BW INSIGHTS

2025 Government Relations Legislative Update - Week Eleven

By Matthew H. McKinney, R.G. Schwarm & Julie A. Smith | 03.31.2025

Capitol Update This Week. The days to the next funnel are dwindling. This week the Senate passed 30 bills on the floor and the House passed 49. Most of those bills will have to be pushed through the Committees on the other side by next Friday, April 4 or they will be ineligible for further consideration this session. New Representative Blaine... Read More

2025 Government Relations Legislative Update - Week Ten

By Matthew H. McKinney, R.G. Schwarm & Julie A. Smith | 03.24.2025

Capitol Update Both the House and Senate debated bills this week with the Senate passing 29 bills and the House passing 54 bills. During week 10, Joint Rule 20 found in House Concurrent Resolution 5, states that the Senate can only consider Senate bills, Senate joint resolutions, and unfinished business and the House can consider only House bills,... Read More

2025 Government Relations Legislative Update - Week Nine

By Matthew H. McKinney, R.G. Schwarm & Julie A. Smith | 03.17.2025

Capitol Update Most of this past week consisted of House and Senate floor debate as there is a push to advance bills from one chamber to the other in order to meet the next funnel deadline (April 4th), particularly bills that are not filed in both Chambers. The House passed 52 bills and the Senate passed 30 bills. This week, five of those bills... Read More

March 13, 2025 REC Summary

By Matthew H. McKinney, R.G. Schwarm & Julie A. Smith | 03.14.2025

The Revenue Estimating Conference (“REC”) met today (3.13.25) as part of their standard schedule of meetings to estimate future state revenues. REC members Kraig Paulsen (Gov.’s Appointee), Jennifer Acton (LSA), and Jeff Plagge (Public Member) serve on the three-member panel. A summary of the information discussed during the meeting is below,... Read More

2025 Government Relations Legislative Update - Week Eight

By Matthew H. McKinney, R.G. Schwarm & Julie A. Smith | 03.10.2025

Capitol Update Week #8 was busy! The first major funnel of 2025 is behind us. There were 165 different subcommittees scheduled between Monday and Thursday. For comparison purposes, last year’s funnel week had 99 subcommittees. Last week (#7) 192 different subcommittees were scheduled. The BW team doesn’t attend ALL of those subcommittees, but does... Read More

2025 Government Relations Legislative Update - Week Seven

By Matthew H. McKinney, R.G. Schwarm & Julie A. Smith | 03.03.2025

Capitol Update The pace quickened this week at the Capitol. The first major funnel deadline is next Friday, March 7, the eighth week of session. March 7th is the date by which Senate bills must be voted out of Senate Committees and House bills must be voted out of House Committees. However, there are certain committees that are not subject to this... Read More

2025 Government Relations Legislative Update - Week Six

By Matthew H. McKinney, R.G. Schwarm & Julie A. Smith | 02.24.2025

Capitol Update A Good Week for Governor’s Bills. The Governor held a Press Conference on Tuesday to discuss her new health care policy proposals. The bills, HSB 191 and SSB 1163 follow up on the goals the Governor discussed in her Condition of the State Speech to address health care workforce shortages and scarcity of care in rural Iowa. The bill... Read More

2025 Government Relations Legislative Update - Week Five

By Matthew H. McKinney, R.G. Schwarm & Julie A. Smith | 02.17.2025

Capitol Update New This Week. Newly elected Democratic Senator Mike Zimmer took the Oath of Office this past Monday. Zimmer was elected to fill the Senate seat previously held by Lieutenant Governor Chris Cournoyer. In addition, Governor Reynolds set March 11th as the Special Election date to fill House District 100, a seat vacated by the sudden... Read More

2025 Government Relations Legislative Update - Week Four

By Matthew H. McKinney, R.G. Schwarm & Julie A. Smith | 02.10.2025

New This Week. Week 3 (last week) ended on a sad note with the sudden passing of Representative Martin Graber (R) on Friday, January 31st. The House didn’t gather in Des Moines on Tuesday of week 4 so that members could attend Representative Graber’s funeral. Graber, from Fort Madison, represented House District 100. He was first elected to serve... Read More

2025 Government Relations Legislative Update - Week Three

By Matthew H. McKinney, R.G. Schwarm & Julie A. Smith | 02.03.2025

Capitol Update New This Week. After Tuesday’s special election, a new State Senator will take the oath of office in Des Moines. Democrat Mike Zimmer, the Central DeWitt School Board president, won the seat for Senate District 35 in eastern Iowa. The district includes Clinton County and parts of Jackson and Scott Counties. Zimmer succeeds in the... Read More