The Iowa legislative session ended Saturday morning, with the senate wrapping at 7:16 a.m. Senator Rich Taylor (D-District 42) comments on the session, “This has been the most hateful session that I have seen in my five years, we’ve attacked everyone from public workers, to women’s health, to the poor, to the mentally ill.”

The legislature approved a final budget spending bill of $7.24 million that will see cuts to many state programs. Other bills passed included voter ID requirements, expansion of gun rights, a ban of most abortions 20 weeks after conception, and the legalization of medical cannabis oil for seriously ill patients.

Taylor says the one piece of legislation that he’s been approached most about by constituents is collective bargaining. A bill was passed that constitutes the rolling back of the collective bargaining law, that governs union contract negotiations for the state’s public employees. This Republican-passed bill constrains union contract negotiations to only base wages, excluding other issues such as health insurance and evaluation procedures.

When asked what his constituents should do, Taylor said, “People need to be involved, even if they’re unhappy with what’s going on, if you’ve been unhappy with what’s going on you need to be more involved, but they need to be involved all the time and find out whether people are representing their best interests, or if they’re representing their own best interests.”

Before the next session Taylor says he will spend the time out of Des Moines getting reacquainted with constituents’ issues and attending public meetings and events.