Proposed Budget Highlights
The governor said that over a few short years, Iowa has been able to cut taxes, shrink and align government, and turn the state into a national model for bold, get-it-done government. The governor added the recent change to a flat state income tax rate will be sustainable in the long-term due to efforts to cut government and change the way it interacts. The governor’s vision moving forward includes rebuilding communities; creating a student-focused education from PreK-12; building a strong, competitive Iowa; building on an affordable, reliable, and sustainable energy system; ensuring excellent healthcare for all Iowans; saving Iowans money; and creating a solid foundation for Iowa families. Highlights of her proposals include:
Rebuilding Communities
- Adding to the Nuisance Property and Abandoned Building Fund
- Extending tax exclusion to disaster assistance for housing developers
- Adjusting insurance regulations to better protect consumers and homeowners
- Modifying emergency funds transfer authority in times of disasters
- Setting up the new Safeguarding Tomorrow Revolving Loan Fund
- Fully funding disaster aid programs established in response to 2024 storms
Student Focused from PreK-12
- Restricting personal electronic devices during instructional time
- Addressing crucial gaps in math and civics education
- Creating a pathway for a continuum of all-day care for four-year-olds
- Strengthening the childcare workforce
- Facilitating parental choice beginning in preschool
- Improving the quality of preschool standards
- Making technical improvements based on feedback from superintendents
Building a Strong, Competitive Iowa
- Removing the requirement for a paraeducator certificate
- Adjusting restrictions related to the teacher intern pathway
- Applying for a federal waiver to institute work requirements for able-bodied adults on Medicaid
- Reforming Unemployment Insurance including through decreasing the taxable wage base by half; lowering the maximum tax rate to 5.4 percent; reducing the number of tax tables; and encouraging businesses to reinvest savings into their employees
Building an Affordable, Reliable and Sustainable Energy System
- Creating a Nuclear Energy Task Force via executive order
- Establishing a partnership between the Iowa Utilities Commission (IUC) and Iowa State University (ISU) to conduct transparent, independent load forecasting and energy assessments
- Giving clear authority to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources to permit on-farm and near-farm anaerobic digesters
- Granting the incumbent utility the Right of First Refusal (ROFR) on new electronic transmission line infrastructure projects
- Modernizing the existing Energy Infrastructure Revolving Loan Program
- Reallocating existing federal tax-exempt bond capacity for energy and water infrastructure
Ensuring Excellent Care for All Iowans
- Investing into new unbundled Medicaid maternal rates
- Working with CMS to implement a funding model to provide more Medicaid rate flexibility
- Consolidating and more than doubling funding for student loan repayment programs
- Establishing a Medicaid Graduate Medical Education (GME) enhanced payment
- Streamlining the approval process to build new healthcare facilities or enhance current ones
- Improving the Health Information Exchange network by authorizing HHS to competitively procure and manage it
Saving Iowans Money
- Issuing an executive order to create an Iowa Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) task force
- Recommends the demolition of the Wallace State Office Building and adjacent parking garage
A Solid Foundation for Iowa
- Proposes four weeks of paid leave for state employees who give birth; one week of paid leave for state employees who did not give birth; and four weeks of paid leave for state employees who adopt a child