By Tom Chapman
For The Catholic Messenger
The pace of floor debate has slowed at the State Capitol as leaders negotiate the final budget numbers. House Republicans have released their “budget target” of $9.453 billion, or about $36 million over the target agreed to by the Senate and Gov. Kim Reynolds. Part of the disagreement stems from the House including in its budget about $14 million in funding for para-educators. In addition, 12 Republican senators have announced that they will not vote for a budget unless they get a vote on the “pipeline” bill that limits the use of eminent domain by private companies.
As negotiations continue, the Iowa Catholic Conference (ICC) strongly encourages you to contact legislators on these issues:
- Conscience protection for medical professionals (support).
- Enforcement-only immigration bill (oppose).
- Medicaid changes (oppose).
(Go to iowacatholicconference.org to contact legislators through the ICC “Take Action” page.)
The Senate finished work last week on three bills the ICC supports and sent them to the governor:
- SF 175 requires schools to show a video on fetal development in grades 5-12. Passed 33-16.
- SF 288 requires state universities and community colleges to make reasonable accommodations to mothers who are pregnant or who have recently given birth. Approved 49-0.
- HF 835 requires schools to have at least one employee trained to administer epilepsy seizure rescue medication. The bill also sets up a state workgroup to review school personnel trainings for health issues. Passed 49-0.
A new bishop!
Congratulations to Bishop John Keehner, the newly installed Bishop of the Sioux City Diocese. The ICC welcomes Bishop Keehner to its board. The ICC is the public policy voice of Iowa’s bishops.
Congressional issues
Tell Congress to pass a national school choice bill titled the Educational Choice for Children Act (H.R. 833/S. 292) in budget reconciliation. This bill is similar to Iowa’s School Tuition Organization tax credit program. The national bill would apply in all 50 states. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, along with many partners, encourage Congress to maintain the ECCA’s most important provisions: $10 billion in annual credits for individual and corporate giving and a 100% tax credit for a taxpayer’s donation. Catholic teaching clearly states parents are their child’s first teachers — and the government has a duty to help parents select the educational environment of their choice (CCC 2229).
Build a stronger rural Iowa
AMOS (A Mid-Iowa Organizing Strategy) is sponsoring a seminar May 31 in the Scheman Building on the campus of Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. “When a Dream Lives: Organizing to Build a Stronger Rural Iowa” will include a presentation and discussion with ISU Historian Pamela Riney-Kerberg on her book “When a Dream Dies: Agriculture, Iowa, and the Farm Crisis of the 1980s.”
AMOS will invite participating local congregations and community groups to join in co-organizing a 2026 statewide listening campaign to understand “what’s keeping rural, urban, and suburban Iowans up at night.” This will lead toward a large statewide convention in the fall of 2026 to act on the pressures that emerge from these conversations. Visit the ICC website to register.
As part of his YouTube series, John Huynh, director of social justice for the Diocese of Des Moines and Catholic Charities, shares practical ways to live out Catholic Social Teaching.
(Tom Chapman is executive director of the Iowa Catholic Conference.)
