Legislative Update for 05/27/2022

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Legislative Update for 05/27/2022

In the early (really early…) morning hours on Wednesday, the 2022 legislative session was adjourned Sine Die, and with it the 89th General Assembly came to an end. This wrapped up a marathon two days where both Chambers completed final work on a multitude of bills, including all the fiscal year 2023 appropriations bills.

I’m going to focus this newsletter on the final actions that took place this week by noting bills that passed and a couple that were signed by the Governor.

Passed - policy bills:

  • HF771 - Bronchodilator self-administration and storage
  • HF2080 - Shared operation weighting
  • HF2081 - Teacher preparation end-of-program assessment
  • HF2165 - Future Ready Iowa Scholarship
  • HF2298 - COVID-19 immunization
  • HF2573 - Abatement of and response to opioid use

Passed - appropriations:

  • HF2575 - Education appropriations
  • HF2589 - Standing appropriations

Signed:

  • HF604 - Deaf and hard-of-hearing language and literacy development
  • HF2412 - Radon testing and mitigation in schools 

It’s also worth briefly mentioning several notable bills that were introduced this session but did not pass out of the Legislature. 

  • HF2495 - Comprehensive transition and postsecondary scholarship program
  • HF2567 - Investigating complaints against licensed practitioners
  • SF2081 - Disbursements from computer science professional development incentive fund
  • SF2205 - Rights of students enrolled in public schools, parents
  • SF2263 - Senate confirmations
  • SF2356 - Volunteer substitute teachers
  • SF2362 - Sale of bonds, duties of education entities
  • SF2364 - Dissemination of certain materials, prohibition of materials in schools, civil actions, penalties
  • SF2369 (HF2498, HF2577) - Governor’s education omnibus bills, Senate (House) versions. 
  • SF2377 - Teach Iowa scholarship grants, licenses issued by the BoEE, district management levy

With the Legislature adjourned, we are now in the 30 day signing window, meaning the Governor has until June 24 to take action on legislation sent to her desk. You can view all bills eligible for signature (i.e., all bills passed and enrolled by the Legislature) here.

Well, folks, this will be the last weekly legislative update for the year (this would be your que for an audible, mournful *sigh*…). We will, however, be back in a little over a month from now with the annual Letter to the Field, which will summarize all signed legislation and outline next steps for implementation, rules, and/or guidance. You will also be hearing from me again next session, as I have been officially brought onboard as full-time legislative liaison for the Department (que the audible, joyful *yay!*...). 

I want to thank you all for taking time to read this newsletter each week - I hope you found it informative and useful. If you have any questions about anything that happened this session, please let me know. 

Take care,

Eric

Eric St Clair
Legislative Liaison
Iowa Department of Education
Grimes State Office Building
400 E 14th St
Des Moines, IA 50319-0146
Cell: 515-326-0274
eric.stclair@iowa.gov