Session reconvenes

The Iowa Legislature resumed our 2020 session at 9 a.m. Wednesday. We suspended the session in March in re-sponse to the coronavirus out-break.

Since then, nearly every aspect of our lives—at home, work, school, worship and play—has changed dramatical-ly. More than 20,000 Iowans have been infected with the virus, and more than 550 Io-wans have lost their lives. A record number of Iowans have filed for unemployment, and thousands have had their paychecks reduced.

The list of stressors Iowans face right now is lengthy. We deserve honest leadership to safely guide us through these trying times.

State leaders must be laser-focused on solutions that ad-dress Iowans’ concerns; use available resources to protect education, health care and em-ployment security; and press our federal delegation to pro-vide continued assistance that meets Iowa’s unique needs.

In our reconvened session, my top priorities are:

• Passing a balanced budget based on the latest revenue estimates.

• Fighting for the short-term and long-term needs of Iowans, businesses and com-munities impacted by the coro-navirus pandemic.

• Pushing for laws to ad-dress racial inequities in Iowa. Many bills have been pro-posed. I’m hopeful that recent events will motivate all legisla-tors to act.

I encourage you to follow what’s happening at the Statehouse and offer your input:

• Get information on each day’s schedule and the bills to be taken up, as well as a live stream of Senate action, at legis.iowa.gov.

• At face-book.com/iowasenatedemocrats, we will provide updates on the session, and share videos, photos, news and additional resources.

• Our caucus website, sen-ate.iowa.gov/democrats, will have bill summaries, news re-leases and relevant analysis.

• To share your concerns and ideas, please email me at amanda.ragan@legis.iowa.gov.

Sen. Amanda Ragan (D-Mason City) serves Franklin, Butler and Cerro Gordo counties in Senate District 27. She can be reached at 515-281-3371 or 641-424-0874. Email her at aman-da.ragan@legis.iowa.gov.