STATE LEGISLATURE
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Iowa’s reproductive rights landscape: Get ready for 2025
Your 2025 guide to potential reproductive rights legislation in Iowa
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Gov. Reynolds names IA Sen. Chris Cournoyer as new Lt. Gov
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds has announced state Sen. Chris Cournoyer will be her new lieutenant governor.
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Democrats will return to Des Moines with legislation to feed Iowa kids during the summer
While it needs Republican buy-in, Democrats in the Iowa Legislature plan to reintroduce Summer EBT bill that would have Iowa put $29 million to work feeding 240,000 kids. Child hunger continues to plague Iowa. According to Feeding America, 110,500 children—or 1 in 6 children in the state—do not have enough to eat. But Iowa has…
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Iowa’s coming tax cuts wouldn’t cover current spending
The impact of Republican tax slashing is on the horizon as projections for state tax cuts dip below current state spending. The state is spending more money than it will be taking in under future tax cuts. Under Gov. Kim Reynolds’ leadership, the Iowa Legislature has cut income tax rates for individuals and corporations. Those…
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Reproductive rights, education, lower costs: Iowa House Democrats’ 2025 legislative agenda
Iowa voters want their leaders to listen to what they want. And what voters want is key to the policy agenda for the 2025 legislative session announced Thursday by Iowa House Democrats in the state house.
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Iowa GOP’s child care solution: bigger class sizes, teenage workers
Iowans have long struggled to find reliable, affordable child care, often waiting months or more on lists to get their children into a center. After little progress, Iowa’s Republican lawmakers, who have a majority in state government, made several changes in laws passed in recent years. Their solution? Younger, teenage workers and larger class sizes.
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Advocates file suit to stop Iowa’s ‘unconstitutional’ immigration law
Immigration advocates filed a federal lawsuit Thursday to stop Iowa’s new immigration law—SF 2340—from taking effect arguing that the legislation creates new crimes for anyone in Iowa who has been deported in the past even if they are here legally now. A hearing date has not been set yet. The lawsuit was filed in the…
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How Iowa’s ‘religious freedom’ law could be used to discriminate
Legalized discrimination on religious grounds could be a major consequence of Iowa’s new “religious freedom” bill when Gov. Kim Reynolds signs it into law. During the Iowa Senate debate on this legislation, Sen. Janice Weiner (D-Iowa City), one of Iowa’s three Jewish legislators, said this legislation would be a “blank check for discrimination.” She is…
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‘I’m not going to teach in Iowa’: UNI students explain why they’re not sticking around
She grew up in Ames and went to the University of Northern Iowa (UNI) in Cedar Falls to become a teacher. But Lydia plans to leave Iowa as soon as she graduates. “Here at UNI, there’s so much emphasis in our classes on social-emotional learning and inclusion and talking about issues of diversity,” she said.…
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Rob Sand says GOP bill to let state agencies bypass auditor’s office could lead to corruption
Iowa State Auditor Rob Sand doesn’t want Iowa to be like Illinois when it comes to anti-corruption work, and he doesn’t think anyone else should want that either. At a Thursday press conference, Sand went into detail about his opposition to a proposed bill—Senate File 2311, authored by Republican State Sen. Mike Bousselot of Ankeny—which…
