2023 Iowa Legislative Session - Week 16 Summary

The 110th day of the legislative session has come and gone with no adjournment. Conjecture is adjournment “sine die” will likely occur sometime next week. The House has issued a lengthy debate calendar for next Monday May 1 - signaling the House’s intent to finish. The Senate debated each day this week and passed 44 bills. This despite the fact that the voting machine in the Senate stopped working correctly later in the week so the roll call vote was literally a “roll call” taken by the Secretary of the Senate. 

The House didn’t debate this week, but the House Appropriations Committee met on Thursday to move several appropriations bills forward. The status of the appropriations bills are outlined in the following chart. Of note, there are ten budget bills in addition to the standings appropriation bill which is generally the last bill to be considered in the legislative session.

The Governor also signed five bills into law on Thursday:

• HF 316: A bill for an act relating to value-added products or services offered by insurers or producers.  
• HF 570: A bill for an act relating to assault including assault on pregnant women and domestic abuse assault, and providing penalties. 
• HF 656: A bill for an act establishing the dentist and dental hygienist compact. 
• SF 135: A bill for an act relating to registered interior design and providing penalties. 
• SF 193: A bill for an act relating to the removal of human remains by a removal technician. 

In the Know 

This week Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird announced a partnership with the National Child Identification Program to provide families with child ID kits to help law enforcement identify and find a missing child. The kit includes an inkless fingerprint card, a DNA swab and a recording of any distinguishing physical characteristics of the child. This information stays at home with the parent.  

Iowa legislators approved an amendment to the Iowa Constitution. The proposed amendment, House Joint Resolution 3, clarifies the state’s line of succession. The constitutional amendment states that when a governor appoints a lieutenant governor to fill a vacancy, that new lieutenant governor is granted the office’s full authority and succeeds the governor. The need for the amendment was brought about in 2017 when Governor Kim Reynolds replaced former Governor Terry Branstad. At that time, the question was raised whether legally, the state constitution granted Reynolds’ appointed lieutenant governor, Adam Gregg, the office’s full authority and whether he would become governor if Reynolds had to leave office. The question was no longer necessary after Reynolds and Gregg won election in 2018. 

To pass a Constitutional amendment it must be approved by consecutive Iowa General Assemblies, and then passed during a general election. House Joint Resolution 3 was first passed in 2022, and was passed again in 2023. The amendment is now eligible to be on the ballot in the November 2024 general election.

BrownWinick Government Relations

To view additional summaries from the 2023 Iowa Legislative Session or to learn more about BrownWinick’s Government Relations Team, visit our Lobbying and Public Policy team page.