After several weeks of bouncing bills between chambers, the governor signed several pieces of legislation last week including: House File 2386, an act relating to grounds for termination of parental rights of an individual relative to sexual abuse; House File 2269, an act providing for certain excise taxes imposed on the sale of cattle and including effective date provisions; and House File 2353, an act removing prohibitions on emergency management organization employees from holding elective office.
Honoring Our Veterans
A few weeks ago, the Senate took up HF 2266, a bill on unclaimed veterans remains. After being amended for a small clarification, it was sent back to the House, who took it up. This bill authorizes a funeral director who has custody of cremated remains, still unclaimed after 180 days, to contact the Department of Veterans Affairs and submit the name of the deceased to see if the remains are those of a veteran, and potentially eligible for inurnment at a veterans cemetery. If the remains are eligible, and another 180 days has passed, the remains are to be transferred to an eligible veterans’ organization.
This bill came up because sometimes people don’t claim remains and current law prevents funeral homes from giving remains to anyone other than family. This would take care of veterans who are not claimed. The bill passed the House 99-0 and previously passed the Senate 49-0. The Governor signed it last week. This non-partisan bill will make our final sendoff of these brave men and women a more reverent process than it currently is.
Medicaid Privatization Goes Live
Last week the Senate Human Resources Committee again had a meeting to get an update on the transition from state run to managed care for Medicaid. This is the third of these meetings with others focused on CMS Readiness Criteria and a panel of MCO Representatives.
More than 560,000 Iowans are covered by Medicaid, and total spending on Medicaid has gone from $2.5 billion in FY 2007 to $4.5 billion today. Despite the dramatic growth in spending, Medicaid members’ health outcomes have failed to improve, prompting the governor’s office to explore modernizing how it delivers services to Iowans, utilizing the program through managed care organizations.
• Contact Sen. Amy Sinclair at amy.sinclair@legis.iowa.gov