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Annual Legislative Session

The Older Iowan's Legislature held it's 29th annual Legislative Session in the House Chambers of the Iowa State Capitol in Des Moines on Sept. 24th and 25th. Delegates elected all over Iowa participate in the session. The primary task of the Legislative Session is to debate and select the bills which will be presented to the members of the Iowa Legislature and to the general public for consideration. The Older Iowans Legislature debated twenty two bills that had been submitted by members from around the state and then adopted nine bills and three resolutions.

BILLS AND RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED AT 2007 OIL SESSION
(in order of delegate votes received)

Senior Living Trust Fund: An act to restore and maintain the integrity of the Senior Living Trust Fund by ensuring that funding to the Fund is used for its original purpose to expand and fund a home and community based services system in Iowa.

Elder Abuse Initiative Program: An act relating to establishment of Iowa’s Elder Abuse Initiative Program to serve all Iowans instead of only 19 counties.

Parity Reimbursement for Home Services: An act establishing parity of reimbursement for home and community based services.

Long Term Care Insurance: An act establishing standardized requirements for long term care insurance policies.

Personal Needs Allowance: An act establishing an annual increase for a Title XIX recipient’s personal needs allowance equal to the percentage increase of Social Security payments as determined by the Social Security Administration.

Elderly Waiver Case Management: An act to allow providers of the Medicaid Elderly Waiver case management service to be reimbursed for their actual cost of providing the service.

Consumer Fraud Protection: An act creating a private cause of action for certain fraud violations.

Property Tax Relief: An act to provide property tax relief for lower income seniors.

Internet Sales Taxes: An act to provide for Iowa vendors and businesses engaged in sales of products and services on the Internet to collect sales taxes that are appropriate.

Enhance Voluntarism: Resolved to ask Governor to appoint a task force to study and recommend programs to enhance and maintain programs for voluntarism in Iowa.

Part D Prescription Drug Insurance Policies: Resolved to ask Governor to appoint a task force to draft standardized benefits that the Commissioner of Insurance will require prior to an insurance company being granted a license.

OIL Resolution: Resolved to recommend that the Iowa General Assembly pass laws that:

• Support the Single Point of Entry to enhance access to information about all aspects of long-term care supportive systems.
• Encourage affordable housing with universal design.
• Improve the transportation infrastructure to support the aging population/
• Encourage livable communities that enable older Iowans to live independently.
• Support detecting and reporting all types of elder abuse and neglect in all of Iowa’s 99 counties.

The Older Iowans Legislature also honored two Iowans for their contributions to older Iowa citizens. Jean Oxley of Cedar Rapids was honored as the Volunteer of the Year for her many years of dedicated service to Iowans of all ages in her home county and across the state. Ingrid Wensel, Associate Director of the Heritage Area Agency on Aging, was honored as Aging Professional of the Year for her many extra contributions of time and talents to older Iowans and their needs and to the Older Iowans Legislature.

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