Week 10: What Bills Survived Second Funnel?

The Iowa Legislature had a busy week as lawmakers worked around the clock to meet their second deadline. Friday, March 18 marks the second funnel. This means Senate bills and joint resolutions had to clear the full Iowa Senate and a policy committee in the House and the same rule applies for House bills and joint resolutions. As with any proposal, there are exceptions to the rule and procedural moves, such as placing a bill on the Unfinished Business calendar. This action can take place to keep legislation alive until the end of session.

ABI’s public policy staff rounded up a list of bills the team has tracked this session. Learn more about the issues and each bill’s status (alive or dead) below.

WORKFORCE:

SF 2275/HF 2279: Unemployment Insurance Reform - ABI’s top legislative priority in 2022 enacts several reforms to Iowa’s unemployment insurance system, including: minimizing the maximum duration of benefits from 6 months to 4 months, reinstating the one week waiting period, enhances suitable work requirements, streamlining the appeals process, defining “misconduct”, modernizing the guide for interpretation and reducing business closing weeks from 9 months to 6 months. The bill also implements hard caps of $1 million for noneconomic damages in medical malpractice cases and cases against the owners and operators of motor truck vehicles. 

• ABI Position: For
• Status: Alive

SF 2129/HF 2165: Future Ready Iowa/Last Dollar Scholarship Expansion - Workforce is part of ABI’s 2022 legislative priorities. As part of the workforce policy priority, ABI has worked with lawmakers to promote the importance of funding the Future Ready Iowa Last Dollar Scholarship program. This bill expands eligibility to part-time students. This bill passed the Iowa House unanimously this month. 

• ABI Position: For
• Status: Alive

DATA PRIVACY/CYBERSECURITY:

HF 2302: Affirmative Defenses - Cybersecurity - This legislation creates affirmative defenses for entities, including businesses, against lawsuits alleging they failed to implement reasonable information security controls that resulted in a data breach of personal or restricted information. Entities would have to create, maintain, and comply with a cybersecurity program with administrative, technical, operational, and physical safeguards to protect both personal and restricted information. Entities would also have to implement routine check-ins with their cybersecurity program, which includes continually evaluating and mitigating any anticipated internal or external threats and conducting periodic evaluations at least once a year. The Iowa House passed this bill earlier this month. The Senate Commerce Committee advanced this legislation this week. 

• ABI Position: Undecided
• Status: Alive

SF 2208/HF 2506: Consumer Data Protection - This proposal relates to online consumer protection. It creates definitions in a new chapter dedicated to consumer data and applies to businesses in Iowa – and businesses producing products or services targeted to Iowans – that control or process personal data of at least 100,000 consumers or control or process personal data of at least 25,000 consumers and derive more than 50% of gross revenue from the sale of personal data. 

• ABI Position: Undecided
• Status: Dead

EMPLOYMENT-RELATED

SF 2196: Employee Personnel File Copies - This bill would allow employees to obtain one copy of their personnel file at no charge. Employers can provide subsequent copies electronically. The Iowa Senate passed this bill unanimously earlier this year. The legislation cleared a House State Government Committee this week.

• ABI Position: Undecided
• Status: Alive

HF 2545: Medical Freedom - The legislation prohibits an employer from asking about a person’s medical treatment status. A person’s medical treatment status could not be considered by an employer for purposes of hiring, imposing a surcharge or wage reduction or discharging an employee. Vaccine and mask mandates are also prohibited under the bill. It passed through the House State Government Committee, but didn’t come to the floor.

• ABI Position: Monitoring
• Status: Dead

HF 2257: Pregnancy Accommodations - This bill would have mandated employers to provide reasonable accommodations to employees with medical conditions tied to pregnancy or childbirth. Employers are already required to do this under federal law. The legislation would have opened the door to employers being brought before the Iowa Civil Rights Commission. It passed the House State Government Committee on February 4, but didn’t come to the House floor.

• ABI Position: Against
• Status: Dead

SF 496: Prohibiting Low-Wage Noncompete Agreements - Earlier in the session, the Iowa House Commerce Committee advanced this bill that prohibits noncompete agreements for low-wage employees. The bill defines low-wage employees as workers who earn an average monthly wage that is less than or equal to $14.50 an hour. The Iowa Senate passed this legislation last year while the House Commerce Committee moved the bill out of committee on January 26th. ABI worked to ensure the language was drafted in a way that allowed the association to be neutral. 

• ABI Position: Undecided
• Status: Alive

SF 339: Mandatory E-Verify - The perennial legislation would mandate that employers utilize the federal e-verify system when hiring individuals. If an employer was found to violate the bill a second time, their business license would be permanently revoked. The legislation would also allow any member of the public to file a complaint with Iowa Workforce Development if they believed an employer was knowingly hiring an unauthorized worker. The bill passed the Senate Judiciary Committee on February 2, but did not advance to the floor.

• ABI Position: Against
• Status: Dead

SF 2250: Guns in Employer Parking Lots - The Senate considered legislation that would prevent employers from prohibiting employees from carrying, transporting, or possessing a firearm or ammunition that is out of sight and locked inside that employee’s car on the employer’s property. Supporters of the legislation view this as advancing Second Amendment rights, while ABI sees this as inhibiting the private property rights of employers and their ability to decide what kind of workplace policy they would like to have on weapons. The Senate Labor and Business Relations Committee passed the bill in mid-February, but it did not come to the Senate floor.

• ABI Position: Against

• Status: Dead

SF 361: Drug and Alcohol Testing Reform - The legislation does a number of things to modernize and bring balance back to the statute. It shifts the burden of proof from the employer to the plaintiff to prove the employer violated the law. It establishes an evidentiary standard when bringing a claim against the employer. It modernizes communication methods between employers and employees regarding the results of drug and alcohol tests. It also makes clear the employer can designate certain jobs as “safety-sensitive positions”. The bill passed the Senate last year, but was not considered by the House Labor Committee. ABI will continue our work in educating lawmakers about this important issue over the interim and seek to advance the legislation next year.

• ABI Position: For
• Status: Dead

HF 2411: Prosthetic Devices Under Workers’ Compensation - The bill requires an employer to provide a replacement of a permanent prosthetic device that is medically necessary for a compensable injury that occurred while the employee was employed by the employer and the replacement of the device is deemed reasonable medical care under workers’ compensation. ABI was initially opposed, but after receiving additional feedback and information from members, we changed our registration to undecided. The bill passed the House 97-0 and has been approved by the Senate Labor and Business Relations Committee.

• ABI Position: Undecided
• Status: Alive

HF 724: Adoption Mandate - The legislation requires an employer to treat an employee who chooses to adopt up to six years of age in the same manner as an employee who is the biological parent of a newborn for purposes of employment policies, benefits and protections for the first year of adoption. The bill passed the House 95-0 last year and advanced this session through the Senate Labor and Business Relations Committee on March 10. 

• ABI Position: Undecided
• Status: Alive

CHILD CARE

SF 2268/HF 2131: Child Care Ratios - One of the recommendations from the Governor’s Child Care Task Force was reviewing child care center staff ratios. This bill directs the Iowa Department of Human Services to amend its rules to allow a child-to-staff ratio of one child care worker for every seven children who are at least two years old. The rules would also provide for a minimum child-to-staff ratio of one worker for every 10 children who are at least three years old. The Iowa Senate advanced this bill last month with a 32-18 vote. 

• ABI Position: For
• Status: Alive

HF 2198: Minimum Age for Employees at a Child Care Center - This bill allows the Iowa Department of Human Services to amend rules to allow employees and substitutes working at a child care center who are at least 16 years old to provide child care without additional supervision. Fingerprints would be provided with the written permission of the child and their parent or guardian allowing them to work in this role. The Iowa House passed this bill earlier this month and the Senate Human Resources Committee passed this bill. An amendment has been filed in the Iowa Senate to include language from the child care ratios legislation. 

• ABI Position: Monitoring
• Status: Alive

HEALTHCARE

SF 2276/HF 2200: Direct Healthcare Agreements - This bill would allow unregulated direct care agreements to be sold between a provider and a patient, or the patient’s representative. The state of Iowa does not regulate these types of direct care contracts. Direct care also differs from traditional health plans because this type of plan is not required to cover all health care services. The House passed its bill earlier this month with a 90-9 vote. The Senate version was passed through the Senate Commerce Committee on February 15. 

• ABI Position: Against
• Status: Alive

HF 2199: Nonmedical Switching - The bill would ultimately raise health care costs by freezing drug formularies in health plans offered by employers and also freeze copays and cost-sharing paid by employees. The legislation passed the House Human Resources Committee, but didn’t come to the floor.

• ABI Position: Against
• Status: Dead

MISCELLANEOUS

SF 2287/HF 2387: Catalytic Converters Bill - This legislation mandates scrap metal companies to comply with additional requirements for business transactions related to catalytic converters. It also outlines recordkeeping procedures. The bill contains additional civil penalties for scrap metal companies that are found in violation of recordkeeping and retention requirements. The House had passed its version out of its Commerce Committee last month. The Senate bill advanced the Iowa Senate earlier this month with a 44-4 vote. 

• ABI Position: Against
• Status: Alive

SF 2325: IEDA Bill - This is the Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA) policy bill. It covers various areas under the IEDA’s oversight, including the Workforce Housing Tax Credit program. This bill allows a second extension for a housing project if the housing business applies and substantiates to the IEDA that the second extension is warranted due to extenuating circumstances outside of the housing business’ control. This bill also updates the definitions of “small city” and “urban area.” This bill passed both chambers unanimously and awaits Gov. Kim Reynolds’ approval.

• ABI Position: For
• Status: Alive