Capitol Notebook: Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signs final bills from 2023 legislative session

DES MOINES — Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed 65 bills into law late Thursday afternoon, signed another with a line-item veto and vetoed one bill entirely.

The signings represent the last batch of bills that passed the Republican-led Iowa Legislature during its 2023 legislative session.

Reynolds vetoed Senate File 388, which would require the Office of Chief Information Officer to follow only federal guidance when allocating federal funds.

In her veto message to Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate, Reynolds said the bill would limit the office's ability to set “ambitious state standards, such as a high upload-download speed, and its ability to temporarily waive those standards if federal funding requires a lower standard.”

Though the bill unanimously passed both the Iowa House and Senate with an understanding among lawmakers that it would not change the status quo, Reynolds wrote that “looking forward, the state of Iowa should not be tethered to a federal standard when I am confident our state can chart its own course.”

Reynolds also vetoed a section within the judicial branch budget bill that would change Iowa law to require an attorney’s consent before being appointed to represent indigent defendants.

Under the law, the state's public defender may appoint a private attorney to represent someone who cannot afford to hire their own lawyer, if no contract attorney is available to represent them — regardless of whether the private attorney wants to take the case.

“All attorneys owe a duty to the legal profession to accept such an appointment if needed,” Reynolds wrote in line-item veto message of Senate File 563. “And of course, this change creates the possibility that if no attorneys consent, indigent individuals will be left without legal representation.”

Among the other bills Reynolds signed:

Safe Haven ‘baby box’ to surrender newborns

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House File 425, amends the state’s Safe Haven law to include the use of “newborn safety devices” at certain facilities that are staffed 24/7 with first responders, like a fire station or a hospital.

Previously, parents had to surrender an infant face-to-face with a first responder or hospital worker.

Under the new law, Iowa joins 11 other states to allow “baby boxes” — padded and climate-controlled receptacles to place an infant being surrendered under the Safe Haven law.

The baby boxes are touted as being safe, with temperature controls, safety incubators and dual alarms designed to call a 911 dispatcher as soon as the outside door to the baby box is opened and again after movement is detected inside the box.

Once a hospital worker or first responder arrives, the newborn is removed from the baby box's bassinet and immediately taken to receive medical attention, before then being placed for adoption.

Supporters say the devices give people a way to anonymously and safely surrender an unwanted infant to authorities.

Critics argue the practice creates a method for people to surrender babies without the parents’ consent.

Mental health hotline on student ID cards

House File 602 requires school districts to put a 24-hour call and text line that provides crisis counseling on student IDs.

Your Life Iowa is a state program that offers resources for people considering suicide or struggling with mental health issues, gambling problems and substance abuse.

Schools would be required to put the numbers on new IDs for grades 7 through 12 and would have the option to add the number to IDs in grades 5 and 6.

New nursing home moratorium

House File 685 places an initial, yearlong moratorium on building new nursing homes in the state and adding new beds to existing homes. The moratorium could be renewed in six-month increments, up to a total of three years.

Many Iowa nursing homes have closed over the course of the pandemic, citing workforce shortages and Medicaid reimbursement rates not keeping up with rising costs of business and inflation.

It also implements a 2.5 percent tax on managed care organization premiums received and taxable. The tax revenue would be deposited into a fund for the Department of Health and Human Services to use as matching funds to access additional federal dollars to support Iowa’s Medicaid program, the state-federal program that provides health coverage for hundreds of thousands of low-income Iowans and people with disabilities, including children.

The new tax would be reimbursed to MCOs — the private insurance companies contracted to manage Iowa’s Medicaid program.

Once fully implemented, the tax and reimbursement process is expected to provide $103.9 million annually in net premium revenue to the Medicaid program in fiscal year 2026 and beyond.

The legislation also requires Iowa Health and Human Services create a public dashboard showing available nursing home beds and changes to availability by county, as well as quality ratings at care centers.

For a full list of the bills Gov. Reynolds signed, go to governor.iowa.gov.