Rep. Brian Lohse

Maddy summaryHF 86 updates Iowa's foster care and adoption support system. It expands the criteria for determining if a child needs foster care assistance to include chemical dependency alongside mental health issues. The bill replaces the previous fixed 65% USDA cost reimbursement rate for foster parents with a new system requiring the state to review rates every three years. It also sets $2,000 maximum limits for adoption investigation costs and requires background check approval before reimbursing these expenses, directly affecting foster children, foster parents, and prospective adoptive families.

Maddy summaryHF 812 requests the Iowa legislative council to form an interim study committee to plan a state education summit for 2026. The committee, with specific membership including educators, administrators, and education officials, must determine the summit’s location, agenda, and speakers by December 2025. It will focus on identifying best practices in education, such as active learning and technology use, and develop speaker recommendations. The committee’s final report will propose the summit’s details to the legislature and governor.

Maddy summaryHF 38 allows Iowa cities to create designated "entertainment areas" where a surcharge (up to 3%) is added to specific transactions. This applies to food and alcohol sales at venues, entertainment tickets, and lodging rentals within the area, with revenues funding improvements or services for the zone. Cities must meet strict requirements, including a projected 250,000+ annual visitors, contiguous property under 75 acres, and at least 75% of properties being entertainment-related. The process requires a public hearing, 25% property owner petition signatures, and a council vote before implementation. The bill directly affects property owners, venue operators, and city governments within designated entertainment zones.

Maddy summaryHF 741 amends Iowa's human trafficking laws to clarify and expand key definitions. It explicitly includes knowingly purchasing services involving commercial sexual activity from undercover law enforcement officers posing as trafficking victims as a form of human trafficking. The bill also broadens the definition of "victim" to include people targeted for trafficking or identified as such, not just those currently subjected to it. These changes ensure penalties - ranging from class D to class A felonies - apply to traffickers engaging in these specific acts. The bill focuses on strengthening legal tools for law enforcement intervention and victim protection.

Maddy summaryHF 140 allows licensed alcohol manufacturers (not retailers) to ship alcohol directly to Iowa residents who are 21 or older, subject to specific limits. Manufacturers must obtain a new "alcoholic liquor direct shipper license," ship only to personal-use consumers (with quantity caps based on their production volume), and include required labeling. The bill also requires manufacturers to pay the state 50% of the wholesale price for shipped alcohol and register products with the department. This applies only to manufacturers who produce or import limited volumes of alcohol, and it does not permit retailers to ship directly to consumers.

Maddy summaryThis resolution honors Archie and Nancy Martin for their historical support of Black students at Iowa State University. It recognizes their role in addressing housing discrimination by hosting students at their Ames home (the Martin House, now a historic landmark) and advocating with university leadership. The resolution also references existing honors, including Martin Hall (named in 2004) and scholarships established in 2008 to support students of color. As a symbolic gesture, it does not create new laws or policies but formally acknowledges the Martin family’s contributions to educational equity.

Maddy summaryHF 372 establishes a state grant program under Iowa's Department of Justice to fund nonprofit organizations operating sexual assault forensic examination centers. Eligible nonprofits must be state-incorporated, employ sexual assault nurse examiners, maintain survivor-focused facilities, and prioritize sexual assault care as their main mission. The program requires grantees to provide medical forensic services to all survivors - including adults, children, people with disabilities, and rural Iowans - and offer trainings for medical staff, law enforcement, and the public on sexual assault services and prevention. Grantees must submit annual reports and may seek additional funding while receiving state reimbursement for operating costs, though they are not classified as state agencies.

Maddy summaryThis bill creates Iowa's "Uniform Family Law Arbitration Act," allowing families to resolve certain custody, parenting time, and child support disputes through private arbitration instead of court. It requires a written agreement signed by both parties, mandates arbitrators be qualified attorneys with domestic violence training, and limits arbitration to issues like parenting plans but excludes divorce, adoption, or child dependency cases. Courts retain oversight to enforce agreements, halt arbitration if issues arise, or handle disputes not covered by the law. The law directly affects families navigating family law conflicts and the courts managing related cases.

Maddy summaryHF 487 modifies Iowa's drug paraphernalia laws to exempt specific harm reduction tools from criminal penalties. It explicitly excludes fentanyl/xylazine test strips, drug-checking equipment, and materials used by authorized harm reduction organizations (like public health departments) from the definition of "drug paraphernalia." The bill protects individuals from arrest, housing loss, or other penalties when using these tools for testing substances, and prohibits using drug-checking results as evidence in court. It also permits state opioid settlement funds to support these activities, directly affecting people who use substance-checking services and harm reduction programs.

Maddy summaryHF 506 standardizes penalties for drivers operating vehicles while their license or operating privileges are restricted (denied, canceled, suspended, revoked, or barred). It sets a fixed $250 fine for a first offense across all license restriction scenarios, replacing the previous $250-$1,500 range. Subsequent offenses are tiered: a second offense becomes a simple misdemeanor, and third or later offenses become serious misdemeanors. The bill also removes the current prohibition on suspending sentences for these violations. This affects anyone driving with an active license restriction under Iowa’s motor vehicle laws.