2022 Session at a Standstill

The Iowa House and Iowa Senate may be both controlled by Republicans, but they cannot agree on budgets and some big policy bills still awaiting final passage. Both met only two days last week, and neither plan to debate much (if any) this week. They are waiting on their leaders and the Governor to come up with a final budget compromise, and a decision on the Governor's plan to use public education funds for private school scholarships.

As you recall, the session this year is supposed to be done by April 19. That is no longer possible. After April 19, legislators lose their clerks and their expense checks that help pay for their hotel rooms and meals while they are in session. As a reminder:

• The House has sent all their budgets (except the final Standings bill) to the Senate. The Senate has not yet taken action on any of them (although a subcommittee did move on the non-controversial Transportation Budget).

• You can see the non-partisan budget explanations at the flowing links: Administration & Regulation, Agriculture & Natural Resources, Economic Development, Education, Health & Human Services, Infrastructure, Judicial Branch (courts), Justice Systems, and Transportation.

• As a reminder, you can see our This Week @ The Capitol report with details on the budgets as passed by the House here.

• Now is a great time to connect with your legislators on budget requests - you can use our Take Action Center to send messages on home modification grants or home and community based services funding. You can also send your own personal message to your legislators using the "Find Officials" function on the bottom right side of the Take Action Center.

Time to Think About Voting!

You may not realize it, but it's time to think about voting again. When more than one person in a political party wants to run for an office, there is a primary election to decide which one will be the party's candidate. The primary election in Iowa is scheduled for Tuesday, June 2. So now's a great time to get ready for that!

• Check to make sure you are registered to vote at your current address here. It is important to note that you must be pre-registered to vote by May 22.

• Pre-register to avoid showing extra documents needed for same day registration.

• If you are not registered to vote or need to change your registration, find out how here.

• Make sure you have the documents you need to vote (valid ID, voter verification card, see more here).

• Think about how you want to vote. If you want to vote at home, you must have your request in by May 18. So make a plan.

• You can read more about early voting options here.

• You can see more information for voters with disabilities here.

• Think about WHO you want to vote for by doing a bit of research. You can find a list of the people running for each office here, and you can google them to find their campaign websites. Sometimes organizations can help you find candidates that will support an issue you care about, so reach out to them.

• Reach out to the Iowa DD Council and their network of Iowans with Disabilities in Action to see how you can connect with the candidates in your area. Check in with infoNET (which posts a candidate guide in the summer).

• Finally, watch social media posts by those running for office, you can learn a lot about them from their posts, or see where they are in the community to see them.

Capitol Snapshot: Home Modification Grants

This week's Capitol Snapshot features a conversation between the Iowa DD Council's Bill Kallestad and the Livable Homes Coalition's Emilee Harris. Bill and Emilee will walk us through the coalition's request for funding home modifications that will help Iowans with disabilities and older Iowans live safely and independently in their communities of choice.

Learn more by watching, and be sure to follow up by emailing your legislators. You can also cut and paste the message in the linked alert into an email to two key legislators:

• Rep. Joel Fry ([email protected])

• Sen. Mark Costello ([email protected]).

NEXT CAPITOL CHAT:

April 29 (11 a.m. to Noon)

You can watch daily debate:

Daily Debate List:

Senate & House

Live Debate:

Senate & House (video)

Senate & House (audio)

Catchup on Recorded Debates:

Senate & House (video)

Senate & House (audio)

Advocate Resources

Bill Tracker

Action Center

Calendar & Legislative Town Halls

Guide to the Iowa Legislature

Advocacy Toolkit

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



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This project was supported, in part by grant number 2101IASCDD, from the U.S. Administration for Community Living, Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, D.C. 20201. Grantees undertaking projects with government sponsorship are encouraged to express freely their findings and conclusions. Points of view or opinions do not, therefore, necessarily represent official ACL policy.