The Iowa Legislature continues to barrel towards adjournment as they have just completed the 15th week of the 2025 legislative session. The Legislature is beginning to advance budget bills as several have been filed and two have moved through the full Senate Appropriations Committee. The House and Senate are also focused on tax issues and remaining policy proposals that are still eligible to move through the legislative process.
The 2025 legislative session is nearly guaranteed to go into overtime. Next Friday, May 2nd is when per diem expenses for legislators end, but the only requirement is for a budget to be passed before June 30. The Senate has approved a few budget bills off the floor while the House hasn't passed any at this point. With several budget bills still needing approval and no global budget amount reached, the legislature likely has at least two to three more weeks of work left before they adjourn for the year.
BILLS THAT MOVED THIS WEEK:
On Tuesday, the Senate passed (46-0) House File 117, which establishes the National Guard Service Professional Qualification Scholarship Program; it will now be sent to the Governor to be signed. On Monday, an Amendment (S-3114) was introduced for House File 395, which relates to approved courses of instruction for school bus drivers; this amendment would delay implementation of the new training requirement until January 1, 2026, ensuring that the community colleges have time to use the codes already bought for training through SWCC. On Wednesday, the House concurred in the Senate amendment on House File 706, which relates to open meetings and open records, provides penalties, and makes penalties applicable, and then passed the bill 83-10; the bill will now be sent to the Governor. One of our priorities this session was clearing up the grey area that currently exists on community college instructor employment contracts; we were able to amend House File 890, an education omnibus bill, to include language defining which community college instructors qualify for 279 protections. On Tuesday, the Senate accepted our amendment, and the bill passed 46-0; it will now be sent back to the House where we expect it to pass unanimously. Also on Tuesday, a bill we have been watching very closely, Senate File 288, passed the House 92-0; this bill relates to students who are pregnant or who recently gave birth who attend community colleges. Much of the bill aligns with Title IX requirements; however, the bill was amended to allow for reasonable periods of time, mutually agreed to by both the college and the student, to take examinations, complete a degree, and to take a leave of absence. We were able to amend the amendment by disallowing reduced tuition rates for those students who come back to finish their coursework after giving birth.
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