It lasted into the five o’clock hour on Saturday, May 5th, but the 2018 Iowa Legislative session ended on its 118th day. Republicans are using the word “historic” to describe the agenda Republican majorities in the Iowa House and Senate have enacted over the past two years.

That’s House Speaker Linda Upmeyer, a Republican from Clear Lake. Senate President Charles Schneider, a Republican from West Des Moines, says the 2018 legislature’s premiere accomplishment is its “comprehensive” tax bill.

Democrats like House Minority Leader Mark Smith of Marshalltown are offering a different assessment.

It has been 20 years since Republicans held the majority of seats in the House and Senate at the same time a Republican held the governor’s office. Governor Kim Reynolds is praising the 2018 legislature’s passage of the tax bill as well as approval of a water improvement plan and bills to address the opioid epidemic and problems in the state’s mental health care system.

A plan designed to eventually cut Iowans’ INCOME taxes by 400-million dollars a year was the last major piece of legislation to clear the 2018 Iowa legislature this weekend. In addition to fulfilling G-O-P wishes to cut taxes, the state now has a law that bans nearly all abortions, setting up a potential challenge of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 ruling that legalized abortion. A year ago, Republicans in the legislature voted to ban abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy. A 2017 law also limits the union bargaining rights of public sector workers. Upmeyer those are accomplishments that will “fire up” the G-O-P base in the November election.

Senate Minority Leader Janet Petersen, a Democrat from Des Moines, says Democrats are anxious to challenge Republican legislative candidates this fall.

The Iowa Senate adjourned for the year at 5:11 p.m. Saturday. The House adjourned about 15 minutes later.

(Radio Iowa)