Last session, the Legislature approved more property tax relief to those who have sacrificed the most for our country. The Disabled Veterans Property Tax Credit was expanded to include a full property tax exemption for those who suffered a 100 percent disability because of their service, and allowed the exemption to apply to surviving spouses and children of those killed in service to our nation.
However, the law inadvertently left out veterans who suffered a permanent disability that made it impossible for them to work. While the veteran did not receive a 100 percent disability rating, their injuries made it impossible for them to seek employment.
This week, we fixed that problem. House File 166 will allow those veterans to claim and receive the property tax exemption. This legislation is retroactive to last year, so those who met this standard and had applied will receive their benefit.
Veterans must apply to their local assessor to receive an exemption. For more information, contact your local assessor by going to www.iowa-assessors.org/htdocs/Assessors_of_Iowa, or county veterans' office by going to www.va.iowa.gov/counties.
Breast cancer is the second most common cancer among women in the United States (behind skin cancer) and is the second leading cause of cancer death in women, exceeded only by lung cancer. Approximately one in eight women will develop invasive breast cancer at some point in their lives.
While death rates from breast cancer have declined in recent decades because of greater awareness, screenings and hormone therapies, more must be done. One area of improvement concerns mammography screenings for women with dense breast tissue. Dense breast tissue puts women at a greater risk for developing cancer than having two blood relatives with breast cancer.
To make matters worse, many women with dense breast tissue are not aware that they have the condition. About 50 percent of women have dense breast tissue. Mammography sensitivity decreases in women with dense breast tissue, which significantly reduces the chance of revealing cancerous tumors.
Last week, the Iowa Senate voted unanimously in SF 205 to increase awareness of this condition. The bill requires that women with dense breast tissue receive notice of their status with their mammogram results. If it becomes law, Iowa will join 21 other states with this requirement.