Lynn Evans

Voted for House File 571, which creates the Medical Ethics Defense Act. A doctor, nurse, hospital or other provider may refuse to take part in a health care service that goes against their conscience, meaning their ethical, moral or religious beliefs. For an institution, conscience is read from its own governing documents. Hospitals must still provide emergency care required by federal law. A provider who refuses in good faith is immune from civil liability, criminal penalty and licensing discipline. The act also shields providers who report unsafe conditions, adds free speech protections, and lets a provider sue anyone who interferes with these rights. The Iowa Senate passed it 30-16, and it became law.

March 9, 2026Opposes Healthcare Affordability

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 10, 2026

Voted for Senate File 383, which regulates pharmacy benefit managers, the firms that run drug coverage for health plans. They may not pay an Iowa retail pharmacy less than the published national average cost of buying the drug, and may not pay an independent pharmacy less than they pay a pharmacy they own. They may not steer a patient toward a particular pharmacy through copays or reimbursement, shut a willing pharmacy out of a network, or impose accreditation terms beyond state licensing rules. The act also sets contract rules and an appeals process for pharmacies. The Iowa Senate passed it 36-14, and it became law.

April 28, 2025Supports Healthcare Affordability

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 10, 2026

Voted for House File 516, which tries to keep more doctors in Iowa. The Board of Regents must require that at least eighty percent of the students admitted to the University of Iowa's medical and dental schools be Iowa residents or come from an Iowa college. University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics must give priority for residency and fellowship places to applicants who live in Iowa, earned an Iowa undergraduate degree, or earned a medical degree in Iowa. Primary care residents must also be offered a rural rotation. The Iowa Senate passed it 34-11, and it became law.

April 14, 2025Supports Healthcare Affordability

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 10, 2026

Voted for House File 2694, which bars the governor from closing or placing any requirement on a place or practice of worship, for any reason. The ban applies even during a declared disaster emergency or a public health disaster. It also rewrites the disaster emergency section of the code around that limit. The Iowa Senate passed it 31-14, and it became law.

May 3, 2026Opposes Environment and Public Health

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 10, 2026

Voted for House File 2527, which shields farms, fuel makers, ethanol plants and other businesses from lawsuits over harm to the climate from their greenhouse gas emissions. A person suing must name each gas and prove, by clear and convincing evidence, that the harm came directly from the business breaking a specific emissions limit or permit. Without that proof, no court may award damages or any other relief. The Iowa Senate passed it 33-13, and it became law.

March 24, 2026Opposes Environment and Public Health

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 9, 2026

Voted for Senate File 2444, which would have exempted cigar bars from Iowa's indoor smoking ban. A cigar bar would have to make at least 35 percent of its sales from premium cigars and related products, sell no other kind of cigar, hold a liquor license, keep out anyone under 21, and serve no food it prepares on site. The state would check a bar's sales each year and could fine a bar that broke the rules. The Iowa Senate passed it 27-18, but the full House never voted on it, so it did not become law.

March 9, 2026Opposes Environment and Public Health

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 11, 2026

Voted for House File 299, which requires schools, child care centers and the state health department to tell parents about the legal exemptions from required vaccines whenever they communicate about immunizations. The exemption information must also appear on school and child care websites and in registration papers. The Iowa Senate passed it 32-16, and it became law.

April 29, 2025Opposes Environment and Public Health

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 9, 2026

Voted for Senate File 304, which takes away a minor's ability to get a vaccine against a sexually transmitted infection without a parent's consent. Iowa law lets a minor consent alone to care for preventing, diagnosing or treating a sexually transmitted disease, and the act carves vaccination out of that rule. Testing and treatment still need no parental consent. The Iowa Senate passed it 33-14, and it became law.

April 7, 2025Opposes Environment and Public Health

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 10, 2026

Voted for House File 767, which changes Iowa's private sector drug testing law in employers' favor. A safety-sensitive job, where an employer may test at random, is now any job the employer designates as one where an accident could kill or seriously injure someone, rather than a job that in fact fits that description. Employers may hand over test results in person or send them electronically if the worker agrees, instead of only by certified mail. The act also narrows who can be sued for breaking the law from any person to the employer alone. The Iowa Senate passed it 31-14, and it became law.

May 14, 2025Opposes Labor Rights

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 10, 2026

Voted for Senate File 603, which reorganizes Iowa's workforce agency and bars cities and counties from setting pay or training rules for contractors. A city or county may not require developers or contractors to pay their workers more, or train them, beyond what state law allows, or tie incentives to such terms. It also makes apprenticeship training voluntary unless state law requires it. The Iowa Senate passed the final version 32-15, and it became law.

March 19, 2025Opposes Labor Rights

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 11, 2026

Voted for Senate File 472, which tightens Iowa's rule that public employee unions must win a new election before each contract ends to stay certified. A public employer must send the state labor board a list of the workers in the unit within 10 days of notice. Any Iowa resident may sue to force an employer that fails to send the list. The Iowa Senate passed it 32-15, and it became law.

March 10, 2025Opposes Labor Rights

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 11, 2026

Voted for House File 398, which shifts power over Iowa's prisons from the Board of Corrections to the department's director. The director once needed the board's approval to set the department budget, adopt rules for running the institutions, appoint superintendents, or start an inmate furlough program. The director now needs only the board's advice and recommendations. The act also removes a superintendent's right to be heard before the board and the director on written charges before removal. The Iowa Senate passed it 32-15, and it became law.

April 17, 2025Opposes Anti-Corruption

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 10, 2026

Voted for House File 706, which raises the fines for officials who break Iowa's open meetings law. A member who takes part in a violation now pays $500 to $2,500, up from $100 to $500, and $5,000 to $12,500 for a knowing violation, up from $1,000 to $2,500. A court must now remove a member who has any prior violation, not only one that drew a fine. New officials must take a one-to-two-hour course on the open meetings and open records laws within 90 days. The act also makes two kinds of records confidential: legislative security camera footage and state employee key-card entry logs. The Iowa Senate passed it 34-13, and it became law.

April 17, 2025Supports Anti-Corruption

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 9, 2026

Voted for House File 2329, which raises the interest that licensed lenders may charge on regulated loans. Iowa capped the rate on a sliding scale that fell as the balance grew, from three percent a month on the first one hundred fifty dollars to one percent a month on any balance over seven hundred dollars. The act strikes that scale and sets one cap of three percent a month on the whole balance. It also changes the service charge on a consumer credit transaction from the lesser of ten percent of the amount financed or thirty dollars to the lesser of three percent or one hundred dollars. The Iowa Senate passed it 34-11, and it became law.

April 7, 2026Opposes Cost of Living Reduction

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 10, 2026

Voted for House File 2296, which bans cities and counties from issuing their own identification cards to residents. The only exceptions are ID cards for a government's own employees and elected officials, and the driver's licenses and state ID cards some county treasurers already issue on the state's behalf. Local community ID programs, which mainly served residents who could not get a state ID, end as a result. The Iowa Senate passed it 31-14, and it became law.

April 7, 2026Opposes Immigration

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 9, 2026

Voted for Senate File 378, which raises Iowa's default speed limit from 55 to 60 miles per hour on roads where no other speed limit applies. It also widens a break for drivers. The first two tickets in a year for going ten miles per hour or less over the limit do not count toward losing a license, and that rule now covers zones with limits of 35 to 60 miles per hour instead of 35 to 55. Road agencies may put stickers on existing signs to show the new limits. The Iowa Senate passed it 28-16, and it became law.

April 22, 2026Opposes Public Safety and Crime Control

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 10, 2026

Voted for Senate File 2442, which would have barred county boards of supervisors from restricting the building of houses, townhouses, and apartment or condo buildings of up to 12 units in areas outside city limits. Counties could still regulate those buildings to the extent needed to protect life or property, but could not adopt rules that have the effect of limiting their construction. The Iowa Senate passed it 28-16, but the full House never voted on it, so it did not become law.

March 3, 2026Supports Housing Affordability

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 11, 2026

Voted for Senate File 2422, which tightens eligibility rules for food assistance and Medicaid. The health and human services department must check applicants against a federal immigration and citizenship database, report food assistance payment error rates to the legislature every quarter, and ask Washington to let it wipe unused food benefits after about three months instead of nine. Retroactive Medicaid coverage is cut to at most two months before the application for pregnant women, children and nursing home residents, and the department is barred from seeking any waiver to go further back. Unless the legislature approves, the department may not seek Medicaid waivers or plan changes that raise net spending or expand coverage, with exceptions for changes federal law requires, settlements of federal Medicaid violations, and managed-care payment rates. The Iowa Senate passed it 27-16, and it became law.

April 30, 2026Opposes Social Programs and Welfare

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 10, 2026

Voted for Senate File 615, which requires most adults on the Iowa Health and Wellness Plan, the state's Medicaid expansion, to work at least 80 hours a month to keep coverage. People under 19 or over 64, people with a disability or who are medically frail, parents of a child under six, high-risk pregnant women and people on unemployment benefits are exempt. The state must seek federal approval first. The act also lets a couple in the Medicaid program for working people with disabilities keep up to $21,000 in savings instead of $10,000. The Iowa Senate passed it 33-13, and it became law.

May 13, 2025Opposes Social Programs and Welfare

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 9, 2026

Voted for House File 2230, which changes how Iowa trains and licenses teachers. From July 1, 2027, every approved teacher preparation program must give each student clinical experience and training in teaching children with disabilities and English learners, under standards the state board sets for all such programs. Anyone applying to teach in a special education setting must also finish a free self-paced state course on special education law, assessment and core skills before receiving a class B or conditional license. The Iowa Senate passed it 28-15, and it became law.

April 30, 2026Supports Public Education Quality

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 10, 2026

Voted for House File 2724, which requires the Board of Educational Examiners to create new teaching endorsements in three subjects Iowa schools struggle to staff: fine arts, mathematics and science. The endorsements cover prekindergarten through grade twelve. An applicant must hold a bachelor's degree from an accredited college to receive one. The Iowa Senate passed it 30-16, and it became law.

April 27, 2026Supports Public Education Quality

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 10, 2026

Voted for House File 295, which bars an accrediting agency from punishing an Iowa public university or community college for following state law. Accreditors review colleges, and their approval is what lets a college's students use federal aid. If an accreditor takes adverse action against an Iowa public institution because the institution obeyed a state law, or refused to break one, the institution may sue for damages and legal fees. The act also lets emergency medical training programs be approved by any federally recognized accreditor instead of only the Higher Learning Commission. The Iowa Senate passed it 32-15, and it became law.

April 17, 2025Opposes Public Education Quality

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 10, 2026

Voted for House File 437, which creates a Center for Intellectual Freedom at the University of Iowa. It is an independent academic unit under the Board of Regents that teaches and researches the ideas, traditions and texts behind the American constitutional order. The center hires its own tenure-track faculty, may take private and outside money, and reports to the legislature each year. An advisory council named by the regents searches for the director and sends finalists to the regents, who make the appointment. The director alone controls the center's hiring. The Iowa Senate passed it 32-15, and it became law.

April 15, 2025Supports Public Education Quality

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 10, 2026

Voted for House File 785, which changes who may sit on the governing board of an Iowa charter school. A majority of the board must still live in the area the school serves. Iowa law required every other member to live in Iowa, and the act replaces that with a requirement that they be United States citizens. It also allows one member of the board to live in another state. The Iowa Senate passed it 32-15, and it became law.

April 9, 2025Opposes Public Education Quality

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 10, 2026

Voted for Senate File 2274, which would have repealed Iowa's ban on selling devices that attach to a gun's trigger to make it fire faster. Selling or offering to sell such a device is now an aggravated misdemeanor, punishable by up to two years in prison. The Iowa Senate passed it 28-16, but the full House never voted on it, so it did not become law.

February 26, 2026Opposes Gun Control

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 11, 2026

Voted for Senate File 2263, which would have let people keep guns and other dangerous weapons in their vehicles in public parking lots run by the state or a city, county, or township. The weapon had to stay out of sight in the locked vehicle whenever no one was in it, and National Guard sites were excluded. State rules could not bar foster parents from carrying a lawful gun, loaded or not, in a car used to transport a foster child. The bill also removed the label weapons free zone from areas near schools and in public parks, but kept double fines for weapon crimes committed there. The Iowa Senate passed it 35-12, but the two chambers never agreed on the same text, so it did not become law.

February 24, 2026Opposes Gun Control

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 11, 2026

Voted for House File 924, which lowers the minimum age for a permit to carry a handgun in Iowa from 21 to 18, and lets an 18-year-old get a permit to acquire a pistol or revolver. Federal law still bars licensed dealers from selling handguns to anyone under 21, and the act says a permit held by someone under 21 is not valid for a dealer sale, so those buyers must use private transfers. Before this act, only professional permits, for jobs such as security work, were open at 18. The Iowa Senate passed it 33-14, and it became law.

April 7, 2025Opposes Gun Control

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 9, 2026

Voted for House File 2788, which adds rules for abortion drugs. Before any abortion, a doctor must examine the woman in person and screen for signs of coercion or abuse, and before prescribing abortion drugs must get her signed consent on the federal patient form. The drugs may be dispensed only in a health care setting, directly to the woman, except in a medical emergency. An unlicensed person who dispenses them another way can be sued for damages, while licensed providers who break the rules face license discipline instead. Miscarriage care and treatment of an ectopic pregnancy do not count as abortions, and an older fetal-heartbeat chapter that a newer chapter replaced is repealed. The Iowa Senate passed it 30-11, and it became law.

May 3, 2026Opposes Women's Reproductive Rights

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 9, 2026

Voted for Senate File 175, which adds fetal development to what Iowa schools must teach. In grades five and six, instruction in human growth and development must now cover human development inside the womb, and must include a high-definition ultrasound video showing the brain, heart and other organs as they develop. The same standards flow into the health unit high school students must take, and they apply to charter schools and innovation zone schools as well as school districts. The Iowa Senate passed it 33-16, and it became law.

April 28, 2025Opposes Women's Reproductive Rights

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 10, 2026

Voted for House File 2501, which makes several changes to how Iowa runs elections. Police and other agencies must tell the secretary of state at once when they investigate an election, an election official or suspected election misconduct. County auditors must cancel a voter registration that has sat incomplete or unconfirmed for ninety days when they cannot reach the voter or the voter does not fix the problem. All election equipment must carry a tamper-evident seal at all times, and the act sets when a recount of a ballot question must be held. The Iowa Senate passed it 31-16, and it became law.

April 15, 2026Supports Election Integrity

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 10, 2026

Voted for Senate File 2203, which would have required the state to check the citizenship of every registered voter against the federal SAVE database, which tracks immigration status. It would check new voters monthly and all voters every year. A voter who could not be confirmed as a citizen would be sent a notice. The registration would be canceled if the voter did not provide proof of citizenship within 90 days. The Iowa Senate passed it 34-13, but the full House never voted on it, so it did not become law.

February 25, 2026Supports Election Integrity

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 11, 2026

Voted for House File 928, which rewrites how Iowa recounts and contests elections. A candidate for statewide or federal office may demand a recount only when the margin is under fifteen hundredths of one percent, and a legislative candidate only when it is under one percent or fifty votes, whichever is smaller. The recount then covers every precinct where a vote was cast for the office. Recount boards must follow the secretary of state's written guidance. The secretary may stop a county recount, take custody of the ballots and equipment, run the recount with state staff, and fine a county elections commissioner up to twenty-five thousand dollars for deliberately breaking the rules. The Iowa Senate passed it 31-14, and it became law.

April 14, 2025Supports Election Integrity

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 10, 2026

Voted for House File 2711, which removes affirmative action from Iowa law. It strikes the state's policy of applying affirmative action to correct problems in state hiring, along with the affirmative action plans and reports required of state agencies, the board of regents, the judicial branch, school districts, area education agencies and community colleges. Similar requirements for the law enforcement academy and the board of medicine also go. The bar on denying anyone a public job because of race, creed, color, religion, national origin, sex, age or disability stays in place. The Iowa Senate passed it 31-15, and it became law.

April 29, 2026Opposes Civil Rights

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 10, 2026

Voted for Senate File 473, which bars the state from ruling out a foster or adoptive parent because of that person's religious or moral beliefs about sexual orientation or gender identity. The health and human services department may not require a foster parent, a kinship caregiver or a prospective adoptive parent to affirm or support a policy on those subjects that conflicts with those beliefs. It also may not refuse to license or approve someone, or rule the person out as a placement, on that ground. That protection covers a stated intent to raise a child in line with those beliefs. The Iowa Senate passed it 28-16, and it became law.

April 21, 2026Opposes Civil Rights

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 10, 2026

Voted for House File 2670, which rewrites parts of what Iowa schools must teach and test. It strikes the rule that schools teach from a multicultural and gender-fair approach, and drops the requirement that global perspectives run through every grade. Kindergarten no longer has to cover healthy emotional and social habits or human growth and development. Starting with the 2027-28 school year, students must also take a social studies test in grades eight and eleven. The science test moves from grade ten to grade eleven, and high school math units may include agriculture. The Iowa Senate passed it 30-17, and it became law.

April 14, 2026Opposes Civil Rights

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 10, 2026

Voted for House File 2539, which repeals several higher education programs. Gone are the regents' minority and women educators enhancement program and the vouchers it awarded, the college bound program, and the chapter governing the state laboratory school. The act also strikes a set of Board of Regents duties and reporting requirements tied to those programs. The state grant program for minority students remains, without its reference to the repealed vouchers. The Iowa Senate passed it 30-17, and it became law.

April 14, 2026Opposes Civil Rights

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 10, 2026

Voted for Senate File 579, which stops cities and counties from passing civil rights laws that cover more kinds of discrimination than state law does. Cities of 29,000 or more no longer have to keep a local civil rights commission, which becomes optional. Complaints against a city or county go to the state civil rights office, and any party may move a complaint to the state if it sits unresolved for a year. The Iowa Senate passed it 29-16, and it became law.

March 9, 2026Opposes Civil Rights

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 9, 2026

Voted for House File 856, which bars state agencies, local governments, universities and community colleges from spending any money on diversity, equity and inclusion offices, officers or programs. It defines those programs to include efforts to favor people by race, sex, color or ethnicity, and trainings on ideas such as unconscious bias or systemic oppression. Teaching, research, student groups, health services and legal compliance offices are not covered. Any person may report a violation to the attorney general, who may sue to stop it. The Iowa Senate passed it 34-16, and it became law.

May 9, 2025Opposes Civil Rights

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 9, 2026

Voted for Senate File 418, which defines sex in state law as male or female based on a person's body at birth. It removes gender identity from the Iowa Civil Rights Act, so the act no longer bars discrimination on that basis in jobs, housing, public places and the other areas it covers. Birth certificates must record the sex assigned at birth, and the state may issue a new certificate only in the cases the act lists. It also reworded an existing ban on gender identity lessons in kindergarten through sixth grade to cover gender theory. The Iowa Senate passed it 33-15, and it became law.

February 27, 2025Opposes Civil Rights

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 9, 2026

Voted for House File 2527, which shields farms, fuel makers, ethanol plants and other businesses from lawsuits over harm to the climate from their greenhouse gas emissions. A person suing must name each gas and prove, by clear and convincing evidence, that the harm came directly from the business breaking a specific emissions limit or permit. Without that proof, no court may award damages or any other relief. The Iowa Senate passed it 33-13, and it became law.

March 24, 2026Opposes Corporate Accountability

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 9, 2026

Voted for House File 767, which changes Iowa's private sector drug testing law in employers' favor. A safety-sensitive job, where an employer may test at random, is now any job the employer designates as one where an accident could kill or seriously injure someone, rather than a job that in fact fits that description. Employers may hand over test results in person or send them electronically if the worker agrees, instead of only by certified mail. The act also narrows who can be sued for breaking the law from any person to the employer alone. The Iowa Senate passed it 31-14, and it became law.

May 14, 2025Opposes Corporate Accountability

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 10, 2026

Voted for Senate File 383, which regulates pharmacy benefit managers, the firms that run drug coverage for health plans. They may not pay an Iowa retail pharmacy less than the published national average cost of buying the drug, and may not pay an independent pharmacy less than they pay a pharmacy they own. They may not steer a patient toward a particular pharmacy through copays or reimbursement, shut a willing pharmacy out of a network, or impose accreditation terms beyond state licensing rules. The act also sets contract rules and an appeals process for pharmacies. The Iowa Senate passed it 36-14, and it became law.

April 28, 2025Supports Corporate Accountability

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 10, 2026

On 2025-03-24, the Iowa Legislature's official all-amendments index recorded Senator Lynn Evans's S-3041 amendment to Senate File 370 as filed and adopted.

March 24, 2025

Source: legis.iowa.gov · researched September 9, 2026