Iowa’s 2025 legislative session begins Monday. Here’s what to know

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Madeleine C King /Iowa Public Radio Iowa's 2025 legislative session begins Jan. 13, 2025.
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By Katarina Sostaric, Iowa Public Radio

Des moines, IA-Monday marks the start of Iowa’s 2025 legislative session, with state lawmakers returning to the Iowa Capitol in Des Moines for a few months of passing new state laws and deciding how to spend Iowans’ tax dollars.

This is the ninth session in a row with full GOP control of the legislature, and Republicans grew their numbers in the November election. The session is starting with 67 Republicans and 33 Democrats in the House, and 34 Republicans and 15 Democrats in the Senate. A special election later this month will decide the 50th senator, after Chris Cournoyer resigned to become the new lieutenant governor.

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What are the top priorities for lawmakers this year?

Republican House and Senate leaders have said their top priority will be property tax relief, but they have not agreed on a plan yet.

House Speaker Pat Grassley, R-New Hartford, said there may be a few different proposals that are considered during the session aimed at curbing the growth of property taxes and giving taxpayers more certainty. He said all options need to be on the table as this conversation begins.

“I also want us to be very aggressive and bold in our approach to this, because Iowans have an expectation, and they’ve seen from the Legislature that when we work on big things, we’ve been able to achieve results,” Grassley said.

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House Minority Leader Jennifer Konfrst, D-Windsor Heights, said Democrats would also like property taxes to be lower. She said the needs of cities and counties have to be considered in that process.

“One of my city leaders said to me, ‘Do you want me to cut police or fire?’” Konfrst said. “I mean, these are real decisions that cities are having to make, so we have to balance that with the property tax bill at the end of the day.”

House Republicans have also created a new committee focused on higher education they say will help ensure colleges and universities are preparing students for high-need jobs. They are also expected to continue efforts to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

Senate Republicans have said they will try again to require some low-income Iowans who get health insurance through Medicaid to work or receive job training. That would need federal approval, which will become more likely when President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

Senate President Amy Sinclair, R-Allerton, said the state should not have a system “that encourages people to lose sight of the dignity that’s been found in work.”

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“We should not have one group of taxpayers paying the health care of another group of taxpayers, without them putting some investment in themselves to come back and be a part of our workforce,” she said.

Most adults who use Medicaid are working, according to analysis by KFF, with the most common reasons for not working being caregiving responsibilities, illness or disability, and school attendance.

Madeleine Charis King/Iowa Public Radio
Gov. Kim Reynolds gave the Condition of the State address to members of the Iowa Legislature inside the House Chamber on Jan. 10, 2023, at the Iowa State Capitol in Des Moines.

Gov. Reynolds to propose restricting cell phones in classrooms

Gov. Kim Reynolds is scheduled to reveal her legislative agenda Tuesday evening during her eighth Condition of the State address. She has said she wants to restrict the use of cell phones in classrooms, but has not publicly provided details.

Reynolds told reporters in November that she wants to respect the work that has already been done by some school districts to restrict cell phone use in different ways.

“So I want to supplement that and enhance that,” she said. “I don’t want to really step on anything that they’ve done. So it’ll probably be more of a floor, is what we’re looking at, but just to encourage people to really move in that direction.”

Democrats put focus on lowering costs

Democratic leaders, though they will not have control of the lawmaking agenda, have said they want to focus on lowering costs, raising wages and making life more affordable for Iowans. That can include efforts to boost affordable child care and housing.

Senate Minority Leader Janice Weiner of Iowa City, going into her first session as the top Democrat in the Senate, said the Iowans who elected Democratic lawmakers deserve to have their voices heard.

“They deserve to have us represent them,” she said. “They deserve to have us hold our Republican colleagues accountable if it appears to us that they are veering into areas that are not in the interest of all Iowans. So we’re here to do a job, and we plan to do it.”

Democratic leaders have also said they will be watching how the GOP majority handles the state budget process, especially now that tax cuts are projected to cause a big drop in revenue.

The target date to end the legislative session is May 2, but the session can continue for as long as it takes to approve a state budget.

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