A bill has been introduced to bring Puerto Rican citizens to work at rural Iowa businesses. Representative Joe Mitchell introduced House Bill 2136, a grant fund and program that would bring  qualified individuals from Puerto Rico into Iowa to stimulate the declining workforce and population in rural Iowa. Mitchell outlined the inspiration behind this bill during Washington’s legislative briefing on Saturday, “Last year, after session, I went home and I was talking to a lot of my businesses around the area, and every single one of them said the biggest hurdle they had was workforce and they need to get bodies here (in Iowa). They said we can’t expand as a company, we can’t expand as a business unless we have people to work for us. We have plants in southeast Iowa, they have one in Arkansas, one in Texas, but they said we aren’t going to expand here in Iowa unless we have the workers to do so.”  The bill would pull $2 million from the general fund to start this program. Businesses wanting to enter this grant program would need to match a $5,000 grant for relocating purposes for each grant candidate. Candidates from the U.S. territory must also prove they have the needed relocation expenses as well. The bill has passed sub-committee and is awaiting votes from the House and Senate.