CONTRIBUTED PHOTO -Sen. Kara Warme (R-Ames) speaks on the Senate floor last week.

With the first funnel behind us, this week we focused on floor debate and passed around thirty bills addressing a wide range of issues, from emergency medical services to commercial driver’s license requirements, to statutes of limitations and even gift card fraud.

One bill that I’m particularly proud of is SF 75, which I argued for on the Senate floor. This bill, which passed with a strong vote of 35-12, ensures better rural representation on county boards of supervisors. Specifically, SF 75 mandates that counties with a Regent university campus (including Story County) use districts for supervisor elections. The goal here is simple – to ensure that in areas with large student populations, the voices of permanent residents are not overshadowed by those who are only living in the county part-time. As someone who represents both urban and rural communities, I believe it’s essential that everyone’s voice is heard, and this bill will ensure more accurate representation. The bill now moves to the House, where my colleague, Representative Brett Barker, is helping to floor-manage it.

Floor-managing a bill involves describing it to the full Senate, and answering any questions that arise, then moving the bill to a vote. This week I managed my first bill on the Senate floor, SF 413, which makes common-sense updates to regulations for community bank boards, helping keep our local banks in Iowa and maintaining financial choice for Iowans. In a bit of fun aimed at me as a freshman, my colleagues decided to prank me by voting no on my bill. They eventually changed their votes before the process closed and the bill passed with unanimous support. Afterwards, I had the opportunity to laugh about it with former Lieutenant Governor Adam Gregg, the CEO of the Iowa Bankers Association.

My run-in with Adam Gregg was at an informative event hosted by the Common Sense Institute, featuring Governor Kim Reynolds and former Arizona Governor Doug Ducey. The event focused on the role of free enterprise and policies that are helping drive economic growth across the state. CSI continues to play a vital role in promoting and protecting Iowa’s economy through non-partisan research and collaboration, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to participate and hear from leaders who are passionate about creating an environment where businesses and families can thrive.

In support of families and schools, this week the Iowa Senate passed SF 277, which makes several important adjustments and clarifications to the chronic absenteeism policy that was enacted last year. As many of you know, ensuring that our students are in the classroom and receiving a quality education is critical. This bill provides schools with more flexibility in addressing absenteeism while continuing to focus on student success. The bill reflects the input of many school districts across the state, and I’m pleased that the requested changes I collected from schools across District 26 were all incorporated into the final version of the bill.

As always, please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have thoughts, questions, or concerns about the work we’re doing. Your feedback is vital, and I’m here to listen and work on your behalf.

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Kara Warme, a Republican from Ames, represents District 26 in the Iowa Senate.