Iowa state lawmakers close out 2025 session with a 21-hour final day

DES MOINES — Unemployment taxes and benefits, opioid addiction treatment funds and a new, state family paid leave program marked a long final legislative day as Iowa lawmakers concluded their work for 2025 early Thursday morning.

This year’s session of the Iowa Legislature, which began in January, ended at 6:31 a.m. Thursday when the House adjourned sine die, meaning without a further meeting schedule. Legislators are not scheduled to convene again until next January.

The final day of the 2025 session lasted 20 hours in the Senate and 22 hours in the House, and included multiple multi-hour pauses while Republican leaders hammered out the final details of the next state budget and final policy negotiations.

When the leaders emerged with the final pieces of legislation, lawmakers spent the session’s remaining hours passing their spending measures from the Rebuild Iowa Infrastructure Fund and the catchall “standings budget,” plus $35 million from sports betting revenues.

It was a protracted ending to an eventful final day, during which lawmakers passed a new family paid leave program for state government employees, a plan for distributing settlement funds for opioid addiction treatment that was three years in the making and a reduction in the tax on businesses that funds the state’s unemployment program.

During the extended break that preceded the final bargain, some lawmakers slept in the chambers on chairs or benches. Sen. David Rowley, a Republican from Spirit Lake, passed the time by playing a handful of songs on his guitar. Rowley’s set list included tunes by The Beatles, John Denver, The Eagles and Creedence Clearwater Revival.

Session ends without property tax legislation

When the legislative day and the 2025 session finally ended, it brought to a close a session in which lawmakers did not pass legislation on the topic that many said was their top priority: lowering Iowans’ property taxes.

Republican Rep. Bobby Kaufmann, of Wilton, and Sen. Dan Dawson, of Council Bluffs, worked on property tax policy throughout the session. Kaufmann told reporters late Wednesday he feels that effort produced legislation that was “80 percent there.”

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“The fact that it's going to take us two years, two sessions, one general assembly, to achieve what is the single biggest cut in property taxes in the history of Iowa, $2 billion over the course of five years, puts us well ahead of the pace of previous major pieces of legislation, when you're redoing a system that has been in place since the mid ‘70s,” Kaufmann told reporters.

Among the bills that did pass, the 2025 session will be remembered for statehouse Republicans removing legal protections for transgender Iowans by erasing gender identity from the state’s Civil Rights Act, and for a heated debate among Senate Republicans over legislation dealing with property rights, eminent domain and pipeline and other infrastructure projects.

Most Reynolds priorities passed, some fell short

It was also a session in which Gov. Kim Reynolds saw many of her top legislative priorities approved — like requiring school policies limiting cellphone use during classroom instructional time, a ban on using phones while driving, incentives for physicians to practice in rural Iowa, paid parental leave for state government workers, reducing unemployment insurance taxes on businesses and natural disaster relief programs.

But Reynolds also saw some priorities fail to cross the legislative finish line, like her proposals on child care and energy policy.

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Reynolds and legislative Republicans also passed new work requirements for able-bodied adults on Iowa Medicaid to maintain their health coverage, with exceptions for disabled individuals, older individuals, caretakers with children under 6 and those medically unable to work.

“I’m proud of the work we did this session to expand on the strong foundation we’ve built over the last several years in health care, education, and tax reform,” the Republican governor said in a statement. “To keep taxes low and ensure Iowans keep more of what they earn, we passed a responsible, balanced budget that puts taxpayers first and keeps Iowa on a strong, fiscally sustainable path. Some have claimed Iowa is facing a deficit. Let’s be clear: this isn’t a deficit — it’s the result of the state collecting more from taxpayers than it needed.”

Democrats express frustration

Democrats, who are in the minority in both chambers, said the session did not produce legislation that would make Iowans’ lives easier or more affordable.

House Minority Leader Jennifer Konfrst of Windsor Heights, who served out her final day in leadership after stepping down to launch a campaign for Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District in 2026, said it was “frustrating” that none of the Democratic proposals to lower costs for Iowans were taken up.

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“Working Iowans lost and special interests won,” Konfrst told reporters Wednesday. “When we look at this session, we've seen so many bills that have been introduced and passed because leadership or special interests want these bills. But when it comes to lowering costs, not a single bill was passed, and I mean not a single bill that will lower costs for Iowa families.”

Senate Democratic Leader Janice Weiner, of Iowa City, decried the session as “marked by division, special interest giveaways and partisanship.”

“Senate Democrats offered a number of opportunities for the majority party to join us in reducing costs, improving access to critical services and resources, and prioritizing Iowa’s working families,” Weiner said in a statement. “... Senate Democrats will continue to offer a positive alternative as we fight for lower costs, well-funded public schools, economic security for workers, and a better deal for all Iowans.”

Senate Republicans champion workforce bills

Senate Republican leaders, Majority Leader Jack Whitver, of Grimes, and President Amy Sinclair, of Allerton, highlighted Republicans’ approval of the reduction in unemployment insurance taxes on businesses and the Medicaid work requirements.

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“It’s common sense. There is dignity in work, and the vast majority of Iowans know this,” Sinclair said in her end-of-session remarks. “Having a sense of purpose and accomplishment is not only good for one’s well-being, but it is good for our state.

“Enacting policies that help put people back to work, like work requirements for able-bodied Iowans on assistance programs, provides opportunities for Iowans to earn a living, find a sense of purpose, and contribute to the growth of our economy,” Sinclair continued. “I’m proud of the work we did to enact legislation to this effect. It’s common sense that there is satisfaction in a good day’s work.”

None of the legislative leaders gave their remarks in person at the end of the long, final legislative day. The leaders emailed their remarks to reporters.

Comments: (515) 355-1300, erin.murphy@thegazette.com

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