Debate on House bills continued in earnest this week and we had several late nights.

The priorities for this week were bills that dealt with the workforce shortage and child care, which are tightly coupled issues. 

Child care access is a supplement to the work we’ve done on the Future Ready Iowa Act and the Last Dollar Scholarship program. The high cost of child care is often a major roadblock for many families and single parents struggling to get by. This week, the Iowa House overwhelmingly passed five bills to expand access to child care in the state. These bills are part of a legislative package brought forward by House Republicans this session to increase child care workforce, increase provider rates to maintain existing child care facilities, provide incentives to develop new child care facilities, and support hard-working families to afford the high cost of child care.

The five bills that passed this week do the following:

• House File 2424 passed unanimously to establish a state funded off-ramp program from Child Care Assistance (CCA) that will gradually increase cost-sharing from families as they increase their income. This bill removes the ceiling on Iowan’s ability to be successful. You often hear about the cliff effect in government programs — where individuals are stuck in welfare dependency and the program is limiting their ability to take a raise or promotion. This bill addresses the cliff effect in Child Care Assistance.

• House File 2270 and House File 2271 provide significant rate increases to child care providers accepting Child Care Assistance. The increase between the two bills amounts to $11 million annually directly to child care providers covered with federal carry forward funds. Between 2018 and 2019, we saw a reduction of 18 licensed child care centers, 140 child development homes, and 99 unregistered homes accepting CCA in Iowa. These bills will help maintain current child care providers.

 • House File 2600 establishes a public and private partnership to expand the child care workforce in the state. This bill will help recruit and retain child care providers in Iowa by providing matching funds to communities that match the state funds.

Additional bills from House Republicans on child care will be considered at a future date. In total, this child care legislative package will take significant steps to address child care access and affordability throughout the state.

Other bills of note:

• House File 2581 implemented changes to the Industrial Hemp program that was passed last year, including changes to allow the sale of products derived from hemp for human consumption. These products can not contain more than .3 percent of THC in accordance with federal law. The consumable hemp product must be manufactured in Iowa using hemp product that was produced exclusively in Iowa, and the hemp product must comply with certain packaging and labeling requirements. The bill also outlaws the smoking of hemp in any form. If smoking hemp were allowed it would render our laws against the recreational use of marijuana extremely difficult to enforce.

• House File 2589 implemented changes to the Medical Cannabidiol program that have been recommended by the Medical Cannabidiol program board. One of the most significant changes is the change from a 3 percent limit for THC, the psycho-reactive component of cannabis, to a limit of 4.5 grams per 90 days which is widely recognized as a medicinal dosage level. A previous bill in 2019 had set the limit at 25 grams per 90 days but this bill was vetoed when it was found that the 25 gram limit was well beyond the level recognized as a medically valid dosage and not acceptable to the board.  

• House File 2138 imposes a $100 per month co-pay limit on insurance companies for insulin. This limit ensures that those suffering from diabetes will not have to pay more than $100 per month for their insulin medicine when covered by an insurance plan.

One of the issues we continue to discuss is the governors Invest In Iowa Act that seeks to implement a series of changes including reducing the income tax rates from 8.5 percent to 5.5 percent, implementing a 1 cent sales tax increase, increasing funding for water quality, shifting funding for mental health services from property tax to state general funds, and many other changes. Overall the plan maintains a reduction in the overall tax burden on Iowans and solves longstanding issues with how mental health programs are funded. However, many are concerned about the sales tax increase. I need to hear more from my constituents about this overall plan, so please contact me by email, phone, or any other means if you wish to give me feedback or ask questions about the plan.

It’s always fun to greet my constituents down here in this beautiful building.

This week I was visited by my pastor at New Hope Community Church, Kerry Jech; pastor Dave Martin of Faith Assembly of God; and pastor Scott Surovec, formerly of New Hope. I was also visited by the Tama County Farm Bureau board, we discussed their priorities for this session.  

By all means, please come visit the capitol!