

Capitol Snapshot

Check out this week’s Capitol Snapshot with Carlyn & Amy's weekly review. Two bills are making them hopeful - while another has them concerned.

Watch Capitol Snapshot

This week the Iowa DD Council hosted three groups for Capitol Advocacy Days. On Tuesday Mosaic brought almost 100 of their staff, advocates, and family members from around Iowa to the Capitol. They were introduced in the Senate by Sen. Brad Zaun who also had a meeting with them in the State of Iowa Library. Their numbers and presence made an impression!

On Wednesday First Resources from Ottumwa brought a group of 10 staff and advocates to the Capitol to have meetings with their legislators, Rep. Hans Wilz and Sen. Cherielynn Westrich. They talked about the work that people with disabilities at First Resources. They also discussed the direct support professional workforce shortage and need for resources for people with disabilities to fully participate in their community.

Also on Wednesday Life Connections led by Todd Noack from Dewitt brought Peers for Progress, a group of 10 peer support specialists from around Iowa, to the Capitol. The group worked together in the morning to build their messages about how peer support services save lives and save money, and then delivered that message with passion to their legislators in the afternoon. Check out some of the great photos from this week's Capitol visits below!

Rep. Devon Wood hears from disability advocates from Life Connections.

Sen. Brad Zaun stands in center of a large circle of disability advocates from Mosaic who are wearing black t-shirts in the Iowa Law Library, with four stories of bookshelves in the backdrop.

Several groups of disability advocates came to the Capitol to meet with legislators and talk about the issues important to them. (Legislators pictured from left clockwise: Rep. Devon Wood, Sen. Brad Zaun, advocates sending in notes, Rep. Skyler Wheeler).

Go to Calendar

Iowa legislators still take time out of their weekends home to go to public forums or town halls. It's their time to meet the people they represent, share what they are doing at the State Capitol, and hear what people think that work.

You can find these on our calendar, and you can download the list for the next two weeks here.

Advocate Resources

Bill Tracker

Action Center

Calendar & Legislative Town Halls

Guide to the Iowa Legislature

Advocacy Toolkit

infoNET is the disability policy project of the Iowa Developmental Disabilities Council and its network of Iowans with Disabilities in Action.

Stay connected with us: ‌

This project is supported by the Administration for Community Living (ACL), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award totaling $774,176 with 100 percent funding by ACL/HHS. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by ACL/HHS, or the U.S. Government.