Sen. Ragan says Covid recovery should help more Iowans

The following is a legislative update from State Senator Amanda Ragan, representing Franklin, Butler and Cerro Gordo counties:

Let’s speed up vaccine delivery

Governor Reynolds has lifted many statewide public health measures<https://governor.iowa.gov/sites/default/files/documents/Public%20Health%20Proclamation%20-%202021.02.05.pdf> designed to keep all Iowans safe and healthy during the COVID-19 pandemic. This comes just as all schools are required to provide full-time, in-person education for Iowa students.

It is now more important than ever to step up vaccine rollout to all Iowans. The federal government is sending more COVID-19 vaccines to our state and has pledged that 150 million Americans will be vaccinated in 100 days. When our share of those shots arrives, we can make sure Iowa is ready to do its part by providing emergency funding to county health departments to speed up distribution and aid in contact tracing.

I’ve signed on to a proposal (SF 199<https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislation/BillBook?ga=89&ba=SF199>) that will provide an ongoing $10 million increase to local public health authorities for vaccines, contact tracing and other pandemic efforts, as well as planning for future pandemics. The state and federal governments must also step up other efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19.

Unemployed Iowans deserve relief
The global pandemic has had a devastating impact on Iowa families and our economy. Thousands of Iowans, who through no fault of their own, have been laid off, furloughed or otherwise lost their livelihoods as a result of this economic turmoil.

Despite claims that the Iowa economy has rebounded, the truth is that there are fewer Iowans working today than during the Great Recession in 2010.

More than 322,000 Iowans have lost their paychecks and have depended on Iowa unemployment insurance to make ends meet. These folks live paycheck to paycheck as Iowa’s economy struggles to get back to normal. It may take years for many of them to fully recover from this unprecedented year.

Currently, Iowa deducts state income taxes from Iowans’ unemployment insurance income. By contrast, the federal pandemic relief program, the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) that provided grants to businesses to keep employees on the job, is exempt from federal or state income taxes. Workers impacted by the pandemic should have their benefits treated the same as the businesses that were impacted by the pandemic.

To ensure fairness, I’m co-sponsoring a proposal (SF 290<https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislation/BillBook?ga=89&ba=SF290>) to exempt Iowans’ unemployment payments from state income taxes. This will give unemployed Iowans the full benefit of those payments—and our whole economy will benefit when those dollars are spent locally to buy groceries, fill up with gas and pay rent.

It’s one small step that will make a big difference to families and communities that have faced a year of uncertainties.