The Iowa Legislature adjourned its 2023 session Thursday, leaving behind decidedly mixed results.
Today, The Journal editorial board offers its view on five major issues lawmakers worked on during the 116-day session.
Property tax relief
In the most significant accomplishment of the session, Gov. Kim Reynolds signed on Thursday a $100 million property tax reduction measure. The new law seeks to achieve a reduction in future property tax growth primarily by merging most local government and school property taxes into one general levy, then installing mechanisms that reduce that levy if taxable valuation grows beyond a certain level.
When assessments increase 3%-to-6%, the tax levy growth is limited to 2%, under the new law. When assessments increase 6% or more, the levy growth is limited to 3%.
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The new law, which received strong bipartisan support, with just one dissenting vote in the House and none in the Senate, was largely in response to protests from across the state after local accessors increased home valuations by an average of 22% last month. In Sioux City, hundreds of homeowners are appealing assessments that grew by an average of about 23.5% and increased by over 50% in some neighborhoods. With the new limits on local levies, that means owners of homes, businesses and farms will pay less in property taxes in future years.
In the future, lawmakers would be wise to continue the property tax relief beyond the four years specified in the new law.
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Educational savings accounts
A top priority of Gov. Kim Reynolds, majority Republicans early in the session approved a measure that provides Iowa students with $7,598 each year to use for private school tuition and associated costs. The educational savings accounts, or ESA, will be available to all public school students starting in the 2023-2024 school year. Students currently attending private schools must meet income limits to qualify in the first two years of the program. In the third year, all private students will be eligible.
We've previously expressed our concerns about funneling such a large sum of taxpayer dollars to private schools -- an estimated $345 million annually after it's fully implemented in the fourth year -- fearing it would lead to reduced funding for public schools. And, we're not alone.
"Carving Iowa’s education funding pie into more pieces necessarily means a smaller piece of pie for Iowa’s public-school students," according to a resolution the Sioux City School Board approved on the eve of a key legislative vote for the ESAs.
Reynolds has argued it would make private schools available for everyone, rather than only those who could afford the extra costs. But will that really be the case? Critics have rightly pointed out that the ESA program has limited value for students with special needs since private schools do not have to follow the same federal standards for educating such students as the public ones.
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Restricting school books
In this space, we've previously expressed concerns about a provision in a sweeping educational bill that would ban from school libraries books or other materials that depict sex acts. (Religious texts would be exempted.)
While we would support efforts to remove truly pornographic or obscene materials from libraries, we fear the new law will be fraught with abuses. We're not comforted by Reynolds' declaration that she wants to require all school districts to restrict a school book if just one district does it.
As Randy Evans, executive director of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council, wrote earlier this year, "The idea of banning books runs counter to most people’s concept of freedom."
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Gender issues
The same bill that restricts books in school libraries also bars districts from teaching about sexual orientation or gender identity in grades K-6. Schools also would need to notify parents if a student requests changing their name or pronouns.
Transgender minors also would be not be allowed to enter school bathrooms or changing rooms that correspond with their gender identities.
Another bill the Republican-controlled Legislature sent to Reynolds' desk also prohibits transgender minors from obtaining gender-related medical care such as puberty blockers, hormone replacement therapy or any surgical interventions.
We would have preferred that GOP lawmakers had not taken up a cultural issue that inflames passions and divides the public. As a whole, the measures serve to make the state look less welcoming to the rest of the country.
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Nursing home reimbursements
The Health and Human Services budget approved by lawmakers contains a $15 million increase in Medicaid reimbursement for nursing homes.
The increases should provide some added breathing room for nursing homes that have been struggling to stay afloat. Seventeen Iowa nursing homes closed in 2022, according to the Center for Medicare Advocacy.
The current Medicaid reimbursement rate for Iowa nursing home costs are based on their costs in 2018, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. With higher reimbursements rates, nursing homes who provide the valuable service of caring for the elderly and special needs should be in better position to maintain and recruit staff and cover other increased costs.
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