Application period open for AARP Community Challenge Grant

Before we jump into meaty policy discussion, I want to make you aware of a grant opportunity that could benefit our local communities.

AARP Iowa is now accepting applications for its 10th annual Community Challenge grant program, which funds quick-action projects to make communities more livable. Eligible projects include improvements to public spaces, transportation, housing, digital access and other community needs.

Key details:

•Application deadline: March 4, 2026, at 4 p.m. Central Time

•Project completion deadline: Dec. 15, 2026

•Eligibility: nonprofits, government entities and other organizations

•Apply: aarp.org/CommunityChallenge

Public safety

Crime and mental health are connected, but we usually talk about them separately. This week, the House addressed both topics.

Safe communities are a top priority for Iowans. Hardworking families should be able to raise their kids without fear, safely go to work and school and build strong communities rooted in time-honored American values.

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I have spoken with many law enforcement officers and county attorneys over the last couple of years and have repeatedly heard stories that bother me. Law enforcement works hard at personal risk to investigate crimes and make arrests.

County attorneys work hard to charge and prosecute criminals and get convictions. Victims have to relive their experiences during the trial process. And jurors give of their time to serve during trials.

But all too often, after all that hard work by many Iowans, some criminals don’t serve any time for serious offenses. Or, they are sentenced to 20 years for very serious crimes and are then released after a couple of years.

This is demoralizing to victims, jurors, law enforcement, prosecutors and the general public. It also sends a message to everyone that compliance with our laws is optional. Which leads to more disregard for the law. It’s a dangerous cycle, and it has to stop.

The House Public Safety and Judiciary Committees will be working on the three bills described below to ensure that Iowa is a welcome place for law-abiding Iowans and not for criminals.

The first bill is the “Career Criminals” bill. If this bill becomes law, individuals will face a mandatory minimum of 20 years in prison without parole once they have three strikes on their record.

• 1 Full Strike: Any conviction for felonies and specific aggravated misdemeanors, including sex offenses, assaults, certain thefts and drug possession.

• 0.5 Strike: All other aggravated misdemeanors and some serious misdemeanors including those involving assaults, drug possession and theft.

The second bill, which will run through the Public Safety Committee, is a pretrial accountability and bail reform act. The goal of this bill is to ensure that those charged with a crime cannot simply skip out on bail or be released on their own recognizance if they are unlikely to return to face judgment:

• Inflation-Adjusted Bail Schedules: Require an update to the statewide bail schedules to adjust for inflation.

• Justification for Deviation: A judge must provide specific reasoning for any departure from the Supreme Court’s established bail schedule.

• Restricting “Promise to Appear”: PTA release will only be allowed if an individual has been charged with a nonviolent, nondrug-related simple or serious misdemeanor.

• Fact-Checking Pretrial Release: Requires the Department of Corrections to independently verify claims regarding residency, employment and criminal record before release can be considered.

The most common question I get from voters in the final days of a campaign is, “How should I vote on the judges?” The third bill, House Study Bill 631, aims to help voters be better-educated on judicial retention votes. The bill creates a dashboard to provide Iowans with objective data on how judges exercise their discretion. It requires the state to collect and publish information including:

• Bond & Sentencing Decisions: How often a judge departs from standard bail schedules or statutory sentencing recommendations.

• Legal Accuracy: The frequency with which a judge’s decisions are overturned by higher courts for legal errors.

• Efficiency: How quickly a judge rules on motions and cases.

These three bills raise some complex issues. The goal is to make Iowa a safer place. Let me know if you have an opinion.

Mental health

Last year, the House passed three mental health bills that have not yet been taken up by the Senate. Each bill seeks to help a person struggling with mental health and protect the public at the same time.

• HF 312 — Psychiatric Deterioration — This bill allows for individuals to be committed based on “psychiatric deterioration.” If passed into law, an Iowan who is unable to understand their own mental health condition and is not able to seek treatment on their own could still receive long-term treatment. Over 30 states currently have similar laws.

• HF 313 — Commitment Hearing Testimony — Under this bill, physician assistants and advanced registered nurse practitioners could testify at committal hearings if they witnessed the examination, reviewed the report and the professional that examined the individual is unable to attend the hearing. Unfortunately, some individuals in Iowa have been released for lack of testimony and have then harmed themselves or others.

• HF 385 — Commitment Discharge — This bill requires that prior to discharging an individual committed for substance abuse or mental health, staff must do the following:

o Refer for evaluation, case management, and post-discharge services;

o Assess for suicide risk;

o Provide a 30-day supply of prescribed medications;

o Issue a discharge report to the individual or their legal representative. The discharge report will list all appointments and medications, contact information, an aftercare plan with crisis prevention, and education materials developed by DHHS.

Again, the intent of these measures is to improve care for mental health patients and to protect the public.

This week, the House Health and Human Services Committee considered HF 2094 to expand capacity at the state Mental Health Institutes and allow for additional federal funding to pay for that expansion. Recently, the President issued an Executive Order titled “ending crime and disorder on America’s streets” that focused on caring for individuals with significant mental health and substance abuse conditions while balancing public safety.

In the order, the President directs his cabinet to “enforce, and where necessary, adopt, standards that address individuals who are a danger to themselves or others and suffer from serious mental illness or substance abuse or who are living on the streets and cannot care for themselves, through assisted outpatient treatment or by moving them into treatment centers or other appropriate facilities via civil commitment or other available means, to the maximum extent permitted by law.”