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House concurs in Senate changes to welfare bill, ordering Senate file 2422 for final passage
Summary
The House voted to concur in Senate amendment H8448 to Senate file 2422, adopting requirements for federal SAVE checks for immigration status, expanded SNAP income calculations, quarterly error-rate reporting, online premium payments for Medicaid plans and other oversight provisions; the bill passed on final passage in the House.
The House on the floor concurred in Senate amendment H8448 to Senate file 2422, a package of changes to public assistance programs that the sponsor said would tighten eligibility verification and expand legislative oversight.
Representative from Appanoose, who opened debate on the Senate amendment, said the measure would require the Department to use the federal SAVE program to determine immigration status, "make some changes to the SNAP eligibility which would capture all the household members' income," and codify citizenship qualifications. The sponsor also said the House kept Medicaid retroactive eligibility provisions and added quarterly reporting requirements so lawmakers could monitor potential error rates that could trigger state penalties.
"If the error rate is at 6% or above, states start getting penalized," the sponsor said, warning that penalties could range from tens to hundreds of millions of dollars and that the bill requires quarterly reports from the department so "we can see that train coming down the tracks." The sponsor said the bill also directs the department to seek waivers for database verifications, shorten the window to expunge inactive benefits from nine months to three months, and requires an online payment option for premiums to improve continuity of care.
Representative Waisel Cashel opposed the amendment on the floor, saying the changes would create barriers to benefits. "This was a bad bill to start with. And I think, well, it's definitely worse now," the representative said, citing state hunger statistics and arguing the bill would make it harder for vulnerable Iowans—including refugees—to access food and health care.
After closing remarks from the sponsor and a motion that the House concur in the Senate amendment H8448, the House placed Senate file 2422 on final passage. The clerk read the bill, and the machine vote recorded 59 ayes, 24 noes and 17 absent/not voting; the clerk declared the bill passed in the House and the title was agreed to.
The bill as passed in the House will proceed to the Senate for further action per legislative process; the House record shows concurrence in the Senate amendment and final passage in the chamber.
