On Wednesday, Republicans on the Iowa Senate Education Committee approved a bill that would require public and private colleges and universities that offer “a medical, nursing, or other health care-related degree” to permit unvaccinated students to complete courses requiring clinical rotations that would bring them into contact with medically vulnerable patients. SF 2095 requires a […]
Pat Grassley
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa GOP leaders stress unity, throw digs at Rob Sand as 2026 legislative session opens
As the state Legislature is set to tackle some potentially contentious issues in the 2026 legislative session, Iowa Republican leaders emphasized “unity” as they gathered for the GOP legislative breakfast Monday before gaveling in. There have been multiple leadership changes leading into the session that could shift dynamics in the Legislature. Iowa Senate Majority Leader […]
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Debates over property taxes, eminent domain and cancer rates expected during 2026 legislative session
Iowa lawmakers are heading into the 2026 legislative session with several new leaders — but many of the issues expected to take top priority are subjects left unresolved in 2025, namely eminent domain and property taxes. Lawmakers presented legislation on both of these issues during the 2025 legislative session, but neither became state law. Republican […]
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Iowa House members agree to special session to override Reynolds’ veto of pipeline bill
The Iowa House of Representatives Tuesday secured the necessary two-thirds majority on a petition calling for a special session to override the governor’s veto of a bill pertaining to eminent domain and carbon sequestration pipelines. Seventy representatives signed the petition in favor of returning to the State Capitol to override the veto on HF 639, […]
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‘Spitting in the face of landowners’: Iowa House Republicans denounce Reynolds’ veto of eminent domain bill, call for special session to override it
Republicans in the Iowa Legislature have rarely publicly disagreed with Gov. Kim Reynolds during her eight years in office. Even when they didn’t support her position on an issue, they would downplay any differences. That all changed on Wednesday, when Gov. Reynolds vetoed HF 639, a bill that would have added new requirements on projects […]
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No vote on bill protecting pesticide manufacturers from cancer lawsuits as Iowa House Republicans balk
The Iowa House will not vote on a bill passed by the Senate that would have provided new protections against lawsuits for corporations that produce pesticides, Speaker Pat Grassley said on Thursday. Even though Republicans control 67 of the 100 seats in the House, there was not enough support for the bill to guarantee passage. […]
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GOP bill to eliminate rights of trans Iowans passes subcommittee and committee in less than a day
Hundreds gathered in the hallways and rotunda of the State Capitol to protest the attempt to strip transgender Iowans of civil rights and stop the state government from recognizing the existence of their identities via a bill Republicans are fast-tracking through the Iowa House. “Trans rights are human rights” and “Say no, fight back,” they […]
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‘Pointless, unnecessary and unbelievably cruel’: Rep. Steve Holt proposes bill eliminating civil rights protections for trans people
Iowa would make history by gutting protections enshrined in its Civil Rights Act for almost two decades to make discrimination against transgender Iowans legal, if a bill introduced in the Iowa House on Thursday becomes law. HSB 242 would also alter definitions used in state law to eliminate acknowledging the existence of transgender people as […]
Posted inEastern Iowa
Gov. Reynolds won’t ask lawmakers to outlaw abortion yet, will try to get the courts to do that
Gov. Kim Reynolds said on Wednesday she’s waiting until state courts decide whether to revive a never-enforced 2018 law banning almost all abortions in Iowa, before she’ll announce if there will be a special session of the Iowa Legislature this year to further restrict reproductive rights. The so-called “fetal heartbeat bill” was struck down as […]
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Speaker Grassley says the governor’s school voucher program won’t pass this year
Gov. Kim Reynolds’ attempt to pressure the Iowa Legislature into passing a bill that diverted public schools funds to private schools has failed. The governor made the creation of a school voucher program using education savings accounts one of her top legislative priorities this year, but on Monday morning Speaker of the Iowa House Pat […]
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A ‘sinister agenda’ and tax cuts: Iowa Republican leaders announce their legislative priorities
It’s standard practice for the presiding official in each chamber of the Iowa Legislature to use their first speeches on the opening day of the new session to lay out the majority party’s agenda, but Iowa Senate President Jake Chapman’s speech on Monday was far from standard. The Adel Republican spent the bulk of his […]
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Ban on local governments, schools and businesses asking for proof of COVID vaccination advances in the Iowa Legislature
The Iowa House Judiciary Committee voted in favor of a bill intended to prohibit so-called “vaccine passports” on Monday. The bill was introduced on Friday, two weeks after Gov. Kim Reynolds called for such legislation. “I strongly oppose vaccine passports and I believe that we must take a stand as a state against them, which […]
