Bill Tracker April 9, 2025 – Second Funnel

Under the Golden Dome
2^nd Funnel Report
April 9, 2025

The list of priority bills cleared a bit after the second funnel deadline.  However, this does not mean a bill is completely dead.   Bills can be moved the unfinished business calendar in either chamber.  This technically gives legislators more time to push for a priority policy.  All tax and budget bills are also exempt from this deadline.

This week the legislature and governor came to an agreement on K-12 education funding.   This paves the way for both chambers to set their budget targets.   The Senate released their overall budget target of $9.411 billion for the FY 26 budget year beginning July 1, 2025.  This represents an increase of 5.2% of the current budget year and is $22.2 million below the governor’s recommendation.  The House has yet to publicly release their budget target, but they typically propose more spending than the governor and the Senate.  Once individual budget targets are released, work will begin on the budget bills.

Federal Block Grant Bills

HSB 327/HSB126 allocate the federal community mental health block grant.  The old funding model earmarked 70% of block grant funds for CMHCs.  Under this bill the following happens:

• FY26 – HHS plans to Move $1.4 M of the previously bills services to Medicaid for Treatment Services (services that HHS identified as eligible for Medicaid, but were being billed ot the block grant); remaining funds flow to CMHCs as usual – Total funding should be consistent with current fiscal year
• FY27 – Plan to pull back early intervention, prevention, and navigation services & would go to the ASO to coordinate statewide; CMHCs would contract with ASO to pay for these services
• FY27 & Beyond: Move Education Dollars to Develop Modules beyond providers to have uniform funding statewide and focus more on prevention

The Senate plans an amendment that specifies that everything outside the $1.5 million will continue to flow to the CMHCs for FY 2026.  The CMHCs are asking that the $1.4 million that is now going to flow directly to Medicaid is reserved for them to tap into as under the previous model.  The House hasn’t decided if they are doing amendments.

Here’s a brief status of bills on which IMHCA has been engage.  More detail and information is available on the bill tracker.

HF 163/SF 583 would allow school districts to create threat assessment teams which could include mental health professionals to facilitate sharing of information to ensure that students at risk receive appropriate services.  IMHCA is registered in support.  Both bills remain alive.

HF 303/SF 231 puts requirements on insurance companies when responding to prior authorization requests.  IMHCA is registered in support.  Both bills remain alive.

HF 330 removes the previous age limit of 21 years and eliminates the maximum benefit cap of $36,000 per year for treatment.  IMHCA is registered in support.  The bill is eligible for Senate debate.

HJR9/SJR 9 are resolutions to amend the Iowa constitution to limit an accused’s right to confront witnesses who are children under the age of eighteen or who have mental illnesses, intellectual disabilities, or other developmental disabilities. The intent of this amendment is to enhance the protection of vulnerable witnesses during legal proceedings. IMHCA is registered in support.  Both bills remain alive.