When surveying Iowans on what matters to them, healthcare access and affordability consistently rank at the top. This week the Iowa Legislature took a huge step toward improving these matters. HF 161 implements a limit of $1 million for doctors and $2 million for hospitals on the amount of non-economic damages a jury may award to a plaintiff in a medical malpractice case. HF 161 has been a priority for Iowa medical professionals for many years. Thirty-three other states, including California and several states surrounding Iowa, have limits on non-economic damages. HF 161 made a few other changes to this area of law. It redirected punitive damages to the plaintiff instead of the state, as current law dictates. It also created a medical error task force to identify the causes of errors and reduce their occurrences. Medical malpractice incidents are traumatic and often have permanent consequences. Reasonable compensation for those incidents is appropriate; punitive and economic damages remain uncapped. HF 161 seeks to balance awards for those injured and rural healthcare availability and affordability.
The Iowa Senate has recently released two pieces of legislation that help address Iowan’s concerns about rising property taxes and provide some relief to property taxpayers in the state. Iowa currently ranks 40th in property taxes, with some of the highest rates in the country. SSB 1124 specifically focuses on streamlining and simplifying complicated tax code. It consolidates 18 property tax levies, limits open-ended levies for additional spending by local governments, reinstates hard caps on levies, and provides a series of controls to protect Iowa taxpayers by controlling the growth of local government. SSB 1124 will also eliminate loopholes abused by local governments to exceed limits set by law and increase voter participation in bond referendums and debt consolidation by local governments.
Wednesday, Feb. 8, was STEM Day at the Capitol. This event is hosted annually by the Iowa Governor’s STEM Advisory Council. This event invites students and educators from across the state to showcase their education and careers in STEM. Students from the Waterloo Career Center were in attendance on Wednesday. I had the opportunity to speak with their instructor, Mr. Kyle Kuhlers, and five students. Two of those students are leading the way in password encryption and ease of use for everyday users. These students in STEM are our future!
I encourage my constituents to contact me using my legislative email ([email protected]) with any comments, questions, or concerns. I look forward to another great week of representing the people of District 42.