(Radio Iowa) – A bill making its way through the legislature would give state agency leaders authority to extend health care coverage to the families of state employees whose death is caused by a traumatic, on-the-job injury. Two prison employees were murdered by inmates trying to escape the Anamosa prison in 2021. The following year the legislature passed a bill to provide state-paid health care benefits to the surviving spouse and children of prison staff and Department of Public Safety officers, including state troopers, who are killed on the job.

The bill now under consideration was prompted by the death of an Iowa D-O-T employee who was struck by a vehicle as he was filling potholes on Interstate 80 in western Iowa. The D-O-T’s Susan Fenton spoke with lawmakers yesterday (Wednesday). “Our employee, Matt Dickerson, was killed in May of 2024 and he left behind a wife and two little children,” Fenton said, “and so this is very much appreciated.” Representative Ross Wilburn of Ames says it makes sense to have a policy that applies to all state employees, rather than to those in certain agencies.

“I think it’s very compassionate to the families and the sacrifice in general that folks make in terms of time and the risk,” he said. Tami Weincek is a spokesperson for the Iowa Department of Administrative Services, the human resources agency in state government that developed the policy outlined in the bill.  “It would include any state employee who was killed in the line of duty,” she said, “and of course the bill does have some caveats.”

The families of state employees who die on the job due to a chronic health condition or their own negligence or misconduct would not be eligible to receive extended health care insurance from the state. The bill has cleared committees in the House and Senate and is being reviewed by the House Appropriations Committee. In the past six years, five state employees have been killed while on duty, including two troopers, two prison employees and the Iowa D-O-T employee from Neola.