Work week shortened due to death

This workweek was short due to the sudden death of Rep. Martin Graber. Martin was a retired Brigadier General who proudly represented what he called “the Florida of Iowa” — the southeast corner of the state that contains Fort Madison and Keokuk.

His wife Coni was his clerk, and I was fortunate enough to sit next to both of them in the Iowa House. Coni took the photo of Martin and me that was at the end of last week’s newsletter.

Coni and “the General” were always together and gave off warmth to everyone around them. I was looking forward to a long, long friendship with Martin, but that was not God’s plan. Pray for his family.

Reining in Pharmacy Benefit Managers

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In a previous newsletter, I mentioned that many Iowa pharmacies are facing a serious financial crisis. In 2024, 29 Iowa pharmacies closed. More than 150 Iowa pharmacies have closed over the past decade.

I mentioned that a pharmacy cannot survive if it pays more to purchase a medication than it gets paid to disburse it.

This week, the House Commerce Committee (which I am on) introduced a bill that intends to help Iowans and Iowa pharmacies by regulating PBMs.

The bill prohibits a PBM or insurer from discriminating against a pharmacy if the pharmacy is following the law; prohibits the removal of pharmacy choice or the imposition of any monetary advantages or penalties that result in removing pharmacy choice (such as requiring use of mail-order pharmacies); prohibits additional cost-sharing based on where an insured has their prescription filled; requires all rebates to benefit the insured; requires any amount paid by the insured for the prescription drug to be applied to their deductible; and requires PBMs to reimburse pharmacies based on acquisition cost.

Also, this spring, the Iowa Insurance Division will be releasing the results of an investigation into Iowa’s PBMs.

Protecting kids from obscene material

My busiest committee is the House Judiciary Committee, which has begun work on multiple bills to protect children from obscene material, both online and in person.

These bills focus on the online world of pornography, AI-created images and strong penalties for those who prey on children.

House File 62 establishes liability for a commercial entity that publishes or distributes pornography on the internet, if a minor gets access to the material.

The bill is not intended to target internet providers, instead it is focused on the websites and companies that produce and distribute the pornographic materials. As of now, 19 states have laws requiring some type of age verification before an individual can view a pornographic site.

HF 62 tackles artificially created pornography. Under current law, pornography featuring someone under the age of 18 is already illegal. But what if the person portrayed wasn’t a real person?

HF 62 makes it a crime to use AI to create a child and use that child in a pornographic way. This prevents pornographic companies from trying to avoid the law on child pornography by “creating” the image of a fake child and using the image in obscene ways.

HF 64 increases the penalties for individuals who knowingly share or display obscene material to minors, excluding parents or guardians. Currently this crime is classified as a serious misdemeanor, but the bill would increase the crime to a class “D” felony.

A class "D" felony carries a potential prison sentence of up to five years and requires offenders to register as sex offenders for 10 years.

We tried to jam a week’s worth of work into two days, but I was still fortunate enough to be able to meet with some old and new friends.

The first group was a law enforcement group that included Tiffin City Councilman Skylar Limkemann, Josh van Brocklin (vice president of Iowa F.O.P.), of Conroy, and Chief Ben Gray, of Marengo. Proud to be with them.

The week finished with a visit from Mindy and Ryder VanZuiden of Williamsburg. Mindy is a dyslexia educator and advocate, as well as the founder of Tutorburg in Williamsburg.

Ryder is just a great all-around guy. It was great to see them.