Mohler for Iowa

Proposed legislationworkersThe agenda

LABOR Act

Labor Agreements, Bargaining, and Organizing Rights

An Act relating to labor relations involving public employers, including collective bargaining by public employees, payroll deduction of employee organization dues, and project labor agreements for public improvements, and including effective date and applicability provisions.

Page one

The short version

What's broken, what the bill does, and what it costs, in plain English. If you read one thing, read this.

Every county in our district has sheriff's deputies and road crews on the county payroll. State law treats them differently.

If at least 30 percent of the workers in a bargaining unit are police, firefighters, deputies or other public safety workers, their union can still bargain over health insurance, overtime, safety, seniority and grievances. Everyone else, like teachers, road crews and public hospital nurses, can bargain over base wages and not much else. If talks go to an arbitrator, the raise can't top 3 percent or inflation, whichever is lower. Before every contract ends, the union has to win a new election where not voting counts as a no.

The Iowa Supreme Court upheld that law 4 to 3, though the majority wrote that it left many public employees with fewer rights than others "with arguably similar jobs."

In 2017, lawmakers also told cities, counties and school boards they can't require a project labor agreement on a public construction project. A PLA is a deal signed before work starts that sets pay, safety rules and a no-strike promise for the whole job.

Here's what I'd rather see. The LABOR Act (Labor Agreements, Bargaining, and Organizing Rights) does four things.

  • The same rules as police and fire. Every public employee union can bargain over insurance, overtime, safety, evaluations and grievances again, the way public safety unions do today.
  • Fair votes. It ends the raise cap and the elections that count staying home as a no. Workers can still vote a union out, the way they could until 2017.
  • Dues by choice. Members can have dues taken out of their paycheck again, only if they ask in writing, and can stop it with thirty days’ notice.
  • Local choice on PLAs. A city, county or school board can require a PLA on a public construction project if it decides in public, union and non-union contractors can both bid, and the job hires apprentices.

What doesn't change: strikes stay illegal. Nobody has to join a union or pay dues. Bargaining doesn't force anyone to agree to anything, and a contract the employer can't legally pay for isn't valid.

The bill spends no state money directly, though bargaining could cost some later. The state figured House File 291 saved it about $24.5 million across all its funds, most of it from health insurance. How much comes back gets settled at the table, so no one can price it today.

If it's right for the deputy, it's right for the plow driver. When workers have a seat at the table, an apprentice in southern Iowa can count on fair wages, job safety, and a reliable path to a pension.

That's the whole bill in brief. The rest of this page is the detail behind it, for anyone who wants to dig in.

The analysis

What it costs, and what we don't know yet

For anyone who wants the costs and the tradeoffs. Every figure is a range where the future is uncertain, and every one links back to where it came from.

The math

What it costs and who pays

The bill appropriates nothing. It changes the rules public employers and their workers bargain under, and what that costs depends on contracts nobody has negotiated yet.

What House File 291 saved. In 2019 the Legislative Services Agency reported the Department of Management's estimate that the changes in House File 291 saved the state about $24.5 million across all state funds (Issue Review). Most of that, $21.3 million, was the yearly effect of health insurance changes, and that figure also counts new plan designs, shifts in enrollment and the Regents moving off the state's plans, so not all of it came from bargaining. The rest was $2.6 million from smaller step raises for workers under the AFSCME contract and $684,000 from job classes that lost overtime pay. That is state government only. We found no count of what cities, counties, schools and community colleges saved.

What this bill does with that. It doesn't hand any of it back automatically. Insurance, overtime and the rest go back on the bargaining table, where the employer can still say no: under section 20.9 as the bill writes it, the duty to bargain in good faith doesn't make either side agree. An arbitrator still has to weigh the employer's ability to pay and the effect on services, and a contract or award that breaks a legal limit on the employer's budget isn't valid (section 20.17). The bill also bars every arbitrator from counting the employer's ability to raise taxes, fees or charges, or find other revenue, to pay an award. Today that bar covers only units where fewer than 30 percent of the workers are in public safety, so the bill extends it to police and fire. So the cost falls somewhere between nothing and a share of what House File 291 saved, and we can't narrow it further.

When. The bill takes effect July 1, 2027. State contracts run two years and start in July of odd-numbered years (section 20.15). The next one starts July 1, 2027, the day the bill takes effect, and it is bargained under today's law in the months before, on the timetable in section 20.17. So the first state contract bargained under this bill would start July 1, 2029. Local employers bargain on their own calendars, so some local contracts could change sooner.

The board's costs. When House File 291 was filed, the Legislative Services Agency said there wasn't enough information to estimate its total fiscal impact (fiscal note). The Public Employment Relations Board told the agency it needed $384,000 in the first year to carry the law out, including $179,000 for running the elections it required, paid back by fees charged to the unions on the ballot. Ending retention elections should take most of that election work off the board's desk. The board's duties under chapter 20 now belong to the employment appeal board (section 20.3). We haven't estimated the savings, and the Legislative Services Agency would if the bill were filed.

Who pays. Public employers pay whatever they agree to or an arbitrator awards, which means state and local taxpayers. Union members pay their own dues, and only the ones who ask have them taken out of a paycheck. On a public project with a PLA, any difference in cost lands on that project's budget, and only where a city, county or school board chose a PLA in public. The state can't require a PLA under the bill. Where a local project with a PLA also uses state grant money, part of any added cost could reach the state.

The scorecard. The bill stays off the Pay As You Go Act's scorecard. The scorecard can only trim spending or a tax credit a bill creates, and this bill creates neither, so there would be nothing on it to trim. Any added payroll cost would be covered in the regular budget like any other. When House File 291 was filed, the Legislative Services Agency couldn't estimate its total cost, and we'd expect the same trouble running it the other way.

Open questions

What we don't know yet

I can't say House File 291 drove teachers or other public workers out of Iowa. No study we found separates its effect from everything else going on in those years.

I don't know how many local bargaining units have lost their union in retention elections since 2017, or how many workers they covered. The board publishes election results, but I haven't counted them.

At the state level, the elections didn't strip unions. In the first round, in October 2018, every bargaining unit of executive branch and court employees that the Legislative Services Agency counted kept its union. The problem with the elections is the rule itself: a worker who doesn't vote counts as a no, and the union pays for every election.

I can't say the old law raised pay, or that the new one held it down. The agency's table shows the across-the-board raise in the state's AFSCME contract was 0 percent in fiscal years 2014 and 2015, under the old law. In fiscal years 2018 through 2021, under the new one, it came in at or above the inflation figure the agency lists beside it. The cap only binds an arbitrator, and the agency lists the raises for fiscal years 2020 and 2021 as ratified agreements.

We can't say whether PLAs make public projects cost more or less. We found no Iowa study, and the national research we've seen is mostly paid for by one side or the other. That is why the bill leaves the choice to each board instead of requiring PLAs.

"A reliable path to a pension" is my view of where steady, skilled work leads. The bill doesn't touch IPERS or any other pension, and retirement systems stay outside bargaining.

House File 291 did more than this bill undoes. It also changed how teachers are let go, how city civil service workers are disciplined and public access to personnel records. This bill restores only what those parts took off the bargaining table: teacher evaluation and grievance procedures, and the procedures in a contract for city civil service layoffs and discipline. The rest would take bills of their own. This spring the Legislature also added to the retention election rules with Senate File 472, which lets any Iowan go to court against an employer that doesn't send the board a list of its workers. This bill ends those elections, so those rules go too.

Who gives something up

The tradeoffs

The Iowa Supreme Court upheld House File 291 4 to 3 in May 2019. The majority wrote that the unions that sued "must look to the ballot box and the elected branches to change this lawfully enacted statute." I'd change it in the Legislature, where it was made, and that's what this bill does.

House File 291 saved the state money, and some of that could come back as higher payroll costs. I won't pretend otherwise. Instead of giving up on bargaining, I'd keep the guardrails and add one: the employer's ability to pay is weighed, no arbitrator may count new taxes, fees, charges or other revenue as a way to pay, an award that breaks a budget limit is void, contracts top out at five years, and no one has to agree to anything. Public safety unions have bargained under most of those rules since 2017, and the bill puts every public worker under the same ones.

Retention elections give workers a vote before every contract, and some people will see ending them as taking a vote away. Workers keep the right to vote a union out. Under the bill they can petition for that vote at set times before a contract runs out, the way they could until 2017. And when a union stands for election, it should win or lose on the votes cast, the same way a county supervisor does.

The old law didn't guarantee raises, and this bill doesn't either. Instead of promising raises, I'd put the rest of the job back on the table: health insurance, overtime, safety, transfers, layoffs and a fair way to settle a grievance. Those are what police and fire kept, and what the plow driver lost.

A PLA adds terms every contractor on the job has to accept, and some contractors may decide not to bid. On a small job, that could mean fewer bids. So the bill doesn't require a PLA anywhere. It lets a city, county or school board choose one, in public, before bids go out, only if union and non-union contractors can both bid and no worker has to join a union or pay dues. State agencies still can't require one. It also keeps today's ban on tying a grant or tax break for a private developer to a union agreement.

Iowa's state mandates law (chapter 25B) says a city, county, school district, community college or area education agency doesn't have to carry out a new state requirement that adds local costs unless the state pays for it or the bill says what share it will pay. The law covers only duties beyond what Iowa required before July 1994. Bargaining over insurance was already required in 1994, and stayed required until 2017, so I think that argument fails, but a city could still make it. Instead of leaving that to a lawsuit, I'd settle it in the bill before it passes, either by saying the mandates law doesn't apply to bargaining or by having the state share the cost.

Some people think government shouldn't collect union dues at all. Under the bill, an employer takes dues out only for a worker who asks in writing, and stops on thirty days’ notice. Iowa stays a right-to-work state (chapter 731), so no one has to pay a union to keep a job.

The draft text

The draft bill language

For legislators, reporters and anyone who wants the legal wording. This is our draft, written the way Iowa bills are written, so you can see exactly what we mean. If I'm elected, the Legislature's nonpartisan drafting office, the Legislative Services Agency, writes the version that gets filed, and the wording will change. Page one and the costs above are the commitment.

Read the draft bill language

Proposed legislation

A BILL FOR

An Act relating to labor relations involving public employers, including collective bargaining by public employees, payroll deduction of employee organization dues, and project labor agreements for public improvements, and including effective date and applicability provisions.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

Section 1. Section 20.9, Code 2026, is amended by striking the section and inserting in lieu thereof the following:

20.9 Scope of negotiations.

1. The public employer and the employee organization shall meet at reasonable times, including meetings reasonably in advance of the public employer’s budget-making process, to negotiate in good faith with respect to wages, hours, vacations, insurance, holidays, leaves of absence, shift differentials, overtime compensation, supplemental pay, seniority, transfer procedures, job classifications, health and safety matters, evaluation procedures, procedures for staff reduction, in-service training, grievance procedures for resolving any questions arising under the agreement, and other matters mutually agreed upon. Negotiations shall also include terms authorizing dues checkoff for members of the employee organization, which shall be embodied in a written agreement and signed by the parties. If an agreement provides for dues checkoff, a member’s dues may be checked off only upon the member’s written request and the member may terminate the dues checkoff at any time by giving thirty days’ written notice. Such obligation to negotiate in good faith does not compel either party to agree to a proposal or make a concession.

2. Nothing in this section shall diminish the authority and power of the department of administrative services, board of regents’ merit system, Iowa public broadcasting board’s merit system, or any civil service commission established by constitutional provision, statute, charter, or special act to recruit employees, prepare, conduct, and grade examinations, rate candidates in order of their relative scores for certification for appointment or promotion or for other matters of classification, reclassification, or appeal rights in the classified service of the public employer served.

3. All retirement systems, and all payroll deductions for political action committees or other political contributions or political activities, shall be excluded from the scope of negotiations.

4. The term of a contract entered into pursuant to this chapter shall not exceed five years.

Sec. 2. Section 20.12, subsection 5, Code 2026, is amended by striking the subsection and inserting in lieu thereof the following:

5. If an employee organization or any of its officers is held to be in contempt of court for failure to comply with an injunction pursuant to this section, or is convicted of violating this section, the employee organization shall be immediately decertified, shall cease to represent the bargaining unit, shall cease to receive any dues by checkoff, and may again be certified only after twenty-four months have elapsed from the effective date of decertification and only if a new petition for certification pursuant to section 20.14 is filed and a new certification election pursuant to section 20.15 is held. The penalties provided in this section may be suspended or modified by the court, but only upon request of the public employer and only if the court determines the suspension or modification is in the public interest.

Sec. 3. Section 20.15, Code 2026, is amended by striking the section and inserting in lieu thereof the following:

20.15 Elections —— agreements with the state.

1. Upon the filing of a petition for certification of an employee organization, the board shall submit a question to the public employees at an election in the bargaining unit found appropriate by the board. The question on the ballot shall permit the public employees to vote for no bargaining representation or for any employee organization which has petitioned for certification or which has presented proof satisfactory to the board of support of ten percent or more of the public employees in the appropriate unit.

2. If a majority of the votes cast on the question is for no bargaining representation, the public employees in the bargaining unit found appropriate by the board shall not be represented by an employee organization. If a majority of the votes cast on the question is for a listed employee organization, then that employee organization shall represent the public employees in the bargaining unit found appropriate by the board.

3. If none of the choices on the ballot receive the vote of a majority of the public employees voting, the board shall conduct a runoff election among the two choices receiving the greatest number of votes.

4. Upon written objections filed by any public employee, public employer, or employee organization involved in the election within ten days after notice of the results of the election, if the board finds that misconduct or other circumstances prevented the public employees eligible to vote from freely expressing their preferences, the board may invalidate the election and hold a second election for the public employees.

5. Upon completion of a valid election in which the majority choice of the public employees voting is determined, the board shall certify the results of the election and shall give reasonable notice of the order to all employee organizations listed on the ballot, the public employers, and the public employees in the appropriate bargaining unit.

6. a. A petition for certification as exclusive bargaining representative of a bargaining unit shall not be considered by the board for a period of one year from the date of the noncertification of an employee organization as the exclusive bargaining representative of that bargaining unit following a certification election. A petition for certification as the exclusive bargaining representative of a bargaining unit shall also not be considered by the board if the bargaining unit is at that time represented by a certified exclusive bargaining representative.

b. A petition for the decertification of the exclusive bargaining representative of a bargaining unit shall not be considered by the board for a period of one year from the date of its certification, or within one year of its continued certification following a decertification election, or during the duration of a collective bargaining agreement which, for purposes of this section, shall be deemed not to exceed two years. However, if a petition for decertification is filed during the duration of a collective bargaining agreement, the board shall award an election under this section not more than one hundred eighty days and not less than one hundred fifty days prior to the expiration of the collective bargaining agreement. If an employee organization is decertified, the board may receive petitions under section 20.14, provided that no such petition and no election conducted pursuant to such petition within one year from decertification shall include as a party the decertified employee organization.

c. A collective bargaining agreement with the state, its boards, commissions, departments, and agencies shall be for two years. The provisions of a collective bargaining agreement or arbitrator’s award affecting state employees shall not provide for renegotiations which would require the refinancing of subjects within the scope of negotiations under section 20.9 for the second year of the term of the agreement, except as provided in section 20.17, subsection 6. The effective date of any such agreement shall be July 1 of odd-numbered years, provided that if an exclusive bargaining representative is certified on a date which will prevent the negotiation of a collective bargaining agreement prior to July 1 of odd-numbered years for a period of two years, the certified collective bargaining representative may negotiate a one-year contract with the public employer which shall be effective from July 1 of the even-numbered year to July 1 of the succeeding odd-numbered year when new agreements shall become effective.

Sec. 4. Section 20.22, Code 2026, is amended by striking the section and inserting in lieu thereof the following:

20.22 Binding arbitration.

1. If an impasse persists ten days after the mediator has been appointed, the board shall have the power, upon request of either party, to arrange for arbitration, which shall be binding. The request for arbitration shall be in writing and a copy of the request shall be served upon the other party.

2. Each party shall serve its final offer on each of the impasse items upon the other party within four days of the board’s receipt of the request for arbitration, or by a deadline otherwise agreed upon by the parties. The parties may continue to negotiate all offers until an agreement is reached or an award is rendered by the arbitrator. The full costs of arbitration under this section shall be shared equally by the parties to the dispute.

3. The submission of the impasse items to the arbitrator shall be limited to those items upon which the parties have not reached agreement. With respect to each such item, the arbitrator’s award shall be restricted to the final offers on each impasse item submitted by the parties to the arbitrator.

4. Upon the filing of the request for arbitration, a list of five arbitrators shall be served upon the parties by the board. Within five days of service of the list, the parties shall determine by lot which party shall remove the first name from the list and the parties shall then alternately remove names from the list until the name of one person remains, who shall become the arbitrator. The parties shall immediately notify the board of their selection and the board shall notify the arbitrator. After consultation with the parties, the arbitrator shall set a time and place for an arbitration hearing.

5. The arbitrator shall at no time engage in an effort to mediate or otherwise settle the dispute in any manner other than that prescribed in this section.

6. From the time the board notifies the arbitrator of the selection of the arbitrator until such time as the arbitrator’s selection on each impasse item is made, there shall be no discussion concerning recommendations for settlement of the dispute by the arbitrator with parties other than those who are direct parties to the dispute.

7. a. The arbitrator shall consider and specifically address in the arbitrator’s determination, in addition to any other relevant factors, the following factors:

(1) Past collective bargaining contracts between the parties including the bargaining that led up to such contracts.

(2) Comparison of wages, hours, and conditions of employment of the involved public employees with those of other public employees doing comparable work, giving consideration to factors peculiar to the area and the classifications involved.

(3) The interests and welfare of the public, the ability of the public employer to finance economic adjustments, and the effect of such adjustments on the normal standard of services.

b. The arbitrator shall not consider the public employer’s ability to fund an award through the increase or imposition of new taxes, fees, or charges, or to develop other sources of revenues.

8. a. The arbitrator may administer oaths, examine witnesses and documents, take testimony and receive evidence, and issue subpoenas to compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of records. The arbitrator may petition the district court at the seat of government or of the county in which the hearing is held to enforce the order of the arbitrator compelling the attendance of witnesses and the production of records.

b. Except as required for purposes of the consideration of the factors specified in subsection 7, paragraph “a”, the parties shall not introduce, and the arbitrator shall not accept or consider, any direct or indirect evidence regarding any subject excluded from negotiations pursuant to section 20.9.

9. The arbitrator shall select within fifteen days after the hearing the most reasonable offer, in the arbitrator’s judgment, of the final offers on each impasse item submitted by the parties.

10. The selections by the arbitrator and items agreed upon by the public employer and the employee organization, shall be deemed to be the collective bargaining agreement between the parties.

11. The determination of the arbitrator shall be final and binding subject to the provisions of section 20.17, subsection 6. The arbitrator shall give written explanation for the arbitrator’s selections and inform the parties of the decision.

Sec. 5. Section 22.7, subsection 69, Code 2026, is amended by striking the subsection and inserting in lieu thereof the following:

69. The evidence of public employee support for the certification or decertification of an employee organization as defined in section 20.3 that is submitted to the employment appeal board as provided in section 20.14 or 20.15.

Sec. 6. Section 22.7, subsection 70, Code 2026, is amended by striking the subsection and inserting in lieu thereof the following:

70. Information indicating whether a public employee voted in a certification or decertification election held pursuant to section 20.15 or how the employee voted on any question on a ballot in such an election.

Sec. 7. Section 70A.17A, Code 2026, is amended by adding the following new subsection:

NEW SUBSECTION. 3. This section shall not affect a payroll deduction elected by a state employee pursuant to section 70A.19.

Sec. 8. Section 70A.19, Code 2026, is amended by striking the section and inserting in lieu thereof the following:

70A.19 Payroll deduction for employee organization dues.

The state, a state agency, a regents institution, a board of directors of a school district, a community college, or an area education agency, a county board of supervisors, a governing body of a city, or any other public employer as defined in section 20.3 may authorize and administer a deduction from the salaries or wages of its employees for membership dues to an employee organization as defined in section 20.3, and shall do so if a collective bargaining agreement negotiated under chapter 20 so provides. A deduction shall be made only upon the employee’s written request, and the employee may terminate the deduction at any time by giving the public employer thirty days’ written notice.

Sec. 9. Section 73A.28, subsection 1, Code 2026, is amended by striking the subsection and inserting in lieu thereof the following:

1. Except as provided in subsection 4, a governmental entity awarding a contract for the construction, repair, remodeling, or demolition of a public improvement and any construction manager acting on its behalf shall not, in any bid specifications, project agreements, or other controlling documents do any of the following:

a. Require a bidder, offeror, contractor, or subcontractor to enter into or adhere to an agreement with one or more labor organizations in regard to the public improvement or a related public improvement project.

b. Prohibit a bidder, offeror, contractor, or subcontractor from entering into or adhering to an agreement with one or more labor organizations in regard to the public improvement or a related public improvement project.

c. Discriminate against a bidder, offeror, contractor, or subcontractor for becoming or remaining or refusing to become or remain a signatory to, or for adhering or refusing to adhere to, an agreement with one or more labor organizations in regard to the public improvement or a related public improvement project.

Sec. 10. Section 73A.28, Code 2026, is amended by adding the following new subsection:

NEW SUBSECTION. 4. a. For purposes of this subsection, “project labor agreement” means a prehire collective bargaining agreement with one or more labor organizations that establishes the terms and conditions of employment for a specific public improvement.

b. Notwithstanding section 26.16 and section 26A.3, subsection 5, paragraph “a”, subparagraph (4), a political subdivision or public school corporation, or a construction manager acting on its behalf, may require, in the bid specifications, project agreements, or other controlling documents for a public improvement, that every bidder, offeror, contractor, and subcontractor on the public improvement become a signatory to and adhere to a project labor agreement, if all of the following apply:

(1) The governing body of the political subdivision or public school corporation adopts the requirement at a meeting subject to chapter 21 before notice to bidders is given.

(2) The project labor agreement is published with the notice to bidders.

(3) The project labor agreement does all of the following:

(a) Binds all contractors and subcontractors engaged in construction on the public improvement to comply with the project labor agreement.

(b) Allows all contractors and subcontractors to compete for contracts and subcontracts without regard to whether they are otherwise parties to collective bargaining agreements.

(c) Contains guarantees against strikes, lockouts, and similar job disruptions.

(d) Sets forth effective, prompt, and mutually binding procedures for resolving labor disputes arising during the term of the project labor agreement.

(e) Provides other mechanisms for labor-management cooperation on matters of mutual interest and concern, including productivity, quality of work, safety, and health.

(f) Provides for the employment on the public improvement of apprentices enrolled in apprenticeship programs registered with the United States department of labor, office of apprenticeship, or with a state apprenticeship agency recognized by that office.

(g) Does not require any employee to become or remain a member of a labor organization, or to pay dues or fees to a labor organization, as a condition of employment.

c. A political subdivision, public school corporation, or construction manager shall not require a bidder, offeror, contractor, or subcontractor to enter into a project labor agreement with any particular labor organization.

Sec. 11. Section 279.14, subsection 1, Code 2026, is amended by striking the subsection and inserting in lieu thereof the following:

1. The board shall establish evaluation criteria and shall implement evaluation procedures. If an exclusive bargaining representative has been certified, the board shall negotiate in good faith with respect to evaluation procedures pursuant to chapter 20.

Sec. 12. Section 284.3, Code 2026, is amended by adding the following new subsection:

NEW SUBSECTION. 4. a. A local school board and its certified bargaining representative may negotiate, pursuant to chapter 20, evaluation and grievance procedures for beginning teachers that are not in conflict with this chapter.

b. For purposes of subsection 2, paragraph “b”, a local school board and its certified bargaining representative may negotiate, pursuant to chapter 20, additional teaching standards and criteria. A local school board and its certified bargaining representative shall negotiate, pursuant to chapter 20, evaluation and grievance procedures for teachers other than beginning teachers that are not in conflict with this chapter.

Sec. 13. Section 400.18, subsection 5, Code 2026, is amended by striking the subsection and inserting in lieu thereof the following:

5. A collective bargaining agreement to which a bargaining unit is a party shall provide additional procedures not inconsistent with this section for the implementation of this section.

Sec. 14. Section 400.28, Code 2026, is amended by striking the section and inserting in lieu thereof the following:

400.28 Employees —— number diminished.

A city council may implement a diminution of employees in a classification or grade under civil service. Such a diminution shall be carried out in accordance with any procedures provided in a collective bargaining agreement to which a bargaining unit is a party, if applicable.

Sec. 15. Section 602.1401, subsection 3, Code 2026, is amended by striking the subsection and inserting in lieu thereof the following:

3. a. The state court administrator is the public employer of judicial branch employees for purposes of chapter 20, relating to public employment relations.

b. For purposes of chapter 20, the certified representative, which on July 1, 1983, represents employees who become judicial branch employees as a result of 1983 Iowa Acts, ch. 186, shall remain the certified representative when the employees become judicial branch employees and thereafter, unless the public employee organization is decertified in an election held under section 20.15 or amended or absorbed into another certified organization pursuant to chapter 20. Collective bargaining negotiations shall be conducted on a statewide basis and the certified employee organizations which engage in bargaining shall negotiate on a statewide basis, although bargaining units shall be organized by judicial district. The employment appeal board shall adopt rules pursuant to chapter 17A to implement this subsection.

Sec. 16. EFFECTIVE DATE. This Act takes effect July 1, 2027.

Sec. 17. APPLICABILITY. This Act applies to collective bargaining procedures provided for in chapter 20 occurring on or after the effective date of this Act, and to notices to bidders for public improvements given on or after the effective date of this Act. This Act does not apply to a collective bargaining agreement ratified, awarded by an arbitrator, or effective before the effective date of this Act.

EXPLANATION

The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly.

This bill relates to labor relations involving public employers, including collective bargaining by public employees under Code chapter 20 (public employment relations), payroll deduction of employee organization dues, and project labor agreements for public improvements. It reverses changes made by House File 291 and Senate File 438 of the 87th General Assembly.

SCOPE OF NEGOTIATIONS. Under current law, a bargaining unit in which at least 30 percent of the members are public safety employees bargains over a full list of mandatory subjects, and any other bargaining unit bargains only over base wages and other matters mutually agreed upon. The bill strikes and rewrites Code section 20.9 (scope of negotiations) so that every bargaining unit bargains over the full list that public safety units bargain over today, including insurance, overtime, seniority, transfer procedures, evaluation procedures, procedures for staff reduction, health and safety matters, and grievance procedures. Negotiations also include terms authorizing dues checkoff on a member’s written request. The bill removes the requirement that mandatory subjects be interpreted narrowly and restrictively. Retirement systems and payroll deductions for political purposes remain excluded from the scope of negotiations, the existing limit on the length of a contract remains, and the obligation to negotiate in good faith still does not compel either party to agree to a proposal or make a concession.

TEACHER EVALUATIONS. The bill restores, nearly in the words used before House File 291, the duty of a school board to negotiate evaluation procedures with a certified bargaining representative in Code section 279.14 (evaluation criteria and procedures), and the provisions of Code section 284.3 (Iowa teaching standards) under which a school board and its certified bargaining representative may negotiate evaluation and grievance procedures for beginning teachers, shall negotiate evaluation and grievance procedures for other teachers, and may negotiate additional teaching standards and criteria for other teachers’ performance reviews.

CITY CIVIL SERVICE. Under current law, the procedures in a collective bargaining agreement govern a reduction in the number of city civil service employees, and supplement the rules for removal, discharge, demotion, or suspension, only for a bargaining unit in which at least 30 percent of the members are public safety employees. The bill applies both rules to every bargaining unit, in Code section 400.18 (removal, discharge, demotion, or suspension) and Code section 400.28 (employees number diminished).

ELECTIONS. The bill strikes and rewrites Code section 20.15 (elections). It ends retention and recertification elections, including the procedures added to them by Senate File 472 of the 91st General Assembly, and removes references to those elections from Code section 22.7 (confidential records) and Code section 602.1401 (personnel system). A certification election is again decided by a majority of the votes cast rather than a majority of all employees in the bargaining unit, with a runoff between the two leading choices if no choice receives a majority. Another employee organization may again be listed on the ballot with the lower showing of support that applied before House File 291, and a petition for certification still requires the showing of support in Code section 20.14 (bargaining representative determination). Under current law, the board may not consider a new petition for certification for two years after an employee organization loses a certification, retention and recertification, or decertification election. Under the bill, the wait is one year after a failed certification election, and an employee organization that is decertified may not be a party to a new petition or election for one year. Employees may still remove an employee organization by petitioning for a decertification election, within the time limits that applied before House File 291. The provisions governing collective bargaining agreements with the state are unchanged. The bill also restores the rule in Code section 20.12 (strikes prohibited —— penalties) that an employee organization decertified for a strike stops receiving dues by checkoff.

ARBITRATION. The bill strikes and rewrites Code section 20.22 (binding arbitration). It removes the limit on the base wage increase an arbitrator may award to a bargaining unit that is not a public safety unit, which is the lesser of 3 percent or the change in the consumer price index for the midwest region, and removes the separate list of factors the arbitrator considers for those units. For every bargaining unit, the arbitrator considers the factors used for public safety units today: past collective bargaining contracts, comparison with other public employees doing comparable work, and the interests and welfare of the public, the ability of the public employer to finance economic adjustments, and the effect of such adjustments on the normal standard of services. For every bargaining unit, the arbitrator may not consider the public employer’s ability to fund an award through the increase or imposition of new taxes, fees, or charges, or to develop other sources of revenues. Under current law that bar applies only to bargaining units that are not public safety units. A collective bargaining agreement or award that is inconsistent with a statutory limitation on the public employer’s funds, spending, or budget remains invalid under Code section 20.17.

DUES. The bill strikes and rewrites Code section 70A.19 (payroll deduction for employee organization dues prohibited). A public employer may deduct employee organization dues from an employee’s pay, and must do so if a collective bargaining agreement provides for it, but only upon the employee’s written request. The employee may end the deduction at any time with thirty days’ written notice. The bill restores the provision of Code section 70A.17A (payroll deduction for dues) that it does not affect a dues deduction a state employee elects under Code section 70A.19.

PROJECT LABOR AGREEMENTS. The bill amends Code section 73A.28 (public improvement contracts). A political subdivision or public school corporation, or a construction manager acting on its behalf, may require a project labor agreement on a public improvement if the governing body adopts the requirement at a meeting open to the public before notice to bidders is given, and the agreement is published with the notice to bidders. The agreement must bind all contractors and subcontractors on the project, allow all of them to compete whether or not they are parties to other collective bargaining agreements, contain guarantees against strikes and lockouts, set procedures for resolving labor disputes, provide for labor-management cooperation on safety, health, and quality of work, provide for the employment of registered apprentices, and not require any employee to join or pay a labor organization. An agreement with any particular labor organization may not be required. The authority applies notwithstanding Code section 26.16 (prequalification requirements prohibited) and the provision of Code section 26A.3 (construction manager-at-risk) that releases a construction manager-at-risk from the terms of a labor agreement for trade contracts it does not perform itself, so a project labor agreement may also be required on a construction manager-at-risk project. The state and its agencies remain barred from requiring an agreement with a labor organization. The bill keeps the prohibition on conditioning a grant, tax abatement, or tax credit on a requirement that an awardee use an agreement with a labor organization, and keeps the prohibition on barring or penalizing a contractor for signing or refusing to sign such an agreement, except for a project labor agreement the bill allows.

The bill makes no appropriation and allows no tax credit.

The bill may include a state mandate as defined in Code section 25B.3 (definitions).

The bill takes effect July 1, 2027. It applies to collective bargaining procedures occurring on or after that date and to notices to bidders given on or after that date. It does not apply to a collective bargaining agreement ratified, awarded by an arbitrator, or effective before that date.

Sources

Where every number comes from

For anyone checking our work. Each figure with the site it came from and the day we checked it, and each law the bill cites.

Show every source

Figures

  • 30 percentIf at least 30 percent of the workers in a bargaining unit are police, firefighters, deputies or other public safety workers, their union can still bargain over health insurance, overtime, safety, seniority and grievances.legis.iowa.govchecked 2026-10-01
  • 3 percentIf talks go to an arbitrator, the raise can't top 3 percent or inflation, whichever is lower.legis.iowa.govchecked 2026-10-01
  • 4 to 3The Iowa Supreme Court upheld that law 4 to 3, though the majority wrote that it left many public employees with fewer rights than others "with arguably similar jobs."iowacourts.govchecked 2026-10-01
  • $24.5 millionThe state figured House File 291 saved it about $24.5 million across all its funds, most of it from health insurance.legis.iowa.govchecked 2026-10-01
  • $21.3 millionMost of that, $21.3 million, was the yearly effect of health insurance changes, and that figure also counts new plan designs, shifts in enrollment and the Regents moving off the state's plans, so not all of it came from bargaining.legis.iowa.govchecked 2026-10-01
  • $2.6 millionThe rest was $2.6 million from smaller step raises for workers under the AFSCME contract and $684,000 from job classes that lost overtime pay.legis.iowa.govchecked 2026-10-01
  • $684,000The rest was $2.6 million from smaller step raises for workers under the AFSCME contract and $684,000 from job classes that lost overtime pay.legis.iowa.govchecked 2026-10-01
  • $384,000The Public Employment Relations Board told the agency it needed $384,000 in the first year to carry the law out, including $179,000 for running the elections it required, paid back by fees charged to the unions on the ballot.legis.iowa.govchecked 2026-10-01
  • $179,000The Public Employment Relations Board told the agency it needed $384,000 in the first year to carry the law out, including $179,000 for running the elections it required, paid back by fees charged to the unions on the ballot.legis.iowa.govchecked 2026-10-01
  • 0 percentThe agency's table shows the across-the-board raise in the state's AFSCME contract was 0 percent in fiscal years 2014 and 2015, under the old law.legis.iowa.govchecked 2026-10-01
  • fiscal years 2014 and 2015The agency's table shows the across-the-board raise in the state's AFSCME contract was 0 percent in fiscal years 2014 and 2015, under the old law.legis.iowa.govchecked 2026-10-01
  • fiscal years 2018 through 2021In fiscal years 2018 through 2021, under the new one, it came in at or above the inflation figure the agency lists beside it.legis.iowa.govchecked 2026-10-01
  • five yearsInstead of giving up on bargaining, I'd keep the guardrails and add one: the employer's ability to pay is weighed, no arbitrator may count new taxes, fees, charges or other revenue as a way to pay, an award that breaks a budget limit is void, contracts top out at five years, and no one has to agree to anything.legis.iowa.govchecked 2026-10-01
  • two yearsUnder current law, the board may not consider a new petition for certification for two years after an employee organization loses a certification, retention and recertification, or decertification election.legis.iowa.govchecked 2026-10-01
  • one yearUnder the bill, the wait is one year after a failed certification election, and an employee organization that is decertified may not be a party to a new petition or election for one year.legis.iowa.govchecked 2026-10-01
  • fiscal years 2020 and 2021The cap only binds an arbitrator, and the agency lists the raises for fiscal years 2020 and 2021 as ratified agreements.legis.iowa.govchecked 2026-10-01

Laws cited

  • chapter 20Public employment relations (collective bargaining). The law that lets public employees organize and bargain, bans public employee strikes, and sets the board, the scope of bargaining, elections, impasse procedures and arbitration. legis.iowa.gov
  • 20.3Definitions for chapter 20. "Board" now means the employment appeal board, and "public employer" includes the state, its agencies, and its political subdivisions including school districts. "Public safety employee" covers sheriff's deputies, city police, state patrol and other state peace officers, conservation officers and park rangers, and paid firefighters. legis.iowa.gov
  • 20.9Scope of negotiations. Today a unit with at least thirty percent public safety members bargains over a full list of subjects; any other unit bargains over base wages and matters both sides agree to, and insurance, transfers, evaluations, staff reduction and supplemental pay are barred from its table. Dues checkoff is barred for every unit. Contracts are capped at five years. legis.iowa.gov
  • 20.14Bargaining representative determination. How an employee organization petitions the board to be certified.legis.iowa.gov
  • 20.15Elections and agreements with the state. Today a union is certified only by a majority of all employees in the unit, must win a retention and recertification election before every contract expires, and may face a decertification election. State contracts run two years from July 1 of odd-numbered years. legis.iowa.gov
  • 20.17Bargaining procedures. Subsection 6 makes a contract or arbitrator's award invalid if carrying it out would conflict with a statutory limit on the employer's funds, spending or budget. Subsection 8 sets the timetable for the state's contracts after a governor's election. legis.iowa.gov
  • 20.22Binding arbitration. Today the factors an arbitrator weighs differ by unit. For a unit without thirty percent public safety members the base wage award is capped at the lesser of three percent or the midwest consumer price index, and the arbitrator may not consider the employer's ability to fund an award through new taxes, fees or charges; for public safety units there is no such bar. legis.iowa.gov
  • 20.12Strikes prohibited. A union held in contempt or convicted for a strike is decertified and may not be certified again for twenty-four months. Before House File 291 it also had to stop receiving dues by checkoff. legis.iowa.gov
  • 22.7Confidential public records. Subsections 69 and 70 keep confidential the evidence of employee support for a union and how or whether an employee voted in a certification, retention and recertification, or decertification election. legis.iowa.gov
  • 70A.17APayroll deduction for dues to professional or trade organizations for state employees, which an employee may withdraw at any time. Before House File 291 it said it did not affect a dues deduction elected under section 70A.19. legis.iowa.gov
  • 279.14Teacher evaluation criteria and procedures. Today the school board sets them alone. Before House File 291, it had to negotiate evaluation procedures with a certified bargaining representative. legis.iowa.gov
  • 284.3Iowa teaching standards and the evaluations school boards must provide. Before House File 291 it also said boards and certified bargaining representatives negotiate evaluation and grievance procedures for teachers, and may negotiate additional standards for teachers other than beginning teachers. legis.iowa.gov
  • 400.18Removal, discharge, demotion or suspension of city civil service employees, only for just cause. Subsection 5 requires bargained procedures only for a unit with at least thirty percent public safety members. legis.iowa.gov
  • 400.28Reducing the number of city civil service employees. It follows a contract's procedures only for a unit with at least thirty percent public safety members. legis.iowa.gov
  • 602.1401The judicial branch personnel system. Subsection 3 makes the state court administrator the public employer of court employees for bargaining and refers to unions not retained and recertified in an election. legis.iowa.gov
  • chapter 17AIowa administrative procedure act (agency rulemaking).legis.iowa.gov
  • 26A.3Construction manager-at-risk contracts. Subsection 5, paragraph a, subparagraph 4 says a construction manager-at-risk is not obligated to follow the terms of a labor agreement for trade contracts it does not perform itself, and makes such terms void and unenforceable. legis.iowa.gov
  • chapter 25BThe State Mandates Act. Under section 25B.2(3), a city, county, school district, community college or area education agency does not have to carry out a new state mandate the state does not fully fund, unless the law says how much the state pays; its stated purpose names "employment conditions". legis.iowa.gov
  • 25B.3Defines a "state mandate": a requirement that makes political subdivisions together spend at least one hundred thousand dollars a year, or five hundred thousand dollars within five years, of local revenue. legis.iowa.gov
  • 70A.19Payroll deduction for employee organization dues prohibited. Since 2017, no public employer may deduct union dues from an employee's pay, even at the employee's request. legis.iowa.gov
  • 73A.28Public improvement contracts. Since 2017, a governmental entity may not require a contractor on a public improvement to enter into an agreement with a labor organization, may not prohibit one, and may not condition a grant, tax abatement or tax credit on such a term. Contractors may still sign such agreements voluntarily. legis.iowa.gov
  • 26.16Prequalification requirements prohibited. A governmental entity may not limit bidders on public improvements to a class defined by experience, company size, union membership or other criteria. legis.iowa.gov
  • chapter 21Official meetings open to the public (the open meetings law).legis.iowa.gov
  • chapter 731Labor union membership (Iowa's right-to-work law). No one may be denied work because of membership in, or refusal to join, a labor union. legis.iowa.gov
  • HF 291The 2017 public employment act (enrolled). Division I rewrote chapter 20: it split bargaining by the thirty percent public safety line, ended dues checkoff, added retention and recertification elections, and capped arbitration awards on base wages for most units. Other divisions changed teacher evaluation and discharge, city civil service and personnel records. Passed the House 53 to 47 and the Senate 29 to 21 on February 16, 2017; signed February 17, 2017. legis.iowa.gov
  • SF 438The 2017 Fair and Open Competition in Governmental Construction Act (enrolled). It created Code sections 73A.25 through 73A.28, barring governmental entities from requiring agreements with labor organizations on public improvements, and section 26.16 on prequalification. Passed the Senate 26 to 21 and the House 57 to 41; signed April 13, 2017. legis.iowa.gov
  • SF 472Retention and recertification elections (enrolled, 2026). Adds a notice of intent before each retention election, requires the employer to send the board a list of employees within ten days, and lets any Iowa resident seek a court order against an employer that does not. Passed the Senate 32 to 15 and the House 56 to 34; signed May 19, 2026 (2026 Iowa Acts, chapter 1117). legis.iowa.gov