The state pauses on the creation of new jobs, agencies must justify new positions

State agencies have taken a break on the creation of new positions until further notice while new job protocols are set up, according to an email sent by the head of the Ministry of Health and Social Services of Iowa this week.

Iowa DHHS director Kelly Garcia told employees of the largest state agency on Tuesday that the requests for new positions in the future were to be submitted to her and the finance service for examination and should include a “”A robust and in -depth justification for consideration. »»

The change will affect the new positions “whatever the source of financing”, as well as discretionary remuneration, recruitment and retention of retention and special salary, but it does not apply to the provision of already existing positions, said Garcia.

Mason Mauro, spokesperson for Governor Kim Reynolds, said in a DPI declaration that the change would not apply to new positions that have already been published, but said that Reynolds had not promulgated “hiring gel” on new state jobs.

“New protocols have been implemented to better monitor and control the creation of new positions in the government of the State,” said Mauro.

Mauro did not respond to additional requests for more details on changes in the protocol for new state jobs.

Iowa HHS spokesperson Alex Murphy reiterated in a statement to the DPI that the state has no “hiring freeze”.

“Director Garcia has always established a partnership with agency leadership to ensure that hiring decisions support the current and future needs of Iowa HHS,” he said. “The director will continue to make an in-depth examination and an analysis of all the proposals for newly created posts as well as the implementation of the protocols described in his email of all the workforce.”

Democrats said they were concerned about what change could mean for state employees.

The head of the House minority, Jennifer Konfrst, of Windsor Heights, said on Wednesday that a constituent had alert him from the email of Garcia personnel.

“Uncertainty is at the moment abounds in government and people who do hard work to provide services to Iowans, especially in DHHS, which is an essential service for iowans,” she said. “They no longer need uncertainty.”

This decision comes as Reynolds said it was trying to tighten the expenses of the state government.

Earlier this month, Reynolds published an executive decree Establish an Iowa DOGE working group “Successfully improve the efficiency and efficiency of the state government,” said A press release.

During the income estimate conference on Wednesday, legislators said they should use Some state savings To cover your budget for the next fiscal year.

The Iowa working group follows the creation by President Donald Trump of the Federal Department of Government efficiency, led by Elon Musk, who suddenly canceled government contracts and implemented mass dismissals at the federal level To slow down public spending.

DPI journalist, Isabella Luu, contributed to this report.