Articles Tagged: Iowa Legislature

A federal judge has granted Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield a preliminary injunction temporarily blocking enforcement of parts of Iowa’s new pharmacy benefit manager reform law.

In line with legislation requiring Iowa’s public universities to start offering shorter paths to a degree — launching students into the workforce more quickly — the University of Northern Iowa this month debuted a new elementary education “degree in 3.”

Iowa’s Board of Regents for the first time is seeking a firm, rather than a single person, to serve as its legislative liaison and state relations representative for the University of Iowa in dealings with the Legislature and executive branch.

With a growing chorus of constituents urging Iowa’s Board of Regents to either sign or reject the Trump Administration’s proposed “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education,” a board spokesman confirmed, “We are reviewing the compact.”

Senate File 75 requires Iowa counties home to one of Iowa’s three Regent universities to elect their county supervisors by districts, rather than at-large. All three counties — Johnson, Black Hawk and Story — currently have Democratic-leaning boards and elect supervisors countywide.

Following the arrest of former Des Moines superintendent Ian Roberts, State Auditor Rob Sand will review how Iowa licenses educators after receiving a qualifying legislative request from a Des Moines lawmaker.

Rob Sand wrapped up his 100 Town Hall Tour in Decorah, capping a months-long journey through all 99 counties with calls for bipartisan reform, stronger oversight of public funds, and practical action on education and water quality. “Iowans are fed up,” he said.

From a study of public employee salaries and benefits, to teacher bonuses for student achievement and incentives for shared government services, the Iowa DOGE Task Force report includes a number of recommendations for making Iowa government more efficient.

State Rep. Aime Wichtendahl, Iowa’s first openly transgender legislator, is running for re-election in 2026 to a second term. The Hiawatha Democrat cited work on firefighter cancer coverage and pledged to recruit more allies to “solve real problems,” not “culture wars” in the Iowa Legislature.

The 12 committee members leading Iowa State University’s search for its next president began interviewing semi-finalists Monday morning on the Ames campus — with eight candidates invited to participate in the virtual closed-session discussions over the next two days.

Also in Notebook: Eight more land reclamation projects near former coal mines in southeast Iowa are underway.

Nonpartisan panel revises its estimate from March, but chairman maintains state is ‘in a good spot’

Iowa Rep. Carter Nordman, new chairman of House committee on tax policy, joined Gov. Kim Reynolds and local government leaders for a roundtable discussion about residential property taxes Thursday.

Iowa’s largest health insurer says the Insurance Division’s order to implement Senate File 383 would unfairly raise drug costs and contradict a federal court ruling blocking key provisions of the law.

None of the nine campuses the Trump administration has asked to sign a “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” have done so, but two conservative lawmakers in Iowa are urging the Board of Regents to be the first.