The IPTA Political Action Committee (PAC) has a long-standing history of raising funds each year to support the legislative efforts of the Iowa Physical Therapy Association. This year, we are raising the bar and asking our members to help us raise $20,000 in 2020! We know this is a very ambitious goal. We want to acknowledge the challenges our members have faced, and are still facing, with COVID-19. As a committee, we feel confident that we can work to engage more IPTA members to become PAC donors and help us meet this challenge. For the past 5 years, our PAC goal has been met by approximately 40 IPTA members annually. These members have given consistently to the PAC, which we greatly appreciate! In 2020, we want to increase the number of donors to the PAC by 100. Will you be one of the new donors? Donating to the IPTA PAC is easy to do online or by mail.

Last week was a busy week in Iowa. The primary election was held on June 2, and the Iowa General Assembly reconvened on June 3. Iowans turned out in record numbers, and by absentee ballot, to vote in the primary election for the candidates that will seek office this fall. To find out the results of the primaries, please click here. In the first three days of the abbreviated session, IPTA worked on the telehealth parity bill and licensure bill. We will continue to keep our members updated on these bills. These are both examples of how important it is for IPTA members to be engaged in our advocacy efforts and to consider supporting the IPTA PAC.  

Jerod Gayer, DPT, ATC, co-chair of the IPTA PAC, shares the importance your PAC contribution will assuredly have on our profession.

“I have had the opportunity to experience first-hand the importance of our members’ participation in the IPTA PAC. While attending the IPTA Legislative Day several years ago to advocate on behalf of our association in our push for equal co pay legislation with chiropractors, a discussion my wife and I had with our state senator centered around the importance such legislation would have on our patients’ ability to access the physical therapy care needed to overcome the impairments our patients’ deal with on a daily basis. The senator proceeded to ask if our membership was united in support of this legislation, to which I resoundingly answered 'yes!'. He then followed-up by asking what percentage of our membership contributed to our PAC. When I begrudgingly informed him the number of PAC contributors was around 6-8% of our members, he responded by saying ‘Well then I don’t believe your members care about these issues. If they did, they would contribute to your association’s PAC.’ In his view, membership support via contribution to the PAC indicated support of the legislative initiatives important to our professional organization. This realization of how our politicians viewed the interplay between membership support for our organization’s legislative initiatives and active participation/support of the PAC was a game changing moment in my understanding of the importance the IPTA PAC plays in moving our profession forward. Now, arguably more than ever, we are calling on your support to help make the necessary changes to ensure our association’s voice is heard at both the state and national legislative level. Your support of the IPTA PAC will help us accomplish this!” 

Click here to learn more about the IPTA PAC and why is so important to get involved today!