Government : Ninth Week of the 2025 Legislative Session

In the ninth week of session, the senate was busy passing bills through the senate floor and over to the House of Representatives. We passed about thirty bills across the floor this week, covering a range of issues, including emergency medical services, statutes of limitations, commercial driver's license requirements, and gift card fraud to name just a few. This week, we also celebrated UNI Day at the Capitol, talked with health care professionals during Hospital Day on the Hill, and met with individuals from the Lutheran Services in Iowa.
 
On Monday in the Senate, we passed SF 75, requiring a county that has the main campus of a Regent university in it to use districts to elect supervisors. This bill would make sure those areas with a large student population reserve a voice for the permanent residents who live in these areas year-round and ensuring their voices are not drowned out by those who are only living in the county part-time. This bill would provide a more accurate representation of the demographic that truly represents the area.
 
Iowans will often hear the legislature talk about reducing the size and cost of government, but rarely does the reduction in the size and cost of government manifest itself in such a clear way as it did this week in the Iowa Senate. On Monday, the Senate passed SF 295, authorizing the demolition and sale of the Wallace state office building. Since its opening in 1978 with needless government regulations on its construction, the Wallace building has consistently required an outsized level of maintenance and repair. According to the Department of Administrative Services, the cost to properly refurbish the building would be $85 million. Demolishing the building will cost $7 million. The property and an adjacent parking ramp are authorized to be sold, and the proceeds of the sale will be deposited in the general fund. Authorizing the demolition of an inefficient and unnecessary office building is another promise kept by Senate Republicans to make government smaller and more efficient.
 
The Iowa Senate also passed SF 277 this week, making several adjustments and clarifications to the chronic absenteeism policy passed last year. Throughout the beginning of the school year, the legislature has heard from many parents and schools on the policy and were happy to work with us to make some changes to the law. The notable changes are the addition of several items to the list of exceptions for students, the format by which parents are notified of absences, and the added discretion for schools in future engagement meetings. We know that chronic absences are a pressing issue in Iowa, with over 20 percent of our students qualifying as chronically absent. The policy from last year has improved the chronic absenteeism rates in Iowa schools, but it was also creating concerns with parents whose children met some criteria but who remained conscientious about their children's attendance. This bill gives schools more flexibility in addressing this issue while continuing to focus on ensuring students are in the classroom and helping them be successful in their daily lives.
 
Supporting Iowans with the Right to Save
 
Affordable health care is an issue that is raised frequently from constituents. This week, the legislature took steps towards improving this.
 
Senate File 319, the Patient's Right to Save Act, requires all health care providers disclose the discounted cash price it will accept for specific health care services. The discounted cash price shall be available to both insured and uninsured individuals. Health care providers are also required to issue an itemized list of services received for cash payment. The bill also establishes a savings incentive program that permits covered individuals who met their deductible to receive half the price between the discounted cash payment and the negotiated price for medically necessary covered health care services.
 
The goal of the bill is to give patients the ability to compare prices, bring more competition to the industry, and help address the rising costs of health care. On average, cash payments are 50-70 percent cheaper than the negotiated private insurance rate. So often in government, policy solutions to the price of health care either make it more expensive or reduce access to care. This policy creates transparency and introduces free market principles into an industry in need of more market incentives to lower costs and improve services.
 
This bill is one way that the legislature can support patients and families, shed some light on the costs for services and treatments, and work to bring down the cost of health care. SF 319 passed on a bipartisan vote of 47-0, and now goes over the House of Representatives for their consideration.