Senate passes administration-and-regulation budget after floor debate over long-term care and fee reallocations

Senator Guth (Hancock) explained that House File 27 68 appropriates roughly $73.3 million from the general fund for fiscal year 2027 and accounts for approximately 1,489 full-time employees — both small decreases compared with fiscal year 2026 — and about $78.9 million from other funds. She called the bill mostly conforming and briefly summarized the programmatic changes.

On the floor, Senator Zimmer objected to priorities reflected in the budget, urging more attention to long-term care and nursing-home oversight; she recounted family experience and said the bill "could have been done" differently to prioritize vulnerable residents. Senator Buscayano elaborated on long-term-care staffing deficiencies, citing the state's low national ranking for nursing-home inspectors and arguing that reallocating small but meaningful revenue sources would harm local services and vulnerable people.

Buscayano also noted specific reallocations he opposed, including fireworks fees that average about $294,000 a year and that have been used by local fire and EMS departments. Senator Dickey (responding) said the change did not alter an existing statutory requirement (Iowa Code section 10A.519) that provides grants for local fire and EMS provider programming. The ranking member disputed whether moving funds into a larger licensing-and-regulation fund could make them harder for some local entities to access in practice.

Senator Guth and a final-floor speaker said inspection staffing for nursing homes was largely filled and that it was late in session to make major programmatic changes.

The Senate adopted the conforming amendment, passed House File 27 68 on final reading and recorded a roll call of 31 ayes and 16 nays. The chair ordered the bill messaged to the House.