Greetings to you all, Hopefully, everyone is getting out in the community to enjoy the summer weather and visiting with friends and family. The Cedar Valley has had several events including the recent My Waterloo Days and the upcoming Sturgis Falls event in Cedar Falls will be happening. It should be fun! The annual Sturgis...Read More

Greetings to you all, The legislature adjourned for the year on May 25th, at 12:16 am. The attached newsletter gives details on what did or didn’t occur during the session. I’ve heard from many people that they were glad to see that Governor Reynolds’s vouchers bill did not have the votes to pass in the...Read More

Greetings to you all, The legislature is still waiting on the majority party to get the session ready to adjourn for the year. The ability to bring the session to a close is something that should be moving forward but it isn’t. The barrier is still the governors private school voucher proposal. The majority party...Read More

Greetings to you all, I hope everyone is doing great. The legislative session was scheduled to adjourn on Tuesday, April 19th. We are now in our second week of waiting to see what the agreements will be between the House and Senate Republicans, before we adjourn. The big sticking point is the governor’s private school...Read More

Greetings to you all, I hope everyone is doing great. Fingers are crossed that spring has finally arrived and hopefully warmer weather will be here soon! On Monday, the House debated and passed eight bills. Here are some of the highlights, and you can find the full list of bills here: SF 2260: An act which...Read More

Greetings to you all, Hope everyone is getting excited for the start of April. The legislative session is a few weeks away from its official end date, but we still have plenty of bills to debate and pass. On Monday, I attended a meeting of the Transportation and Infrastructure budget subcommittee, where we reviewed the...Read More

Greetings to you all, I hope everyone is enjoying the warmer weather. Hopefully spring is here to stay! On Monday, the House debated and passed 15 bills. You can find the full list of bills here, and review the highlights below: HF 2471: An act which allows for the use of inventory checklists at the start...Read More

Greetings to you all, I hope everyone is staying warm through the ups and downs of this week’s weather! On Monday, we celebrated UNI’s Day at the Capitol, a daylong event featuring students, faculty, and staff from UNI to meet with legislators and showcase the achievements of the UNI community. The financial benefits that UNI...Read More

Greetings to you all, On Monday, the House began its week of debate on a long list of bills. Here are the highlights of the first 9 bills the House passed this week. You can find the complete list of bills passed on Monday here. HF 2123: An act which authorizes a criminal or juvenile justice...Read More

Greetings to you all, On Monday, I was part of the subcommittee for HF 2191, a bill which would make changes to the sentence commutation process for Class A felons. We had very passionate comments made during the subcommittee from people with loved ones who have served a substantial amount of time in prison and are...Read More

Greetings to you all, On Monday, I attended a meeting of the Commerce committee, where we reviewed the following bills: HSB 547, a bill which institutes changes to the Insurance Division in order to meet membership requirements for the National Association of Insurance Commissioners HSB 587, a bill which amends investment law to make it...Read More

Greetings to you all, On Monday, I attended a meeting of the Commerce committee. We discussed SF 586, a bill which modernizes elements of the Iowa Banking Act, addressing issues such as online banking, financial technology, and innovation. Tuesday marked Iowa Solar Day at the Capitol, and I met with the Iowa Solar Energy Trade...Read More

Greetings to you all, The House of Representatives began its 2022 session this Monday, and I am eager to get started working on behalf of all Iowans. This week, we heard speeches from both the minority and majority party, as well as the governor, outlining the legislative priorities for the upcoming session. In Governor Reynolds’s...Read More

Greetings to you all, Happy New Year! The Iowa legislature will be starting on Monday, January 10th.  I’m looking forward to getting started and working on issues impacting Iowans. Covid-19 has impacted our state and we need to come together and work to solve the problems we are facing. Some of the issues are mental...Read More

  Greetings to you all, Hopefully, everyone is doing great. For individuals that live in Cedar Falls, the November 30, 2021 Cedar Falls Mayor and Ward 3 Council member Runoff Elections will be taking place. Polls will be open from 7am-8pm. Questions may be directed to the Election Office: telephone number 319-833-3007, email address elections@co.black-hawk.ia.us. Here is...Read More

  Greetings to you all, Hopefully, everyone is doing great. The legislature met on October 28th, to decide the 2nd redistricting map for Iowa. The first map was not supported by the majority party and so the Legislative Service Agency had to redraw a 2nd map. I supported the non-partisan approach to the 1st and...Read More

  Greetings to you all, Hopefully, everyone is enjoying the days of October and enjoying the weather.  In addition to Halloween, there are many ways to celebrate in October. It is officially autumn, which means cozy apparel, your favorite chilly weather recipes, and beautiful foliage. In the Statehouse Newsletter, you will find information about what happened with...Read More

  Greetings to you all! Hopefully, everyone is able to get out and enjoy the beautiful weather. September is recognized as Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. The month is used to help spread hope and vital information to people impacted by suicide. The goal is to make sure the resources and help are available to those...Read More

  Greeting to you all, Hopefully everyone is enjoying the warm month of August. I just finished riding my 35th RAGBRAI this year. I enjoyed the journey and the experiences, as we rode across the beautiful state of Iowa. I really enjoyed visiting all the towns on the RAGBRAI route this year. In the Statehouse Newsletter,...Read More

  Removing Barriers so Iowans Can Return to Work Iowa’s worker shortage was compounded by the pandemic and many businesses are still struggling to find employees today. We need to remove barriers so that Iowans have the opportunity to go back to work. Barriers such as accessible and affordable healthcare, higher education, and childcare, as...Read More

  Greetings to you all! June is over and July starts as we continue our 2021 summer. Hopefully, everyone has a fantastic summer. In the Statehouse Newsletter you will find information regarding new laws that will go into effect July 1st. There is information regarding expanding access to childcare, telehealth access for health care and...Read More

  Greeting to you all, Welcome to summer and very warm Iowa weather. Take measures to stay cool and remain hydrated and keep your self informed with current weather conditions. Getting too hot can make you sick and also protect your children and pets from remaining in an unattended car for extended periods of time....Read More

  Greetings to you all! We are in the 2nd week of overtime of the 2021 legislative session. The process to end the session requires that the legislature establish what the budgets will be for the state in the upcoming year.  Several very important budgets are waiting for the majority party in the House and...Read More

  Greetings to you all! We have finished the last scheduled week of the 2021 legislative session. We will not be finished in time as the state budgets are being finalized between the republican controlled House and Senate. Long debates continued throughout this week as we worked towards the end of the legislative session. During...Read More

  Greetings to you all! We are nearing the end of the 2021 legislative session  with only two weeks left, if we finish within the 110 days scheduled. This week, only certain bills were eligible for consideration.  These would be  bills passed by both Chambers, Appropriation bills, Ways and Means bills, Government Oversight bills, Legalizing...Read More

  Greetings to you all! We have completed the 12th week of the 89th General Assembly. APRIL 2nd is also the 2nd funnel date which means that for Senate bills and joint resolutions they need to be reported out of House committees and House bills and joint resolutions out of Senate committees, to survive the funnel deadline. We...Read More

  We’ve begun the 10th week of the 2021 legislative session, so we’re moving toward the 2nd funnel date, which means that bills that haven’t passed out of the House or Senate will not move forward during the remainder of the session. This week, we continued to debate bills so they can survive the funnel process.  We...Read More

  Greetings to you all! We begin the 9th week of the legislative session, which is the first week after the first funnel deadline. Many of the standing committees are not meeting, instead much of the time is focused on subcommittees and floor debate, with 64 bills that were debated during the week. Monday, we had...Read More

  Greetings to you all! This week is the start of the 7th week and things are picking up at the Capitol. Monday I had a Commerce Committee meeting dealing with Iowa appraisal standards and appraiser certification law. Tuesday I had a subcommittee HSB218 dealing with requiring employers to give adoptive parents the same benefits as a biological...Read More

  Greetings to you all. I hope everyone has stayed warm and safe despite the extremely cold weather and hopefully we see warmer weather soon. Monday I had a Commerce Committee meeting that passed a bill dealing with private flood insurance. Tuesday I attended a Public Safety Committee meeting dealing with staying safe and sound...Read More

  Greetings to you all, Monday was the start of the fourth week of the legislative session. This week there has been recent reports of additional outbreaks of Covid-19 at the Capitol. This concerns me greatly, and I am taking the steps to keep myself and staff protected by wearing a mask and social distancing....Read More

  Greetings to you all, I hope you all stayed safe and warm despite the heavy snowfall that most of Iowa received on Monday. Thankfully I made it safely down to the Capitol for the week. On Monday and Tuesday most of my day was spent in various meetings. Monday I was in Commerce, Tuesday...Read More