5 New Iowa Laws You Should Pay Attention To

The 2023 Iowa Legislative wrapped up in early May, but the ramifications of what one Democratic lawmaker called “the most harmful and destructive” session ever will be felt for a while.

The opening days of the session were all about rushing through Gov. Kim Reynolds’ taxpayer-funded private school tuition voucher plan, which predictably led to private schools raising tuition prices. Lawmakers then moved on and passed a series of bills targeting the rights of LGBTQ kids and their parents.

In addition to those bills, the Iowa GOP-led legislature passed several other major pieces of legislation:

Expanding Child Labor (SF 542)

Status: Passed both chambers, awaits Reynolds’ signature

SF 542 was publicly depicted as a way to allow teenagers more opportunities to experience the joys of having a job—even though they could already work in Iowa—and to modernize the state’s child labor laws, but in reality, it was developed by industry lobbyists as a way to fill Iowa’s workforce shortages with teens.

Negotiations between the Iowa House, Iowa Senate, labor groups, and other stakeholders helped remove some of the “most egregious” aspects of the bill—the original version, for example, let kids work in meatpacking plants and even mines with certain exceptions and with no protections if they were injured or killed on the job.

The version of SF 542 that could be signed into law removes most of the dangerous jobs and adds protections for teens who serve alcohol at restaurants—something that was previously prohibited under Iowa law. Teens will also need parental permission to serve alcohol.

The legislation also allows teens to work more hours. Iowans under age 16 can work six hours a day during the school year—they’re currently allowed to work four—and 16- and 17-year-olds can work the same hours as adults. In contradiction to federal rules, the Iowa bill also allows teens who are 14 and 15 to work until 11 p.m. in the summer and 9 p.m. during the school year.

While most of the dangerous jobs were omitted from the final version of the child labor bill, under a work-based learning program, teens could work jobs that include activities such as woodworking, operating power saws, roofing, demolition, and working on assembly lines. 

Cutting Public Assistance (SF 494)

Status: Passed both chambers, awaits Reynolds’ signature

Most Iowa Republicans in the Iowa Legislature essentially voted for a bill to spend millions of dollars in order to lose out on millions more in federal dollars, just to take healthcare and food benefits away from thousands of underprivileged Iowans.

SF 494 forces Iowans who already qualify for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, Medicaid, and other forms of public assistance to jump through additional hoops, including new identity verification and asset testing requirements.

About 8,000 Iowans would lose their Medicaid benefits and 2,800 would lose their SNAP benefits under SF 494, according to estimates from the nonpartisan Iowa Legislative Services Agency (LSA).

According to the LSA, it would cost about $7.5 million in state funds over two years to implement SF 494 and the eventual cost savings come from kicking people off of SNAP, Medicaid, and other benefits.

SNAP is primarily funded by the federal government—Iowa pays half the administrative costs—and Republicans who supported passing SF 494 said it would root out fraud and be a sensible use of taxpayer dollars.

But the LSA calculated that the fraud rate for Iowa’s SNAP program is just 0.07%. This is based on a 2022 fiscal year report from the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals that showed there were 195 SNAP disqualifications out of 286,757 enrolled individuals. 

Limiting the State Auditor’s Ability to Audit (SF 478)

Status: Passed both chambers, awaits Reynolds’ signature

After the 2022 general election, State Auditor Rob Sand was the only Democrat left holding statewide office, as Iowa Republicans, carried by Reynolds, nearly pulled a clean sweep of Iowa’s statewide executive office.

In response, Republicans decided to strip away the power of Sand’s office, which not only affects him but future state auditors as well. The Iowa GOP has denied this bill was politically motivated, while simultaneously supporting and passing legislation to give new Republican Attorney General Brenna Bird’s office more power.

The most notable aspect of SF 478 is it takes away the auditor’s office’s ability to subpoena records for audits. Instead, representatives from Sand’s office, the entity being audited, and Reynolds’ office will meet in arbitration to decide if a record can be used in the audit. A majority vote would determine how that matter will be decided and those decisions are final.

The bill also comes at a time when Iowa is pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into a taxpayer-funded private school tuition plan; allowing Reynolds to independently set the salaries of 16 state agency directors; and undergoing a massive restructuring of state government.  

@iowastartingline

Sen. Petersen spoke during floor debate on Wednesday about a bill that restricts the powers of the State Auditor’s office. The bill passed both chambers and now heads to the governor’s desk. #iowa #iowanews #iowapolitics #ialegis

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Government Reorganization to Give Gov. Reynolds More Power (SF 514)

Status: Signed into law

Using federal American Rescue Plan funds, Reynolds paid an out-of-state firm nearly $1 million to create this almost 1,600-page bill which she said will shrink government and save hundreds of millions of dollars.

This bill reduces Iowa’s executive-level cabinet agencies from 37 to 16, and gives Reynolds’ office more power, including the ability to unilaterally hire, fire, and set the salaries of high-level state officials.

No Iowa office, department, or agency was left unscathed by this bill, which even took away the ability of the State Library Commission to select the state librarian, direct funds and set priorities. Considering that Reynolds has embraced efforts to ban books and restrict what topics can be discussed in school classrooms, the next state librarian could be of the same ilk. Under the law, the Iowa Department of Administrative Services director, who answers to and is selected by Reynolds, appoints the new state librarian.

SF 514 is also the bill that expands the powers of the Iowa Attorney General’s (AG) office. It allows the AG’s office to take over county jurisdiction to prosecute criminal cases—including suspected election-related crimes—without permission from the county attorney.      

Pay attention to that “election-related crimes” provision going forward.

Property Tax Reform (HF 718)

Status: Signed into law

If you are Facebook friends with an Iowan who owns property, earlier this year you more than likely saw a post (or posts) complaining about their property’s assessed value. The good news is that Iowa lawmakers—Democrats and Republicans—also saw those posts and did something to fix it.

The Iowa Senate initially passed a $200 million property tax relief package and the Iowa House passed a $100 million version, and the chambers agreed to a version that ultimately provides about $100 million in relief.

According to Iowa Capital Dispatch, “the legislation caps levy rates for cities and counties” based on tax revenue growth and excess revenue has to be used to lower property taxes.

The Capital Dispatch report goes on to note how this will result in savings: “These caps—as well as the new $6,500 homestead property tax exemption for Iowa seniors and $8,000 exemption for veterans—will mean Iowans pay a smaller share on the assessed value of their homes, farms or businesses in future years. 

“As Iowa homeowners saw a 22% average growth in home value assessments this year, these measures will mean larger reductions in costs for taxpayers.”

by Ty Rushing
05/18/23

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