Legislators kicked off annual session on Monday

State lawmakers in Des Moines started the 90th General Assembly on Monday at the Iowa State Capitol. Among them are Adair County’s representation, State Representative Ray Sorensen and State Senator Amy Sinclair.

Sorensen is a Republican from Greenfield who serves House District 23, which includes all of Adair and Madison counties, as well as the southwestern part of Dallas County, northeastern part of Union County and far western part of Clarke County. Sinclair is a Republican from Allerton who serves Senate District 12, which includes Adair, Madison, Clarke, Lucas, Decatur and Wayne counties in their entireties, as well as the southwestern part of Dallas County, the northeastern part of Union County and a small portion of western Appanoose County.

Both lawmakers said there has been much work to do before the session even began.

Sorensen talked about balancing the holidays with work, family time and gearing up for the session. He said he’s been meeting with constituents to gather their feedback and has attended caucus meetings to set up priorities and agendas. Sinclair outlined that she’s been doing much of the same, gleaning input from various people on what they feel the state’s priorities and agendas ought to be.

During last year’s legislative session, Sinclair said one of the top things she remembers is lawmakers passing a couple of different bills that were designed to give parents more control of the education their children are receiving.

“During the pandemic, parents became far more involved in what their children were learning,” she said. “[They] demanded transparency as we move forward.”

Sorensen said he remembers responsible budgeting being carried out in the last session and large property tax relief that was given. Lawmakers additionally increased funding for mental health and maternal support programs. There were steps taken rural emergency licenses for hospitals and midwifery. In the education realm, legislators passed bills that helped empower teachers to protect themselves and discipline students who are acting out repeatedly. Other areas focused on were the workforce and identifying ways to generate applicants for high-need jobs in Iowa.

Both lawmakers said that a lot is on the docket for this session, too.

“This coming year, we will continue to work on Iowa’s tax system, giving further relief to taxpayers on the income tax side,” Sinclair said. “We will also focus on special education, and the Area Education Agencies that oversee those services, for students who learn differently. This is necessary because Iowa has been targeted by the federal government for unacceptable achievement gaps between special education recipients and typical students.”

Another goal will be to streamline state government, Sinclair added, through the realignment of various boards and commissions. Her standing committees are government oversight and rules and administration, the State Legislature’s website says.

Sorensen largely agreed and sees some other issues as important moving forward.

“This session, we’ll dive into Iowa’s K-12 education standards to ensure they are setting our students and teachers up for success. I know a priority of the House is to address raising teacher salaries,” Sorensen said. “In the Economic Growth/IT Committee that I chair, there will be some bills addressing Artificial Intelligence, and Economic Growth department bill and Workforce bill, and any other IT issues that may be hanging around out there.”

Sorensen will continue to chair the economic growth and technology committees, but some of his committees may change going into the session.

The first week of the session usually also includes the Condition of the State address from Governor Kim Reynolds, as well as updates from the Iowa National Guard and other sectors.