2019 Iowa Legislative Session

Iowa General Assembly
General information
Type:	State legislature
Term limits:	None
Session start:	January 14, 2019
Session end:	April 27, 2019
Website:	Official Legislature Page
Leadership
Senate President:	Charles Schneider (R)
House Speaker:	Linda Upmeyer (R)
Majority Leader:	Senate: Jack Whitver (R) House: Chris Hagenow (R)
Minority Leader:	Senate: Janet Petersen (D) House: Todd Prichard (D)
Structure
Members:	50 (Senate), 100 (House)
Length of term:	4 years (Senate), 2 years (House)
Authority:	Legislative Department, Iowa Constitution, Sec 3
Salary:	$25,000/year + per diem
Elections
Last election:	November 6, 2018 Senate House
Next election:	November 3, 2020 Senate House
Redistricting:	Iowa Board of Apportionment

Iowa convened its legislative session on January 14, 2019, and legislators remained in session until April 27, 2019. Neither party had a veto-proof supermajority this legislative session. Following the 2018 election, Republicans had a 32-18 majority in the Senate and a 54-46 majority in the House. The party also controlled the governorship, creating a Republican state government trifecta.

Click the links to read more about the 2020 state Senate and state House elections.
Click the links to read more about the 2018 state Senate and state House elections.

Partisan control in 2019[edit]

See also: State government trifectas

Iowa was one of 22 Republican state government trifectas at the start of 2019 legislative sessions. A state government trifecta occurs when one political party holds the governor's office, a majority in the state Senate, and a majority in the state House. For more information about state government trifectas, click here.

Iowa was also one of 28 state legislatures where neither party had a veto-proof supermajority in both chambers. Veto overrides occur when a legislature votes to reverse a veto issued by an executive such as a governor or the president. If one party has a majority in a state legislature that is large enough to override a gubernatorial veto without any votes from members of the minority party, it is called a veto-proof majority or, sometimes, a supermajority. To read more about veto-proof supermajorities in state legislatures, click here.

The following tables show the partisan breakdown of the Iowa General Assembly in the 2019 legislative session.

Iowa State Senate[edit]

From 1992 to 2018, the Iowa State Senate was competitive between the two parties. During the 26-year period, partisan control changed three times and the chamber was split evenly between the parties once. By 2018, the Republican Party had taken control with a 31-18 majority. The table below shows the partisan history of the Iowa State Senate following every general election from 1992 to 2018. All data from 2006 or earlier comes from Michael Dubin's Party Affiliations in the State Legislatures (McFarland Press, 2007). Data after 2006 was compiled by Ballotpedia staff.

The Iowa State Senate was somewhat competitive from 1900 to 2018, switching partisan control 10 times during that period. Of the 10 times partisan control changed, eight occurred between 1964 and 2018. Three of the changes in partisan control occurred from 1992 to 2018. In 1992, Democrats took a slim 26-24 majority in the chamber. They had been in control since 1982. Their majority increased during the 1994 election to 27-23, but then Republicans won control of the chamber in 1996. The Republican majority persisted until the 2004 elections, with the GOP usually having either 29 or 30 members. They lost their majority in 2004 when Democrats gained four seats and the chamber split 25-25. To accommodate the tied chamber, the two parties entered into a power-sharing agreement.^[1]

Democrats gained an outright majority in the 2006 elections and then bolstered their numbers to 32 seats in 2008. The Democratic majority persisted in the next three election cycles, despite national Republican gains in 2010 and 2014. Although they stayed in the majority, Democrats lost five seats in 2010 and one seat in 2012. They held onto their 26-24 majority in the 2014 elections, but they lost it in 2016 as Republicans retook the chamber for the first time since 2002 with a 29-20 advantage and one independent member. The chamber's Republican gains from 2010 to 2016 were in line with a national trend toward Republican state legislatures during the presidency of Barack Obama (D). From 2009 to 2017, Democrats experienced losses in state legislative elections, totaling 968 seats altogether.

Iowa House of Representatives[edit]

From 1992 to 2018, the Iowa House of Representatives was mostly in Republican hands, although it did switch to Democratic control during the 2006 and 2008 elections. Starting in 2010, Republicans regained their advantage and held it through the 2018 elections. The table below shows the partisan history of the Iowa House of Representatives following every general election from 1992 to 2018. All data from 2006 or earlier comes from Michael Dubin's Party Affiliations in the State Legislatures (McFarland Press, 2007). Data after 2006 was compiled by Ballotpedia staff.

The Iowa House of Representatives was somewhat competitive from 1900 to 2018, switching partisan control 10 times during that period. Of the 10 times partisan control changed, eight occurred between 1964 and 2010. Three of the changes in partisan control occurred from 1992 to 2010. In 1992, Republicans took a slim 51-49 majority in the chamber, winning control for the first time since 1980. Their majority was bolstered by the 1994 election, rising to 64-36. After that election, Republicans stayed in control until 2006. However, their majority fell in some elections as they lost 10 seats in 1996, two seats in 2002, and three seats in 2004.

Democrats gained a 54-46 majority in 2006 and then added two members for a 56-44 advantage after the 2008 elections. Republicans retook the chamber in 2010. They gained 14 seats and held a 58-42 majority. After the 2018 elections, they held a 54-46 majority. The chamber's Republican gains from 2010 to 2016 were in line with a national trend toward Republican state legislatures during the presidency of Barack Obama (D). From 2009 to 2017, Democrats experienced losses in state legislative elections, totaling 968 seats altogether.

Leadership in 2019[edit]

Iowa State Senate[edit]

• Senate president: Charles Schneider (R)
• Majority leader: Jack Whitver (R)
• Minority leader: Janet Petersen (D)

Iowa House of Representatives[edit]

• Speaker of the House: Linda Upmeyer (R)
• Majority leader: Chris Hagenow (R)
• Minority leader: Todd Prichard (D)

Regular session[edit]

The following widget shows up to 25 pieces of legislation in the 2019 legislative session that most recently passed both chambers of the legislature, were signed by the governor, or were approved by the legislature in a veto override. If no bills are displayed below, no legislation met these criteria yet in 2019. This information is provided by BillTrack50.

Standing legislative committees[edit]

See also: Standing committee and List of committees in Iowa state government

A standing committee of a state legislature is a committee that exists on a more-or-less permanent basis, from legislative session to session, that considers and refines legislative bills that fall under the committee's subject matter.

At the beginning of the 2019 legislative session, there were 37 standing committees in Iowa's state government, including one joint legislative committee, 17 state Senate committees, and 19 state House committees.

Joint legislative committees[edit]

Senate committees[edit]

House committees[edit]

Legislatively referred constitutional amendments[edit]

In every state but Delaware, voter approval is required to enact a constitutional amendment. In each state, the legislature has a process for referring constitutional amendments before voters. In 18 states, initiated constitutional amendments can be put on the ballot through a signature petition drive. There are also many other types of statewide measures.

The methods in which the Iowa Constitution can be amended:

See also: Article X of the Iowa Constitution and Laws governing ballot measures in Iowa

Article X of the Iowa Constitution governs the ways in which the state's constitution can be changed over time.

Article X allows:

• Legislatively-referred constitutional amendments. For the Iowa General Assembly to place a proposed amendment on the ballot, the following conditions must occur:

• Amendments can be proposed in either chamber.
• To put a proposal before voters, two successive general assemblies must vote to put the proposed amendment on a statewide ballot by majority votes.
• When a constitutional amendment has passed the general assembly in the first session and thus been referred to the succeeding legislature, the state legislature is required by Article X in the Iowa Constitution to publish the amendment in two newspapers in each of Iowa's congressional districts and on the legislature's website once per month for three months.^[2] Before the approval of House File 764 of 2019, this was the duty of the Secretary of State. House File 764 of 2019 also provides that a proposed amendment that has been agreed to by two succeeding sessions of the general assembly cannot be invalidated due to an error or omission in the publication process.^[3]
• Once an amendment is on the ballot, it must be approved by "a majority of the electors qualified to vote for members of the general assembly, voting thereon" in order to become part of the constitution.

• Constitutional conventions, under these conditions:

• Starting in 1970, a question asking whether or not to hold a constitutional convention must automatically appear on the ballot every 10 years.
• The Iowa General Assembly can also vote to put a constitutional convention question on a statewide ballot at other times.
• If either the assembly-referred question or the automatic question are approved, a constitutional convention must be held.
• Any changes to the constitution proposed by the convention must be ratified by a majority vote of the electors at a statewide election.

Historical context:

• Between 1996 and 2018, an average of less than one measure appeared annually on the ballot in Iowa.
• Between 1996 and 2018, there were only six years (1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2008, and 2010) in which there was at least one measure on Iowa's statewide ballot.
• The number of measures on a statewide ballot from 1996 through 2018 ranged from zero to two.
• Between 1996 and 2018, five of nine, or 56 percent, of Iowa ballot measures were approved by voters.
• Conversely, four of nine, or 44 percent, of measures were defeated.

2021 measures:

See also: 2021 ballot measures

Certified:

The following measures were certified for the ballot.

No measures to list

2020 measures:

Below is a list of measures that were referred to the 2020 ballot by the legislature.

See also: Iowa 2020 ballot measures

Certified:

The following measures were certified for the ballot.

No measures to list

Historical partisan control[edit]

The table below depicts the historical trifecta status of Iowa.

See also[edit]

Elections	Iowa State Government	State Legislatures	State Politics
Iowa State Senate elections, 2018 Iowa State Senate elections, 2016	Iowa General Assembly Iowa House of Representatives Governor of Iowa Iowa Supreme Court	State legislative elections, 2018 State legislative elections, 2017 State legislative special elections, 2017 State legislative elections, 2016	State government trifectas State government triplexes State executives State courts Ballot measures

External links[edit]

• Iowa General Assembly website

Footnotes[edit]

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