Need your input on bills
Greetings to my fellow firefighters and families hope all is well in your communities. The legislative season is in full swing we have several bills on the docket for Iowa Firefighters that we are watching and we need all your help to guide your area representatives in the right direction. This is going to take some help from all of you to discuss these bills and tell your/our stories so the bills can get passed through. Your/Our voices can make the difference as we vote them into office; please take the time to reach out to your representatives.
Here are the bills we are concerned with; first we want to support the Firefighter I (SF2086/SSB 3007) classes in the high school. We need the area departments to support this with a junior program, so they get the feel of the profession along with the training. Also, to get more understanding of this we would like to know which departments currently have a program, please let the IFA office know (you can call us at 515-899-2211 or email to ifaoffice@iafireassn.org). Second is the bill to eliminate townships (SF2430 / SSB 3009) this bill would shift duties of townships including the provision of fire protection service and medical service to your county supervisors. The IFA Board and your/our representatives need to hear the concerns, so they make a good, educated decision for their communities that they represent. I encourage all of you to watch for the weekly updates from our lobbyists (Cindy & John) and please express your concerns in your communities.
On another note, we are encouraging everyone to help support the IFA through our annual golf tournament in May. The IFA Golf Tournament this year will be the 4th annual, and we are holding it in Waverly Municipal Golf Course May 30, 2026, a 4-person best shot 9:00 shotgun start. We encourage all of you golf enthusiasts to take time to help support our lobbyists through a great day of golfing.Options to help support the tournament are signing up to play or if not able to play you can support by sponsoring a hole. Please contact one of the IFA board members if you want to sponsor a hole, if you are going to be playing golf you can sign your team up online. We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible on this fun filled day.
As I close, I would like to encourage you to talk and listen to each other as we need to stay strong physically and mentally to provide outstanding service to protect our communities. As we are a brotherhood and sisterhood of the fire service, so we must support each other to stay strong. So, take care of each other, if you have a concern for someone point it out to your leadership, as we are strongest when we take care of ourselves.
Kent Brix
IFA President