Iowa first responders discuss changes after Reynolds signs bill on reimbursement from 911 boards

DES MOINES — Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds approved the full state standings budget, Senate File 659, Wednesday after emergency response systems officials asked her to veto a provision over concerns it would lead to budget uncertainty for local 911 boards.

A state board on Thursday further discussed what sort of changes the provision would mean for the state and local 911 boards.

The provision would allow the Iowa Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management to request reimbursement from local 911 service boards for “reasonable costs” related to call traffic to public safety answering points, or PSAPs.

The provision was included in the catchall “standings” budget bill passed in the final minutes of the 2025 Iowa legislative session in May.

Groups, including the Iowa chapters of the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials and the National Emergency Number Association, warned the provision “threatens to destabilize 911 operations across the state and compromise public safety for all Iowans.”

As the policy provision was in a budget bill, Reynolds had the option to issue a line-item veto that would strike only that provision and leave the rest of the bill intact. She told reporters on June 6 that the 911 service boards are sitting on a budget surplus that could be used to fund other services, adding that it will be an ongoing conversation.

“We want to make sure that we can maintain the system. It's important for the safety of Iowans. They're also sitting on $66 million so is there a better way that we can utilize those funds to help make sure that we have adequate coverage across the state? Is there a better way that we can maybe pool that and allocate those resources that makes more sense?” Reynolds said. “This is a conversation that we'll continue to have. No matter what happens. We're going to continue to have to have that conversation.”

The groups say the surpluses are due to preparation for high-cost infrastructure improvement projects.

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Democratic Iowa state Rep. Eric Gjerde, of Cedar Rapids, who is a police officer, said 911 services budgets need to be addressed, but said there were better ways to do so in the short term while figuring out a long-term solution.

“People expect somebody to answer the phone when they're asking for help, first responders expect to have the equipment in order to be able to respond,” Gjerde told the Quad-City Times. “We're dependent on the radios that we have and the towers that are out in order to ensure that we have communication that isn't interrupted or beeps in our ear because our radios are picking up the dispatch. And so, in my opinion, Iowans' lives could be put at jeopardy because these local PSAPs now are not going to be able to fund the long-term projects that they had scheduled in mind for.”

What does the bill mean for 911 board budgets?

During the Iowa 911 Communications Council meeting at the Dallas County Human Services Campus in Adel on Thursday, members discussed what Reynolds’ action on the provision means for local 911 board budgets.

Iowa Department of Homeland Security Director John Benson addressed concerns among members that the definition of “reasonable costs” in the provision will create uncertainty in what local boards will be expected to reimburse the state, adding that they will continue to work on a solution for the next legislative session.

“That concept of the state just coming in and willy-nilly taking money. Nope, you'll see precisely what our bills are, you'll see precisely what our revenues are, and you'll see precisely where the shortages are,” Benson said. “I don't think anybody in this room, anybody online, myself included, is a particular fan of this. So we've got about six months to really buckle down and see if we can't figure something out, come to an amenable solution, whatever that means … I don't want to live and operate in this environment, but it's what the legislature has asked us to do.”

Iowa County Sheriff and council chair Rob Rotter said that beyond the legislative changes, the board needs to take a look at modernizing how surcharges for funding the state’s 911 network, which are currently a $1 charge to Iowans’ phone bills every month, are collected.

“As we go forward with this legislation in the next few months, I really, I really believe that we have to get away from the stagnant method of paying for 911 through the surcharge,” Rotter said. “We have to come up with some kind of a percentage that's going to be linked to inflation and otherwise rising costs, because we would not run anything as important as this by this method … we don't pay taxes this way, except for surcharges such as this, and it's archaic.”

Gazette Des Moines Bureau Chief Erin Murphy contributed to this report.