The Thompson Times

These past couple weeks has had the House intensely working on bills and bringing many to the floor for votes. Those passing on the floor are sent over to the Senate in hopes to get them through the process of subcommittee and committee. This past Thursday marks the halfway point to the Session.

The recent pandemic revealed how easily executive overreach can occur across our nation. In many states, governors abused their power in the name of emergency. 

House File 2694: Governor’s Emergency Powers ensures that never happens in Iowa. Even in an emergency, the Governor cannot close places of worship, unilaterally change election law, mandate a vaccination, or regulate conduct within a private residence.

This legislation allows the Governor to offer guidance and make recommendations, but it ensures that deeply personal decisions remain exactly where they belong: in the hands of Iowans.

House File 2538: Empowering Teachers and Improving Learning Environments

Iowa educators are increasingly facing violent and disruptive behavior that halts learning for everyone. HF 2538 aims to do two things: Ensure that teachers are being heard when dealing with a disruptive student and that students with disabilities are in the best learning environment for their success. This bill allows teachers to remove a student from the classroom if they exhibit violent, threatening, or disruptive behavior. The student cannot return to the classroom until a meeting between the teacher and the principal takes place. 

House File 2716: Welfare Reform This bill aims to protect the integrity and sustainability of Iowa’s public assistance programs so they can provide proper care for the Iowans who really need it. It does this by empowering disabled Iowans by expanding eligibility for Medicaid for Employed Persons with Disabilities program from 250% of Federal Poverty Limit to 300%, allowing more disabled Iowans to qualify and to accept raises and promotions without fear of losing Medicaid coverage. It also excludes pension accounts and spousal income from income eligibility determinations. 

The bill also increases the quality of care for disabled Iowans by increasing the base reimbursement rate for Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) providers in rural areas to cover the trav el time and expenses incurred and to keep them out of expensive institutions. Protecting the integrity of the system with fraud checks is critical to maintain care for those eligible. Participants will require proof of at least 12 months of residency in Iowa on applications for public assistance. This section exempts individuals receiving Social Security.

House File 2345 IPERS Improvements passed the House and if it passes in the Senate, it will provide more flexibility for the IPERS. It looks to deliver improved service to its members and beneficiaries. There are 420,000 members and retirees and funds of over $40 billion. The changes smooths out demand on the customer services employees at IPERS but is timelier for members when considering retirement.

Key Drivers of Cancer in Iowa 

On Wednesday, March 11, state lawmakers received a progress update on a $1 million state-funded study investigating the primary causes of cancer in Iowa. The University of Iowa College of Public Health presented its latest findings to a joint meeting of the House Health and Human Services and Environmental Protection Committees. KCCI reported that we continue to be ranked second in the nation for the most new cancer cases ages 20 – 39. 

This year the emphasis was farmers and other pesticide applicators in Iowa. “They (farmers) are 13% less likely to get cancer according to the report. Farmers in the study reported less drinking and more activity. Behavioral choices play a big role in developing the disease, along with diet, exercise, tobacco use and more.” 

Last week the House passed legislation to coincide with ways to improve Iowans health. HF 2676-- The legislation comes as Iowa faces mounting health concerns. According to the latest America’s Health Rankings report:

•Iowa ranks 11th highest for adult obesity with 70.7% of Iowans being obese or overweight.

•We have the 6th highest rate of excessive drinking.

•We rank 43rd out of 50 states for exercise.

•We sit in the bottom half for fruit and vegetable consumption, at 31st.

•Reports of frequent mental distress have risen by 71% - suicide rates have increased by 26% in the last decade.

To combat these rankings, HF 2676 implements several key reforms by creating a new requirement for nutrition education for certain health care professionals through continuing education and during medical school, so doctors are just as equipped to prescribe patients with healthy lifestyle choices as they are to prescribe pharmaceuticals. It ensures the SNAP and summer EBT Programs dollars can only be spent on healthy foods. 

HF 2676 also allows pharmacists to distribute ivermectin for human consumption over-the-counter if they choose, giving Iowans safer access to this treatment if they desire it.  HF 2676 takes aim at improving the health of our children both physically and mentally. It prohibits schools from serving food and beverages with harmful dyes and chemicals; sets common-sense limits on screentime during school by limiting digital instruction in grades K-5 to 60 minutes per school day; boosts weekly physical education to 120 minutes for all grade levels; ensures student participation in at least one extracurricular activity, with waiver options for jobs and activities not sponsored by the school; requires education standards to include instruction on nutrition to emphasize the importance of animal-based protein, dairy, vegetables, and fruit; and directs the Department of Education and the Department of Agriculture to work together to adopt updated school nutrition guidelines that align with the state’s dietary recommendations and consider Iowa’s agricultural resources. 

This past week 34 bills made it to the floor of the House for a vote. Almost that many were sent over from the Senate to the House for action through subcommittees and committee votes. One of those bills I wrote and managed during floor debate. HF2696--Expungment is an act expunging certain crimes committed by human trafficking victims while they were being trafficked. Iowa was one of 3 remaining states which did not have expungement for trafficked victims. 

HSB 762 Temporarily Raising HMO Tax

Currently, Iowa insurance companies pay less than 1% in provider tax to the state. For calendar year 2026, the tax rate on insurance companies is .925%. This is one of the lowest, if not the lowest, provider tax in the country. Most states are somewhere between 2-4%.

This bill proposes an increase in the tax for nine months, to 2.86%. This is estimated to generate more than $250 million in additional funding, all of which would go toward Medicaid. This revenue is critical as Iowa—like the rest of the country—struggles with the rising cost of Medicaid. Without these funds, the state faces projected Medicaid deficits of approximately $90 million for Fiscal Year 2026 and $167 million for Fiscal Year 2027.

Nobody likes to see their taxes go up. We don’t love raising taxes. However, when faced with a choice between protecting the insurance companies’ profits or health care for Iowans, we’re choosing to protect the health care of Iowans. 

We are asking a multi-billion-dollar industry to contribute at a rate more in line with the rest of the country for just nine months. This isn't a permanent tax hike; it's temporary to ensure our most vulnerable—our seniors in nursing homes and Iowans with disabilities—don't lose access to care