2023 Iowa legislative session

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2022
2024


2023 Iowa legislative session
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General information
Session start:    January 9, 2023

Session end:    May 4, 2023

Leadership
Senate President
Amy Sinclair (R)

House Speaker
Pat Grassley (R)
Majority Leader
Senate: Jack Whitver (R)
House: Matt Windschitl (R)
Minority Leader
Senate: Zach Wahls (D)
House: Jennifer Konfrst (D)

Elections
Next Election:    November 5, 2024

Last Election:    November 8, 2022

Previous legislative sessions
20222021202020192018
Other 2023 legislative sessions


In 2023, the Iowa State Legislature was scheduled to convene on May 4, 2023, and adjourn on May 4, 2023.

The legislators serving in this session took office following the 2022 elections. Republicans won a 34-16 majority in the Senate and a 64-36 majority in the House. Republicans also controlled the governorship, creating a Republican state government trifecta. At the start of the 2023 session, Iowa was one of 23 state legislatures where neither party had a veto-proof supermajority in both chambers.

At the beginning of the 2023 legislative session:
  • Republicans held a majority in the Iowa state House and state Senate.
  • Iowa was one of 17 Republican state government trifectas.
  • Iowa governor was Republican Kim Reynolds
  • Leadership in 2023

    Iowa State Senate

    Iowa House of Representatives

    Partisan control in 2023

    See also: State government trifectas

    Iowa was one of 17 Republican state government trifectas at the start of 2023 legislative sessions. A state government trifecta occurs when one political party holds the governor's office, a majority in the state Senate, and a majority in the state House. For more information about state government trifectas, click here.

    Iowa was also one of 23 state legislatures where neither party had a veto-proof supermajority in both chambers. Veto overrides occur when a legislature votes to reverse a veto issued by an executive such as a governor or the president. If one party has a majority in a state legislature that is large enough to override a gubernatorial veto without any votes from members of the minority party, it is called a veto-proof majority or, sometimes, a supermajority. To read more about veto-proof supermajorities in state legislatures, click here.

    The following tables show the partisan breakdown of the Iowa State Legislature in the 2023 legislative session.

    Iowa State Senate

    Party As of January 2023
         Democratic Party 16
         Republican Party 34
    Total 50

    Iowa House of Representatives

    Party As of January 2023
         Democratic Party 36
         Republican Party 64
    Total 100

    Regular session

    The list below shows up to 25 pieces of legislation in the 2023 legislative session that most recently passed both chambers of the legislature, were signed by the governor, or were approved by the legislature in a veto override. If no bills are displayed below, no legislation met these criteria in 2023. This information is provided by BillTrack50.

    Standing legislative committees

    See also: Standing committee and List of committees in Iowa state government


    A standing committee of a state legislature is a committee that exists on a more-or-less permanent basis, from legislative session to session, that considers and refines legislative bills that fall under the committee's subject matter.

    At the beginning of the 2023 legislative session, there were 36 standing committees in Iowa's state government, including 16 state Senate committees, and 20 state House committees.

    Senate committees

    • Labor and Business Relations Committee
    • Natural Resources & Environment Committee
    • Rules and Administration Committee
    • Senate Agriculture Committee
    • Senate Appropriations Committee
    • Senate Commerce Committee
    • Senate Education Committee
    • Senate Ethics Committee
    • Senate Government Oversight Committee
    • Senate Human Resources Committee
    • Senate Judiciary Committee
    • Senate Local Government Committee
    • Senate State Government Committee
    • Senate Transportation Committee
    • Senate Veterans Affairs Committee
    • Senate Ways and Means Committee

    House committees

    • Administration and Rules Committee
    • Economic Growth Committee
    • Environmental Protection Committee
    • House Agriculture Committee
    • House Appropriations Committee
    • House Commerce Committee
    • House Education Committee
    • House Ethics Committee
    • House Government Oversight Committee
    • House Human Resources Committee
    • House Judiciary Committee
    • House Local Government Committee
    • House State Government Committee
    • House Transportation Committee
    • House Veterans Affairs Committee
    • House Ways and Means Committee
    • Information Technology Committee
    • Labor Committee
    • Natural Resources Committee
    • Public Safety Committee

    Legislatively referred constitutional amendments

    In every state but Delaware, voter approval is required to enact a constitutional amendment. In each state, the legislature has a process for referring constitutional amendments before voters. In 18 states, initiated constitutional amendments can be put on the ballot through a signature petition drive. There are also many other types of statewide measures.

    The methods by which the Iowa Constitution can be amended:

    See also: Article X of the Iowa Constitution and Laws governing ballot measures in Iowa

    The Iowa Constitution provides two mechanisms for amending the state's constitution— a legislative process and a state constitutional convention. Iowa requires a simple majority vote (50% plus 1) for voters to approve constitutional amendments.

    Legislature

    See also: Legislatively referred constitutional amendment

    A simple majority vote is required during two successive legislative sessions with an election for state legislators in between for the Iowa State Legislature to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot. That amounts to a minimum of 51 votes in the Iowa House of Representatives and 26 votes in the Iowa State Senate, assuming no vacancies. Amendments do not require the governor's signature to be referred to the ballot.

    Convention

    See also: Convention-referred constitutional amendment

    According to Section 3 of Article X of the Iowa Constitution, a question about whether to hold a state constitutional convention is to automatically appear on the state's ballot every 10 years starting in 1970. Iowa is one of 14 states that provides for an automatic constitutional convention question.

    The table below shows the last and next constitutional convention question election years:

    State Interval Last question on the ballot Next question on the ballot
    Iowa 10 years 2020 2030


    Historical partisan control

    The table below depicts the historical trifecta status of Iowa.

    Iowa Party Control: 1992-2025
    Four years of Democratic trifectas  •  Eleven years of Republican trifectas
    Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.

    Year 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
    Governor R R R R R R R D D D D D D D D D D D D R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R
    Senate D D D D D R R R R R R R R S S D D D D D D D D D D R R R R R R R R R
    House D R R R R R R R R R R R R R R D D D D R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R

    Historical Senate control

    From 1992 to 2022, the Iowa State Senate was competitive between the Democratic and Republican parties. During the 26-year period, partisan control changed three times and the chamber was split evenly between the parties once. By 2022, the Republican Party had taken control with a 34-16 majority. The table below shows the partisan history of the Iowa State Senate following every general election from 1992 to 2022. All data from 2006 or earlier comes from Michael Dubin's Party Affiliations in the State Legislatures (McFarland Press, 2007). Data after 2006 was compiled by Ballotpedia staff.

    Iowa State Senate election results: 1992-2022

    Year '92 '94 '96 '98 '00 '02 '04 '06 '08 '10 '12 '14 '16 '18 '20 '22
    Democrats 26 27 21 20 20 21 25* 30 32 27 26 26 20 18 18 16
    Republicans 24 23 29 30 30 29 25* 20 18 23 23 24 29 31 32 34
    *The parties entered into a power-sharing agreement to accommodate the evenly-divided chamber.

    The Iowa State Senate was somewhat competitive from 1900 to 2022, switching partisan control 10 times during that period. Of the 10 times partisan control changed, eight occurred between 1964 and 2020. Three of the changes in partisan control occurred from 1992 to 2022. In 1992, Democrats took a slim 26-24 majority in the chamber. They had been in control since 1982. Their majority increased during the 1994 election to 27-23, but then Republicans won control of the chamber in 1996. The Republican majority persisted until the 2004 elections, with the GOP usually having either 29 or 30 members. They lost their majority in 2004 when Democrats gained four seats and the chamber split 25-25. To accommodate the tied chamber, the two parties entered into a power-sharing agreement.[1]

    Democrats gained an outright majority in the 2006 elections and then bolstered their numbers to 32 seats in 2008. The Democratic majority persisted in the next three election cycles, despite national Republican gains in 2010 and 2014. Although they stayed in the majority, Democrats lost five seats in 2010 and one seat in 2012. They held onto their 26-24 majority in the 2014 elections, but they lost it in 2016 as Republicans retook the chamber for the first time since 2002 with a 29-20 advantage and one independent member. Following the 2022 elections, Republicans had a 34-16 majority. The chamber's Republican gains from 2010 to 2016 were in line with a national trend toward Republican state legislatures during the presidency of Barack Obama (D). From 2009 to 2017, Democrats experienced losses in state legislative elections, totaling 968 seats all together.

    Historical House control

    From 1992 to 2022, the Iowa House of Representatives was mostly controlled by Republicans, although it did switch to Democratic control during the 2006 and 2008 elections. Starting in 2010, Republicans regained a majority and held it through the 2022 elections. The table below shows the partisan history of the Iowa House of Representatives following every general election from 1992 to 2022. All data from 2006 or earlier comes from Michael Dubin's Party Affiliations in the State Legislatures (McFarland Press, 2007). Data after 2006 was compiled by Ballotpedia staff.

    Iowa House of Representatives election results: 1992-2022

    Year '92 '94 '96 '98 '00 '02 '04 '06 '08 '10 '12 '14 '16 '18 '20 '22
    Democrats 49 36 46 44 44 46 49 54 56 42 47 43 41 46 41 36
    Republicans 51 64 54 56 56 54 51 46 44 58 53 57 59 54 59 64

    The Iowa House of Representatives was somewhat competitive from 1900 to 2022, switching partisan control 10 times during that period. Of the 10 times partisan control changed, eight occurred between 1964 and 2010. Three of the changes in partisan control occurred from 1992 to 2010. In 1992, Republicans had a 51-49 majority in the chamber, winning control for the first time since 1980. Their majority increased after the 1994 election, rising to 64-36. After that election, Republicans stayed in control until 2006. However, their majority fell in some elections as they lost 10 seats in 1996, two seats in 2002, and three seats in 2004.

    Democrats had a 54-46 majority in 2006 and then gained a 56-44 majority after the 2008 elections. Republicans retook the chamber in 2010. They gained 14 seats and held a 58-42 majority. After the 2022 elections, they held a 64-36 majority. The chamber's Republican gains from 2010 to 2016 were in line with a national trend toward Republican state legislatures during the presidency of Barack Obama (D). From 2009 to 2017, Democrats experienced losses in state legislative elections, totaling 968 seats total.

    Ballotpedia's Election Administration Legislation Tracker

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    See also

    Elections Iowa State Government State Legislatures State Politics
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    External links

    Footnotes