Inaction was the most welcome result of the Iowa legislative session

In assessing the work product of the just completed 2024 Iowa legislative session, there’s seemingly more to like in the Republican-controlled Legislature’s inactions than its actions.

Lawmakers did not, under cover of darkness in the session’s final hours, extend a moratorium on gambling licenses, among other restrictions aimed squarely at the possibility of a Cedar Rapids Casino. Now the Racing and Gaming Commission can do its statutory duty and review a Cedar Rapids application on the merits.

The Legislature didn’t move ahead with yet another series of voting law changes to further confuse Iowa voters, including outlawing ballot drop boxes.

Gov. Kim Reynolds’ bill defining “man” and “woman” as an open invitation to discriminate against transgender Iowans was scrapped.

So was legislation that would have provided legal immunity to chemical companies against legal claims by sick consumers, so long as the products are properly labeled. The bill, ordered up the pharmaceutical and farm chemical conglomerate Bayer, died like a pesky weed.

Lawmakers didn’t ban citizen police review boards like the ones on the job in Iowa City and Cedar Rapids. The fabricated argument the boards are part of some left-wing agenda to weaken law enforcement didn’t push the bill to passage.

The governor’s hope for taking control of district judicial nominating commissions didn’t happen. And a bill that would have given the governor’s office virtual veto power over administrative rule-making by agencies to implement laws also failed to pass.

Students will not be required to sing every verse of “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

Lawmakers also set aside a bill that would have allowed counties to end a property tax exemption for forested land. It was an odd proposal in a state that lost hundreds of thousands of trees in the 2020 derecho.

But not every inaction was welcome.

For example, the Legislature failed to address care and safety issues in nursing homes and other assistant living facilities. The only bill that got any traction would have capped pay for temp nurses called into fill staffing gaps. The bill would do nothing about meager staff pay that leads to a lack of staffing, high turnover and poor care that has taken lives in Iowa.

It’s sad with all the pressing problems facing Iowa, from dirty water and cancer rates to mental health funding and decaying state parks, lawmakers did precious little to solve them while socking away billions of dollars for tax cuts. Voters should consider that.

(319) 398-8262; editorial@thegazette.com