The Department of Administrative Services (DAS) Central Procurement is now offering orientation for vendors interested in doing business with State of Iowa agencies. Vendors can learn the basics of public procurement, where to find solicitations and other procurement information and the availability of no-cost services from the CIRAS APEX Accelerator Program. Sessions will be online April 14 and June 9 at 9:00 a.m. CST. Registered participants will be sent an online invitation to the web conference. To register or find out more, email purchasing.mailbox@iowa.gov.

Gov. Kim Reynolds called a special election for March 11, 2025, to fill the Iowa House District 100 vacancy caused by the death of Rep. Martin Graber. Before the special election, the state Democratic and Republican parties will convene for district nominating conventions, where delegates will select their party candidates for the seat. The winner of the special election will hold the seat until the end of Graber’s elected term and the seat will be on the general election ballot in 2026.

Gov. Kim Reynolds called a special election for January 28, 2025, to fill the Senate District 35 vacancy caused by the resignation of Sen. Chris Cournoyer.

Cournoyer resigned effective December 16 when Gov. Reynolds appointed her lieutenant governor.

The second regular session of the 90th Iowa General Assembly adjourned sine die early in the morning on Saturday, April 20 after an all-night session.

Lawmakers are only paid for 100 days and worked 104 days to agree on a budget.

Republicans control both houses and passed many of the proposals outlined in Gov. Reynolds January address, including consolidating many boards and commissions by eliminating 83 unelected boards and commissions and requiring an annual review process of boards and commissions.

The Legislature adjourned the special session on July 11 after passing the abortion restrictions Gov. Kim Reynolds requested in calling the special session.

Senate File 579 prohibiting abortion if there is a detectable fetal heartbeat passed both houses in one day.

The regular session of the 89th Iowa General Assembly adjourned sine die on May 25, over a month past their target end date of April 19.

During the session, lawmakers passed House File 2526, prohibiting private money from being used to help run elections.

The bill was introduced following Republican opposition to large donations in the 2020 elections by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s foundation.

The Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board voted unanimously to issue an advisory opinion classifying political donations in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum as in-kind contributions.

Candidates may accept payments but must report the cash value and the donor’s name, and they must report when a cryptocurrency is sold and to whom.

The opinion notes campaigns cannot spend cryptocurrency directly because all campaign expenditures must come from money deposited into an Iowa financial institution.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds called a special election on December 14 to fill the Senate District 1 vacancy caused by the resignation of Sen. Zach Whiting.

Whiting resigned effective October 30 to take a job with the conservative think tank, Texas Public Policy Foundation.

There is no primary, and the filing deadline is November 19.

The winning candidate will serve the remainder of Whiting’s term, which runs through 2022.

The Iowa Legislature adjourned sine die October 28 after a one-day session in which lawmakers passed the second redistricting plan after rejecting the first one in a special session on October 5.

The plan passed the Senate 48-1, with one senator absent, and the House 93-2.

This does not affect lobbyist reporting. 

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds issued a proclamation to convene a second special legislative session on October 28 to consider a second set of maps as part of the redistricting process.

The nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency (LSA) will release a second set of maps by October 21.

Lawmakers are permitted to reject the first two maps without amendment. This does not affect Alerts reporting.

The Iowa Legislature adjourned sine die October 5 after a one-day session in which lawmakers voted to reject the redistricting plan and passed a resolution outlining their concerns with the plan to be sent to the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency (LSA), which is tasked with drawing the maps.

The LSA has 35 days to submit a new plan addressing lawmakers’ concerns.

After the plan is submitted, Gov. Kim Reynolds is expected to call for another special session so lawmakers can consider it.

This does not affect lobbying reporting.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds called a special election for House District 29 on October 12 to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Rep. Wes Breckenridge on September 10.

There is no primary, and candidates will be nominated directly by political parties.

The winning candidate will serve the remainder of Breckenridge’s term, which runs through 2022. 

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds issued a proclamation to convene a special legislative session on October 5 to consider and enact a plan of legislative and congressional districting.

This does not affect lobbyist reporting.

Iowa Republican Mike Bousselot beat Democrat Andrea Phillips by 377 votes to win the special election for House District 37.

The seat became vacant in July following the death of Rep. John Landon.

Republicans now hold a 59-40 lead in the House.

There will be one more special election on October 12 to replace Rep. Wes Breckenridge, a Democrat who resigned.