by Senator Lynn Evans •

Our second legislative deadline has passed, meaning we had another busy week as we worked on moving House bills through the Iowa Senate. This process keeps us focused on important priorities, bills with enough support to remain viable at this point during session, and hopefully helps us end session on time this year. It usually also means as we work on legislation, we are finding additional issues that may prevent it from moving forward.
Two issues that come up consistently when talking with Iowans are public safety and mental health. The Judiciary Committee discussed a few bills this week aimed at helping Iowans, supporting Second Amendment rights, and dealing with the fentanyl disaster that continues to consume our country and our state.
House File 2576 creates a 1st degree murder charge for delivery of fentanyl to another person if that delivery results in the death of the other person and is one more step we can take to try and curb the devastation and help Iowans avoid the loss of a loved one.
Another bill, House File 2421, is aimed at protecting Iowans from harming themselves or others. It provides liability protection to federal firearms license holders when they are trying to prevent suicides.

We continue seeing the benefits of the tax policies we have passed. Just last week, Iowa was rated as the best state for retirees. In 2022, we passed a massive income tax relief bill for Iowans. While it implemented several large reforms, like putting into place a 3.9 percent flat tax for all Iowans and providing farmers a first-time pension exemption. It also completely eliminated the tax on retirement income, making Iowa one of the most tax-friendly states for retirees.
Congratulations to Clay County Public Health! They were selected by the University of Iowa College of Public Health and its Business Leadership Network as one of the five winners of its annual Community Grant Program funded by the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation. Their “Every Day Healthy Eating” project will provide education and cooking tools to individuals who frequent local food pantries. The purpose of the Business Leadership Network Community Grant is to foster collaboration in Iowa communities in addressing areas of identified community health or public health need.
It is an honor to serve Senate District 3 at our state Capitol in Des Moines. Reach out anytime at lynn.evans@legis.iowa.gov.
The thirteenth week of the legislative session involved a lot of debate by the whole Senate on important legislation and issues. We are working our way through bills that have been amended by the House and Senate, finding agreement on the budget for the year, and confirming several appointees by the governor.
Senate File 2401 is one of the bills we debated to help support farmers and the agriculture industry in our state. Senate File 2401 adjusts the floor and ceiling for the Grain Indemnity Fund to $12 million and $5 million and extends coverage to credit sale contracts.
Last year, the Grain Indemnity Fund ran out of money due to several circumstances and the fee had to be reinstated. This bill updates these numbers to better reflect today’s economy and hopefully prevent additional fees on farmers in the future.
On Tuesday the Senate passed HF 2487. It is an update to the law surrounding teacher-student relationships and adds a definition and prohibition against adults grooming students.
HF 2653 also passed in response to the tragedy in Perry earlier this year. This bill allows Perry schools to offer retention bonuses to help retain their employees for the upcoming school year.
Governor Kim Reynolds signed two important bills into law sent to her by the legislature. The first was the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which was signed into law on Tuesday. Senate File 2096, the bill eliminating the gender balance restriction on public boards and commissions, was signed into law on Wednesday.
On Tuesday the Iowa Senate passed Senate Joint Resolution 2004, a proposal to put a flat tax into the Iowa Constitution. The constitutional amendment would add a single tax rate into the constitution, ensuring one single rate for all Iowans and making it more difficult for a graduated tax rate to be put back into place.
Iowans know this constitutional amendment would protect them from unfair tax increases, keep the tax code simpler, and limit irresponsible budgeting in future legislatures. While Senate Democrats continue their crusade to raise taxes, Senate Republicans have been focused on protecting taxpayers by passing historic measure after historic measure focused on tax relief for Iowa families.
The Senate passed SF 2412 to help control the cost of herbicide for farmers. A few years ago, trial lawyers took aim at RoundUp, a commonly used herbicide on many farms across the state. Trial lawyers found a willing judge and jury in California to award a multi-billion-dollar judgement against the maker of that product, claiming the label the company used did not adequately warn the users of the product of the risks of using it.
SF 2412 simply states manufacturers cannot be sued for the required EPA label they put on their agricultural products. Despite the false rhetoric, nothing in this bill prevents a person from suing if a product is found to cause cancer. It just states a manufacturer cannot be sued if they label their product as required under federal law and regulated by the EPA. In Iowa, the legislature is routinely battling out-of-state attacks on production agriculture.
On Saturday, I had the privilege of representing Cherokee County as a delegate at the Republican District Convention. We voted on state central committee members and adopted a platform. I was also honored to be elected as a national delegate to represent Iowa’s 4th Congressional District and the great state of Iowa at the Republican National Convention later this summer!