On Tuesday evening, I joined fellow lawmakers in escorting Governor Kim Reynolds to the Condition of the State address before a joint session of the Iowa Legislature. Governor Reynolds delivered her annual address outlining the condition of the state, marking one of her final briefings to the Legislature. Having announced she will not seek re-election; this was the second-to-last time she will address lawmakers in this capacity.
The governor used her speech to highlight some of her accomplishments, introduce some final legislative proposals, and to memorialize Iowans who are no longer with us. If you are so inclined, you can read the full text of the governor’s speech on her website. I’ll just leave you with a few quick thoughts.
As has been the case for each previous iteration of this speech, the governor has presented an awfully generous, rose-tinted version of her tenure in office.
She spoke about needing a government that will live within its means but neglected to mention the $1.26 billion budget deficit Republican lawmakers passed with her approval in 2025 – or that she plans to run another this year.
She proudly announced federal funding that will be directed to cancer prevention but failed to mention that it was a drop in the bucket compared to what the federal government had been providing to Iowa but cut under President Donald Trump.
She talked about nutrition, healthcare, and new requirements for Iowa doctors, but didn’t introduce anything that would help improve Iowa’s patient-to-physician ratio which currently ranks 44th in the country and is a full 30% below the national average.
She referenced Summer EBT as a way to provide a nutrition first focus and a “new era of accountability and health,” but conveniently left out the fact that Iowa will only be back in the Summer EBT program next summer after she withdrew us from the program for the previous two years.
She talked about education, referencing carefully selected statistics to demonstrate growth, but left out how far per pupil funding has fallen, how much money is being diverted to unaccountable private schools, or how her administration has asked public schools to do more with less – despite educating over 90% of Iowa’s students.
The reality is that single-party control has led Iowa down the wrong path. Iowans aren’t better off than they were a decade ago. A recent report ranks Iowa dead last in economic growth. We rank 48th in the country for personal income growth. Moody’s has said that Iowa is in or near a recession. We are the seventh most outbound state in the country – meaning folks are leaving the state for better opportunities elsewhere. The status quo isn’t working for working Iowans.
The condition of our state is deteriorating and it’s time for a change.