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STATE OF IOWA
KIM REYNOLDS
GOVERNOR
June 6, 2025
The Honorable Paul Pate
Secretary of State of Iowa
State Capitol
Des Moines, Iowa 50319
Dear Mr. Secretary,
I hereby transmit:
Senate File 615, an Act relating to work requirements for the Iowa health and wellness
plan, public assistance programs, and information technology fund, the public assistance
modernization fund and the Medicaid for employed people with disabilities program, and
including effective date provisions.
The above Senate File is hereby approved on this date.
Since - ely,
Kim ' - nolds
Governor of Iowa
cc: Secretary of the Senate
Clerk of the House
STATE CAPITOL DES MOINES, IOWA 50319 515.281.5211 WWW.GOVERNOR.IOWA.GOV
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Senate File 615
AN ACT
RELATING TO WORK REQUIREMENTS FOR THE IOWA HEALTH AND WELLNESS
PLAN, PUBLIC ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS, AN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
FUND, THE PUBLIC ASSISTANCE MODERNIZATION FUND, AND THE
MEDICAID FOR EMPLOYED PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES PROGRAM, AND
INCLUDING EFFECTIVE DATE PROVISIONS.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
DIVISION I
IOWA HEALTH AND WELLNESS PLAN — WORK REQUIREMENTS
Section 1. NEW SECTION. 249N AA Work requirements.
1. The department shall request any federal approval
necessary to include work requirements as a condition of a
Senate File 615, p. 2
member maintaining eligibility for the Iowa health and wellness
plan.
2. The goal of including work requirements is to reduce the
dependence of low-income Iowans on public assistance programs
through efforts that advance economic stability and mobility.
3. The department shall require as a condition of
maintaining eligibility for the Iowa health and wellness
plan that a member work at least eighty hours each month, as
determined by the department.
4. The department shall exempt an individual from the work
requirements for the Iowa health and wellness plan if the
individual meets any of the following criteria:
a. The individual is under nineteen years of age.
b. The individual is sixty-five years of age or older.
c. The individual is determined to be disabled by the United
States social security administration.
d. The individual is identified as medically frail or
medically exempt under the Medicaid program.
e. The individual is a caretaker of a dependent child under
six years of age.
f. The individual is pregnant and the pregnancy is high
risk.
g. The individual is receiving unemployment compensation as
determined by the department of workforce development.
h. The individual is participating in substance use disorder
treatment, not to exceed a consecutive six-month period.
i. The individual is otherwise exempt for good cause as
determined by the director.
5. To maximize fiscal stability and administrative
efficiency, any exemption applied under the Iowa health and
wellness plan shall be substantially similar to the exemptions
applied under other public assistance programs.
6. Upon the department's receipt of federal approval,
and the department's operationalizing of a real-time system
to facilitate recipient reporting and department evaluation
efforts, the department shall implement work requirements as a
condition of maintaining eligibility for the Iowa health and
wellness plan. The department shall adopt rules pursuant to
Senate File 615, p. 3
chapter 17A as necessary to administer the work requirements
for the Iowa health and wellness plan.
7. The department may resubmit a request for federal
approval submitted under subsection 1 if the initial request is
denied or withdrawn for any reason.
8. If the department receives federal approval to include
work requirements as a condition of a member maintaining
eligibility for the Iowa health and wellness plan, and if
federal law or regulations affecting work requirements for
the Iowa health and wellness plan are modified to exclude
work requirements as a condition of a member maintaining
eligibility as provided in this section, the department shall
discontinue the Iowa health and wellness plan, subject to
federal approval. If, under federal law, the department is not
allowed to discontinue the Iowa health and wellness plan, the
department may implement an alternative plan as specified in
the medical assistance state plan or waiver for coverage of the
affected population, subject to prior statutory approval of
implementation of the alternative plan.
Sec. 2. EFFECTIVE DATE. This division of this Act, being
deemed of immediate importance, takes effect upon enactment.
DIVISION II
WORK RULES AND REQUIREMENTS FOR PUBLIC ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS
Sec. 3. PUBLIC ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS — WORK RULES AND
REQUIREMENTS ALIGNMENT. The department of health and human
services shall work with the United State department of
health and human services and the United States department
of agriculture to align the requirements and rules for
participants of public assistance programs related to working,
including but not limited to rules and requirements related
to employment and training for the supplemental nutrition
assistance program.
DIVISION III
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Sec. 4. NEW SECTION. 217.25 Information technology fund.
1. An information technology fund is created in the state
treasury under the control of the department of health and
human services. The fund shall consist of moneys appropriated
or transferred to, or deposited in, the fund as provided
Senate File 615, p. 4
by law. All moneys deposited or paid into the fund are
appropriated to the department of health and human services
to be used for information technology systems and related
modernization initiatives.
2. Notwithstanding section 8.33, moneys appropriated in
this section that remain unencumbered or unobligated at the
close of the fiscal year shall not revert but shall remain
available for expenditure for the purposes designated until the
close of the succeeding fiscal year. Notwithstanding section
12C.7, subsection 2, interest or earnings on moneys in the fund
shall be credited to the fund.
Sec. 5. TRANSFER OF MONEYS. Any unobligated or unencumbered
moneys remaining in the public assistance modernization
fund created in section 239.11, on June 30, 2025, shall be
transferred to the information technology fund created in
section 217.25, as enacted in this division of this Act.
Sec. 6. REPEAL. Section 239.11, Code 2025, is repealed.
DIVISION IV
MEDICAID FOR EMPLOYED PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES PROGRAM
Sec. 7. Section 249A.3, subsection 2, paragraph a,
subparagraph ( 1), subparagraph division ( a), Code 2025, is
amended to read as follows:
( a) As allowed under 42 U.S.C. § 1396a(a)(10)(A)(ii)(XIII),
individuals with disabilities, who are less than sixty-five
years of age, who are members of families whose income is
less than two hundred fifty percent of the most recently
revised official poverty guidelines published by the United
States department of health and human services for the family,
who have earned income and who are eligible for mandatory
medical assistance or optional medical assistance under this
section if earnings are disregarded. As allowed by 42 U.S.C.
§ 1396a(r)(2), unearned income shall also be disregarded in
determining whether an individual is eligible for assistance
under this subparagraph. For the purposes of determining the
amount of an individual's resources under this subparagraph and
as allowed by 42 U.S.C. § 1396a(r)(2), a maximum of ten thousand
dollars of available resources for an individual and twenty-one
thousand dollars of available resources for a couple shall be
disregarded, and any additional resources held in a retirement
Senate File 615, p. 5
account, in a medical savings account, or in any other account
approved under rules adopted by the department shall also be
disreg 3 a-r d.
AMY SINCL"R
, 2 t-G•C C•«
President of the Senate
l PAT GRASSLEY
Speaker of the House
I hereby certify that this bill originated in the Senate and
is known as Senate File 615, Ninety-first General Assembly.
alr'dev•"o 6V W. CHARLES SMITHSON
•
Approved 2025