Increased Teacher Pay Is Among High-Profile Bills Passed during Week 9

With the second funnel deadline quickly approaching, the Iowa House of Representatives diligently passed more than 30 bills off the House floor during week nine of the 2024 legislative session. Bills and Joint Resolutions that originated in the House must pass through a subcommittee and committee in the Senate and vice versa by March 15 to survive the funnel. However, bills in either Appropriations or Ways & Means Committees are exempt from the legislative funnel deadline.

Teacher Compensation

House File (HF) 2630 passed the House unanimously on March 7 with a vote of 92 to 1. It will provide the largest boost in teacher pay in Iowa’s history provided if it passes through the Iowa Senate and gets signed into law by our governor!  The bill establishes a new starting teacher salary of $47,500 –– a 41.8% increase in pay. The bill provides a second year salary of $50,000 and would put Iowa fifth in the nation for first-year teacher pay. Iowa teachers would be among the top nationwide for purchasing power when you factor in our state’s low cost of living.

Election Integrity

House File 2610 is the second round of election law changes since 2016 to help ensure Iowa’s election system remains the most secure in the country. This bill explicitly bans ranked-choice, which involves ranking each candidate in order of preference and reallocating votes to a voter’s second choice candidate if their first choice fails to win a majority. The Iowa Secretary of State’s office has said state law already prohibits the practice, but this bill makes it clear.

Economic Development

This week the Iowa House passed Senate File 574  to spur economic growth. There are two important policy pieces in this bill:

1. Establishing a major economic growth attraction (MEGA) program under the Iowa

Economic Development Authority (IEDA). The MEGA program uses tax credits and a

sales tax refund to incentivize major projects to come to Iowa. It’s important to note that

countries declared to be our adversaries, like China, cannot participate in this program.

2. Appropriating $300,000 to IEDA for costs to certify sites in rural Iowa. Up to $30,000

per site may be used on two certified sites per congressional district annually. This money

must be spent on sites in counties with a population of less than 50,000.

Mental Health

Mental health is one topic most frequently raised during my constituent coffees and legislative forums. The Iowa Legislature for the past six years has worked to increase access to mental health care, increase workforce, increase Medicaid rates, create sustainable long-term funding of the mental health regions, and place an emphasis on children’s mental health care.

This session we have advanced nine bills to address mental health care in Iowa. Below is the status of each bill as of March 6:

• Children’s Mental Health – House File 2402 enhances the rate for psychiatric medical

institutions (PMICs) that care for children with specialized needs and makes regulatory changes to PMICs based on feedback from providers. This bill passed the Iowa House and has been assigned to the Senate Health and Human Services Committee.

• Access Center Transportation – House File 2397 requires the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to authorize payments to ambulances transporting mental health patients in crisis to an access center at a similar amount to when transporting to an emergency room. This bill passed the Iowa House and has been assigned to the Senate Health and Human Services Committee.

• Social Work Compact – House File 2512 establishes an interstate license for social workers. Two states have enacted this compact, and 26 states have pending legislation. The compact is effective upon seven states joining. This bill passed the Iowa House and has been assigned to the Senate State Government Committee.

• Direct Supervision and Licensure by Endorsement – House File 2515 creates licensure by endorsement for licensed marital and family therapists and licensed mental health counselors. This bill also prohibits live and recorded direct observation of client interaction for licensed marriage and family therapists (LMFTs), licensed mental health counselors (LMHCs), and social workers. This bill passed the Iowa House and has been assigned to the Senate State Government Committee.

• Behavioral Health System – House File 2509 transitions the current county-run mental health and disability services regional system to a state behavioral health service system with state contracted administrative service organizations governed by DHHS. If passed, DHHS would be required to post its transition plan online by Sept. 30, 2024, and update it quarterly. This bill is in the House Appropriations Committee. The behavioral health service system has the purpose of prevention, education, early intervention, treatment, recovery support, and crisis services for mental health, substance use, tobacco use, and problem gambling.