State Sen. Kevin Kinney

With the 2020 State Legislature session kicking off this week, legislators are back to work.

State Sen. Kevin Kinney (D-Oxford) has a number of issues he would like to see the Legislature address but is realistic about his chances of getting them passed.

“Being in the minority party, you just don’t know yet,” Kinney said. “There are some things I’d really like to tackle myself.”

One issue Kinney believes has bipartisan support is adding emergency medical services to the list of essential services. Currently, state law only considers police and fire protection to be essential services.

“I’m trying to get some legislation passed to allow counties to get a funding source for EMS,” he said. “I’ve been working on this particular issue for the past three years. I’ve had the legislation there.”

He said he has been working with other legislators on the issue and that State Rep. Bobby Kaufmann (R-Iowa City) said that he plans to run the same legislation in the House that Kinney is running in the Senate.

“It’s very bi-partisan, and we’ll see if we can get some movement on it,” Kinney said. “It’s using the current code, and we’re just changing it some. We’re using code that’s already on the books and just adding to that particular code section.”

Kinney also sees mental health as an issue the Legislature needs to address this session.

“We’ve got to come up with a mental health funding system and a steady stream of money for them,” he said.

One option he and other legislators are looking at is using a portion of a proposed sales tax increase to help fund mental health.

In 2010, Iowans voted to approve a constitutional amendment to create a trust fund for Iowa’s Water and Land Legacy (IWILL) with a 3/8 cent sales tax to fund it. However, that sales tax has never been enacted.

Kinney said there is talk of enacting a 1-cent sales tax to include the 3/8 cent for IWILL.

“One of the things I’m hearing is that they’re looking at the other 5/8 cent could become a funding source for mental health,” Kinney said. “There are different options out there. There may be an opportunity to get the 3/8 cent for IWILL. There are about three or four different versions of this floating around.”

Kinney said that the Legislature is expected to take up felon voter rights again this year.

Last year, Gov. Kim Reynolds backed a constitutional amendment to end the ban on felon voting rights, but the measure failed in the Legislature.

Kevin, a former law enforcement officer, said he supports restoring voting rights to felons.

“That’s one of the things that I feel if they’ve paid their debt to society and they’re paying off their fines, they should have the ability to vote,” he said. “We’re the only state left that doesn’t do that.”