Iowa's 2022 legislative session ends with action on taxes, education and unemployment

2022-05-29 06:47:54 By : Mr. Wang Mike

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Iowa's 2022 legislative session was scheduled to conclude on April 19, but over a month later, session officially wrapped up just after midnight on May 25.

Republicans are calling it a historic session, passing large income tax cuts, changes to unemployment benefits and restrictions on transgender athletes. State lawmakers also revamped Iowa's bottle redemption system this session after years of failed efforts and expanded access to ethanol with a new bio-fuels law proposed by the governor.

"Republicans in the legislature have had your back," said State Sen. Jack Whitver (R) of Ankeny during the Iowa Senate late session. "We made sure you kept more of what you earned. We made sure Iowans had the choice to wear a mask and whether to attend school full time. We protected Iowans against the non-stop government overreach by some cities, schools, and the federal government."

But Democrats argue lawmakers are heading home "without doing enough."

"Iowa Democrats were really focused on making sure that we we're putting people over politics and that we were trying to solve the everyday issues that Iowans face: rising gas prices, childcare, affordable housing, the workforce crisis [and] wages," State Sen. Jennifer Konfrst (D) of said. "Now [that] the session has concluded, I can say we didn't do enough for everyday Iowans this legislative session."

Here are a few new laws that passed this session:

One of the biggest things Republicans say they're proud of is passing the largest income tax cut in Iowa history.

Iowans won't see the impact of this immediately but by 2026, the individual income tax rate will plunge to a flat 3.9%. That new law also gets rid of all taxes on retirement income.

Watch: How Iowa's new flat tax works

Lawmakers also made some big changes to unemployment this year. Unemployed Iowans will see their benefits cut from 26 to 16 weeks.

The new law also requires workers to take lower-paying jobs sooner or risk losing their benefits.

Republicans vowed at the start of session to expand parental control and school transparency. Although their calls to ban certain books, give parents access to daily curriculum and use public money to fund private school tuition failed, lawmakers did take some action on education.

Republicans authored a new law with restrictions for some transgender athletes. It requires schools at all levels to designate sporting events as male, female, or co-ed. To play on a female sports team, the student must have female listed as the biological sex on their birth certificate.

And on the final night of the session, lawmakers got rid of the open enrollment deadline, so students can leave their assigned school district and move to any other Iowa at any point throughout the year.

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