2026 Iowa legislative session

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2026 Iowa legislative session
General information
Scheduled session start:    Jan. 12, 2026 Scheduled session end:    April 21, 2026
Leadership
Senate President Amy Sinclair (R) House Speaker Pat Grassley (R) Majority Leader Senate: Michael T. Klimesh (R) House: Bobby Kaufmann (R) Minority Leader Senate: Janice Weiner (D) House: Brian Meyer (D)
Elections
Next Election:    November 3, 2026 Last Election:    November 5, 2024
Previous legislative sessions
2025 • 2024 • 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018
Other 2026 legislative sessions
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In 2026, the Iowa State Legislature is scheduled to convene on January 12, 2026, and adjourn on April 21, 2026.

The legislators serving in this session took office following the 2024 elections. Republicans won a 35-15 majority in the Senate and a 67-33 majority in the House. The party also controlled the governorship, creating a Republican state government trifecta. At the start of the 2026 session, Iowa was one of 23 state legislatures where neither party had a veto-proof supermajority in both chambers.

At the beginning of the 2026 legislative session:

Republicans held a majority in the Iowa state House and state Senate.

Iowa was one of 23 Republican state government trifectas.

Iowa's governor was Republican Kim Reynolds.

Leadership in 2026

Iowa State Senate

• Senate president: Amy Sinclair (R)
• Majority leader: Michael T. Klimesh (R)
• Minority leader: Janice Weiner (D)

Iowa House of Representatives

• Speaker of the House: Pat Grassley (R)
• Majority leader: Bobby Kaufmann (R)
• Minority leader: Brian Meyer (D)

Partisan control in 2026

See also: State government trifectas

Iowa was one of 23 Republican state government trifectas at the start of 2026 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 2026 legislative session.

Iowa State Senate

Partisan composition, Iowa State Senate

As of March 2026
Party	Members
Democratic	17
Republican	33
Other	0
Vacancies	0
Total	50

Iowa House of Representatives

Partisan composition, Iowa House of Representatives

As of March 2026
Party	Members
Democratic	33
Republican	67
Other	0
Vacancies	0
Total	100

Regular session

The list below shows up to 25 pieces of legislation in the 2026 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 has met these criteria yet in 2026. 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 2026 legislative session, there were 45 standing committees in Iowa's state government, including eight joint legislative committees, 17 state Senate committees, and 20 state House committees.

Joint legislative committees

• Administration Committee
• Capital Projects Committee
• Fiscal Committee
• Health Policy Oversight Committee
• International Relations Committee
• Legislative Council Committee
• Service Committee
• Studies Committee

Senate committees

• Health and Human Services
• 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 Judiciary Committee
• Senate Local Government Committee
• Senate State Government Committee
• Senate Transportation Committee
• Senate Veterans Affairs Committee
• Senate Ways and Means Committee
• Senate Workforce Committee
• Technology Committee

House committees

• Administration and Rules Committee
• Economic Growth Committee
• Environmental Protection Committee
• Higher Education 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
• 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: 1992-2026
Four years of Democratic trifectas  •  Twelve 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	26
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	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	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	R

Historical Senate control

Republicans won control of the Iowa State Senate in 2016. In 2024, they won a 34-16 majority.

The table below shows the partisan history of the Iowa Senate following every general election from 1992 to 2024. 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: 1992-2024

Year	'92	'94	'96	'98	'00	'02	'04	'06	'08	'10	'12	'14	'16	'18	'20	'22	'24
Democrats	26	27	21	20	20	21	25*	30	32	27	26	26	20	18	18	16	15
Republicans	24	23	29	30	30	29	25*	20	18	23	23	24	29	31	32	34	35

*The parties entered into a power-sharing agreement to accommodate the evenly-divided chamber.

Before 1992

The Iowa State Senate switched partisan control 10 times from 1900 to 2022.

Historical House control

Republicans won control of the Iowa House of Representatives in 2010. In 2024, they won a 64-36 majority.

The table below shows the partisan history of the Iowa House following every general election from 1992 to 2024. 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: 1992-2024

Year	'92	'94	'96	'98	'00	'02	'04	'06	'08	'10	'12	'14	'16	'18	'20	'22	'24
Democrats	49	36	46	44	44	46	49	54	56	42	47	43	41	46	41	36	33
Republicans	51	64	54	56	56	54	51	46	44	58	53	57	59	54	59	64	67

Before 1992

The Iowa House of Representatives switched partisan control 10 times from 1900 to 2022.

Analysis

Adopted legislation, 2015-2024

See also: The State Legislative Decade - Iowa

In 2024, Ballotpedia released analysis of bills enacted in each state in the preceding decade. The charts and table below detail legislation passed each year by party sponsorship.

See also

Elections	Iowa State Government	State Legislatures	State Politics
Iowa State Senate elections, 2026 Iowa House of Representatives elections, 2026	Iowa State Legislature Iowa House of Representatives Iowa State Senate Governor of Iowa Iowa Supreme Court	State legislative elections, 2026 State legislative special elections, 2026 State legislative elections, 2024 State legislative elections, 2022	State government trifectas State government triplexes Veto overrides in state legislatures State executives State courts Ballot measures

External links

• Search Google News for this topic
• Iowa General Assembly homepage

Footnotes

State legislatures

Legislatures

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2026

State legislative elections (2026) • State legislative special elections (2026) • Primary dates and filing requirements • 2026 Session Dates

2025

State legislative elections (2025) • State legislative special elections (2025) • Primary dates and filing requirements • 2025 Session Dates

Historical elections

2024 • 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2014 • 2013 • 2012 • 2011 • 2010 • 2009 • 2008 • 2007 • 2006 • 2005 • 2004 • 2003 • 2002 • 2001 • 2000

Features of state legislatures

How vacancies are filled in state legislatures • States with a full-time legislature • State legislatures with term limits • Comparison of state legislative salaries • When state legislators assume office after a general election • Population represented by state legislators • State constitutional articles governing state legislatures • State legislative sessions • Resign-to-run law • State legislature candidate requirements by state • Official names of state legislatures • State legislative chambers that use multi-member districts • Factors Affecting Competitiveness in State Legislative Elections

State senates

Length of terms of state senators • State senators • Partisan composition of state senates • State senators sorted by year first elected

State houses

Length of terms of state representatives • State representatives • Partisan composition of state houses • State representatives sorted by year first elected

Leadership positions

President of the Senate • President Pro Tempore • Senate Majority Leader • Senate Minority Leader • House Majority Leader • House Minority Leader • State Speaker of the House

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