DES MOINES – Gov. Kim Reynolds took action on 12 bills Friday, completing action on bills resulting from the 2018 legislative session. The action comes before the deadline of June 4, 2018.
The following bills were signed into law in their entirety:
House File 633: an Act relating to shared operational functions for purposes of supplementary weighting for school districts and including effective date and applicability provisions. This bill passed the Iowa Senate on May 5, 47-0 and the Iowa House on May 5, 87-0.
House File 2491: an Act relating to and making appropriations and related statutory changes involving state government entities involved with agriculture, natural resources, and environmental protection. This bill passed the Iowa House on April 25, 57-37 and the Iowa Senate on May 1, 28-21.
House File 2493: an Act making appropriations to the Department of Cultural Affairs, the Economic Development Authority, the Iowa Finance Authority, the Public Employment Relations Board, the Department of Workforce Development, and the State Board of Regents and certain Regents institutions, and properly related matters, and including effective date and retroactive applicability provisions. This bill passed the Iowa House on May 3, 54-36 and the Iowa Senate on May 4, 27-20.
House File 2494: an Act relating to transportation and other infrastructure-related appropriations to the Department of Transportation, including allocation and use of moneys from the road use tax fund and the primary road fund, providing for other properly related matters, and including effective date provisions. This bill passed the Iowa Senate on May 1, 34-15 and the Iowa House on May 3, 90-0.
House File 2495: an Act relating to appropriations to the judicial branch. This bill passed the Iowa House on April 30, 56-41 and the Iowa Senate on May 1, 28-21.
Senate File 2414: an Act relating to and making appropriations to state departments and agencies from the Rebuild Iowa Infrastructure Fund and the Technology Reinvestment Fund, providing for related matters, and including effective date provisions. This bill passed the Iowa Senate on May 2, 45-3 and the Iowa House on May 2, 57-36.
Senate File 2415: an Act relating to the funding of, the operation of, and appropriation of moneys to the College Student Aid Commission, the Department for the Blind, the Department of Education, and the State Board of Regents, providing for related matters, and providing applicability provisions. This bill passed the Iowa Senate on May 2, 26-21 and the Iowa House on May 3, 54-36.
Senate File 2416: an Act relating to and making appropriations and related statutory changes involving certain state departments, agencies, funds, and certain other entities, providing for regulatory authority, and other properly related matters, and including effective date provisions. This bill passed the Iowa House on May 2, 55-38 and the Iowa Senate on May 4, 28-20.
The following bills were signed into law with item vetoes:
House File 2492: an Act relating to appropriations to the justice system, providing penalties, and including effective date provisions. This bill passed the Iowa House on May 3, 53-36 and the Iowa Senate on May 4, 27-20.
Gov. Reynolds’s veto message:
“House File 2492 is approved on this date with the following exceptions in Sections 5 and 17, of which I disapprove:
“The State of Iowa is currently taking part in a Public Safety Assessment (PSA) pilot program that provides judges with an objective, data-driven approach that they can use in pretrial proceedings when exercising their discretion. Sections 5 and 17 end that pilot program immediately.
“I disapprove of these sections because I believe that we should consider and study ways to create a fairer pretrial system that protects the public. But I also understand that the legislature and other stakeholders have questions about the PSA and whether it considers all of the appropriate factors. For that reason, I am instructing the agencies of the executive branch to continue their participation in this pilot program until December 31, 2018. At that time, the pilot will be concluded and further use of this assessment suspended until the data from the pilot can be analyzed. If, after studying the data and research conclusions, it is found that this program will be in the best interests of the public, then new legislation should be considered that authorizes the PSA or similar risk-assessment tools. I want to also emphasize that, even during the short pendency of the pilot project, the PSA does not and should not replace the judge’s discretion. The PSA is but one piece of information and the ultimate decision rests with each person sitting on the bench.”
House File 2502: an Act relating to state and local finances by making appropriations, providing for legal and regulatory responsibilities, providing for other properly related matters, and providing for effective date, contingent effective date, applicability, and retroactive applicability provisions. This bill passed the Iowa House on May 5, 54-33 and the Iowa Senate on May 5, 30-17.
Gov. Reynolds’s veto message:
“Senate File 2502 is approved on this date with the following exception(s) of which I disapprove:
“As to Sections 67 and 69 of Senate File 2502, I am unable to approve these items. Section 67 prescribes that any newly formed Multiple Employer Welfare Arrangement (MEWA) be formed as a 501(c)(9) entity. There are other viable tax structure alternatives, and I believe this requirement is overly prescriptive and would have a limiting effect on any future employer interested in the formation of a MEWA for purposes of providing an additional option for health coverage for interested Iowans.
“Section 69 repeals the ability of the Commissioner of the Iowa Insurance Division to adopt emergency rules. It is necessary for the Commissioner to retain this ability in order to ensure for the immediate adoption of rules to administer the provisions of the underlying bill.”
Senate File 2418: an Act relating to appropriations for health and human services and veterans and including other related provisions and appropriations, providing penalties, and including effective date and retroactive and other applicability date provisions. This bill passed the Iowa House on May 4, 55-35 and the Iowa Senate on May 5, 26-21.
Gov. Reynolds’s veto message:
“Senate File 2418 is approved on this date with the following exception(s) of which I disapprove:
“I am unable to approve the designated portion of Section 20, inserting a new subsection 22 into 2017 Iowa Acts, Chapter 174, Section 51, of Senate File 2418. This item provides that $195,000 of the funds appropriated by 2017 Iowa Acts, Chapter 174, Section 51 shall be used by the Department of Human Services for a request for proposal relating to a partnership between the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics and a durable medical equipment provider. There is nothing in current law that would prevent a durable medical equipment vendor from independently responding to a request for proposal and/or providing durable medical equipment products and services in the State of Iowa. The request for proposal process should be applied fairly and competitively to all providers of durable medical equipment and not limited in a way that excludes Iowa’s existing providers.
“The effect of this specific item veto disapproval of Section 20, inserting a new subsection 22 into 2017 Iowa Acts, Chapter 174, Section 51, of Senate File 2418, shall cause the $195,000 contained in this item to revert back to the General Fund. None of the $195,000 contained in this item shall be retained by the Department of Human Services, nor shall it be diverted for purposes not legislatively specified.”
The following bill was vetoed:
Senate File 2316: an Act relating to transactions by domestic stock insurers, small employer group health insurers, and universal life insurance. This bill passed the Iowa House on May 2, 95-0 and the Iowa Senate on May 5, 47-0.
Gov. Reynolds’s veto message:
“Senate File 2316 sets forth a regulatory process that would allow domestic stock insurance companies domiciled in Iowa to divide into two or more resulting companies. While I am supportive of the underlying bill, I am unable to approve it as amended to include Section 18. Section 18 proposes to allow self-employed persons without employees to qualify for small group health insurance coverage. These changes would further destabilize Iowa’s health insurance market. Further, the proposed changes conflict with federal law.
“For the above reasons, I respectfully disapprove of Senate File 2316 in its entirety. It is hereby vetoed in whole.”
