Week 12: Rural Healthcare

As we approach the end of session, our focus will continue to narrow. The House and Senate continue to have conversations surrounding the details of property tax reform and I expect floor action on a bill in the coming weeks. This week it was a pleasure to visit with disability advocates at the Capitol, including many who helped me pass the visually accessibly pharmacy label bill this session. I also was able to speak to the Iowa Health Initiative about our fight against cancer.

Rural Health Transformation Plan

This week, the Iowa House passed House File 2743 to establish a fund within the state for all money received from the One Big Beautiful Bill Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP). The bill requires the Department of Health and Human Services to provide regular reports on expenditures from the fund and what cities in Iowa have received those funds.

Iowa has been awarded $209 million in the first year of a five-year grant program, with over $1 billion expected to help with rural health care access. Iowa’s application for these funds can be found here: hhs.iowa.gov/media/17491/download?inline=&utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery.

Iowa’s plan is titled Healthy Hometowns and has 5 initiatives, with a major initiative being Combat Cancer: Prevent and Treat. The cancer initiative will invest $183 million to increase screening access, University of Iowa Cancer analyses, cancer hubs and radon mitigation.

The application makes significant investments in cancer prevention and treatment in the state. This session the legislature began funding radon test kits, and this application builds on that by funding 30,000 radon tests annually and subsidizing mitigation for 500 rural homes per year to combat lung cancer rates in rural Iowa. The plan also includes investments in screening for lung, colorectal, and skin cancers.

Additionally, the funding will go towards regional hubs to have local rural facilities provide diagnostics, chemotherapy and infusion services, and follow-up care, with telehealth consultations with cancer experts. The plan will expand Iowa’s oncology workforce along with other health care workforce initiatives throughout the plan.

This work will build on the legislature’s $1 million appropriation to the University of Iowa to study factors that are contributing to cancer in Iowa.

Iowa was the first state in the nation to award RHTP funding. There are current funding opportunities to purchase equipment, recruit rural health care providers and to combat cancer that can be found here: hhs.iowa.gov/initiatives/healthy-hometowns-iowas-rural-health-transformation-plan.

Raising the Speed Limit to 60 MPH

This week, we passed a bill that many Iowans have been requesting. SF 378 raises the speed limit on state highways from 55 MPH to 60 MPH. This would apply to roads that don’t have specific speed limits set, like interstates, which remain at 70 MPH, and residential zones that require a lower speed for safety. This change aligns our laws with modern driving realities and the actual flow of traffic.

Safety remains a priority; the Department of Transportation still retains the authority to set lower limits in specific areas where curves, hills, or high-traffic intersections make 60 MPH unsafe. To save money, the bill authorizes the use of overlays (stickers) to update existing signs, deferring full replacements until the end of their natural service life.

English Proficiency for CDL

A basic understanding of the English language is essential to navigate our roadways safely. All drivers need to understand road signs and be able to process information quickly in order to avoid tragedies, but the stakes are much higher for commercial operators.

House File 2700 moves enforcement to the front end. By requiring a computer-based proficiency exam before a CDL is issued or renewed, we ensure that every driver entering Iowa’s workforce is qualified from day one, rather than waiting for a roadside inspection to find a problem.

We saw the danger of ignoring these rules just this February when an 80,000-pound truck was caught driving the wrong way for miles on a divided highway. When the Missouri State Highway Patrol stopped the driver, they found he was unable to identify or understand basic road signage due to a lack of English proficiency.

I’m grateful for the opportunity to work hard on your behalf in Des Moines! Follow “Barker for Iowa” on social media channels to stay up to date on my work. Please reach out to me about any questions, concerns, or suggestions at brett.barker@legis.iowa.gov.