All about the trans discrimination bill; Sand and Reynolds spar over voucher funds
Feb. 24 episode of "KHOI's Capitol Week"
One of the first Iowa legislative stories I covered for Bleeding Heartland was the passage of a 2007 bill that added sexual orientation and gender identity to the Iowa Civil Rights Act. I had a toddler and a preschooler at the time and rarely went down to the statehouse. So I knew little about the maneuvering that took place behind the scenes to get that bill across the finish line. I was just excited to see the civil rights bill pass with bipartisan support in both chambers, including my own Republican state representative and state senator.
So it was beyond depressing on Monday to watch as Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee fast-tracked their omnibus transgender discrimination bill. Only one Republican (Brian Lohse) joined Democrats to oppose the bill in committee. This fight isn’t over, but there is a very real risk that by the end of this week, Governor Kim Reynolds will sign into law the first repeal of a protected class from any state’s civil rights act.
LGBTQ Iowans have been among my most supportive readers since the earliest years of Bleeding Heartland’s existence, and I am committed to covering this issue in depth. But I wish I were writing about almost anything else.
The anti-trans bill was the lead topic for
and me on our February 24 show, but we covered a lot of other news as well. The audio file is embedded above, or you can find “KHOI’s Capitol Week” on any podcast platform or smart speaker. The full archive (going back to February 2021) is available on KHOI’s website.Republicans fast-track anti-trans bill
We spent about ten minutes talking about the bill House Judiciary Committee chair Steven Holt introduced last Thursday (House Study Bill 242, renumbered House File 583 following committee passage). The centerpiece, of course, is legalizing discrimination against trans Iowans by removing gender identity as a protected class under the Iowa Civil Rights Act. But there’s much more to the bill, including:
Definitions of terms such as “man,” “woman,” “boy,” and “girl” in ways that exclude transgender and non-binary Iowans;
A framework to justify segregation by stating, “Separate accommodations are not inherently unequal";
Changes that would make it impossible for a trans person’s birth certificate to reflect their gender identity;
Laying the groundwork for a statewide bathroom bill;
New language related to the “don’t say trans” teaching restrictions for grades K-6. I suspect the state expects a federal court to find that part of current law unconstitutional; this could be a way to moot that part of the lawsuit.
We talked about how this bill is similar to and different from past legislation targeting LGBTQ Iowans, the talking points Republicans are using to justify the bill, and the main arguments against it. You can read much more in my post from this weekend. Not only would this bill erase any legal recognition of transgender existence in Iowa, it could have far-reaching implications for civil rights protections for women and other groups.
I tried to convey a little about the atmosphere at the statehouse on Monday, and the next steps. An Iowa Senate companion bill advanced from a subcommittee on Tuesday. There will be a public hearing at the House on Thursday, and if Republicans have the votes to pass the bill, it will probably be debated on Thursday afternoon.
Take this to the bank: if Republicans enact this bill, at least one lawsuit will follow. The legislation appears to have several equal protection problems.
Other legislative news
Last week, the Iowa Senate approved an anti-abortion measure commonly known as the “Baby Olivia” bill. Senate File 175 would require schools to show students in grades 4-12 a fetal development video similar to “Meet Baby Olivia,” produced by the anti-abortion group Live Action.
I flagged a couple of other anti-abortion bills that have been introduced. One seems to have momentum: House Study Bill 186 would require doctors to give patients inaccurate information about medication abortion, with the goal of discouraging patients from terminating a pregnancy. In other contexts, Republicans often rail against “compelled speech,” but they are pushing it on doctors. The Iowa Medical Society and American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists are registered against the bill, as are reproductive rights advocates.
State Representative Jeff Shipley has introduced House File 423, which would make it a felony to dispense mifepristone, the most common drug used for medication abortion. Since it hasn’t been assigned to a subcommittee, I don’t see this one going anywhere this year.
The House Higher Education Committee advanced a bill last week seeking to restrict state funding for scientific research involving animals (House Study Bill 58). Disturbing reports about research on dogs at the University of Iowa inspired the legislation.
Last week the Senate Judiciary Committee approved a bill that would give legal immunity to pesticide manufacturers. Three Republicans joined Democrats to vote against the bill in committee. The Senate passed this legislation last year, but it never came to the House floor, because there is a lot of bipartisan opposition. The bill was originally numbered Senate Study Bill 1051, but following committee passage it is now Senate File 394.
An Iowa House subcommittee approved House Study Bill 187, which “would require every law enforcement agency in Iowa to sign a memorandum of understanding with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) by Jan. 1, 2026.” This was one of those weird subcommittees where not a single person spoke in favor of the bill, but the two Republicans on the panel advanced it anyway. I suspect the impetus for the bill was the Winneshiek County sheriff’s refusal to honor ICE detainer requests. He asserts they are unconstitutional. At Governor Reynolds’ request, Attorney General Brenna Bird is investigating the sheriff.
State auditor, governor clash over audit of school voucher funds
Speaking of the governor, we made time to talk about dueling press conferences last Tuesday. State Auditor Rob Sand highlighted a report from his office about Iowa’s Annual Comprehensive Financial Report for fiscal year 2024 (which ran through last June).
The Reynolds administration didn’t give state auditors the information they needed to determine whether $104 million was properly spent on Education Savings Accounts (school vouchers) during the first year of the program. These professional CPAs could not verify that families receiving the school voucher funds met the income requirements, that the money was used for the intended purpose, or that the out-of-state company managing the program is adequately protecting Iowans' data. Sand released a statement from his professional staff, who have worked under four different state auditors, attesting to the fact that they needed to audit this costly new program.
Reynolds claimed at her own press conference that Sand was being “partisan.” She said he’s been gunning for higher office and was critical of the school voucher program from the beginning. Which doesn’t change the fact that state auditors need to be able to check this program for waste, fraud, and abuse. The costs will explode in the years to come as income limits for using the Education Savings Accounts go away.
I mentioned a few other tidbits from the governor’s press conference. Although she hasn’t officially confirmed she is running for a third term, she previewed the case she will make for re-election, in light of a Republican primary challenge from former State Representative Brad Sherman. I wrote more about this angle at Bleeding Heartland.
Reynolds also told reporters she’s not worried about the Trump Administration eliminating the U.S. Department of Education. She thinks the federal funding won’t go away, but that states will have more flexibility in how to spend it. (I wouldn’t bet on that.) Reynolds has already written to the U.S. Department of Agriculture seeking a waiver for her summer food box concept as an alternative to the proven Summer EBT program for kids who qualify for free or reduced-price school lunches.
News about the federal government
Spencer and I caught up on the latest U.S. Senate confirmations of President Donald Trump’s cabinet nominees. Iowa’s senators voted for them all, of course. Senator Joni Ernst led the confirmation of Kelly Loeffler as head of the Small Business Administration.
We still don’t have a comprehensive picture of how many Iowans are directly impacted by federal layoffs and funding freezes.
On one of his press calls (from which I am always excluded), Senator Chuck Grassley claimed Congress “can’t do anything except complain about” the layoffs, and that the president has the power to eliminate these jobs. I don’t think that is correct. We have laws protecting career civil service employees, and the president cannot unilaterally eliminate agencies or programs that Congress has authorized and funded.
I learned last week that many of these “probationary” employees who lost their jobs this month were longtime federal employees. They may have received a recent promotion, which put them on probationary status for one year.
On Monday I attended a meeting of the Iowa House Education Appropriations Subcommittee, where University of Iowa President Barbara Wilson said the new policy on “indirect costs” for National Institutes of Health grants could cost the university as much as $40 million. I asked Iowa State University President Wendy Wintersteen about the federal government turmoil after the meeting. She said no university staff had been directly affected by the funding freeze or layoffs, but said Agricultural Research Service “is an important partner with us, and we think the research that they do is highly valuable to farmers and to the agricultural research enterprise in the United States.” She didn’t have specifics about the projects that may not go forward.
The Iowa Democratic Party organized a virtual press conference last week featuring two federal employees who lost their jobs with the USDA and the VA in the so-called “Valentine’s Day Massacre.” They are appealing their dismissals.
The Des Moines Register reported that the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship has halted a program that reclaims land from abandoned mines “due to funding uncertainty from the federal government.” I had never heard of this program, and I suspect that Trump’s slash-and-burn approach will cause many more good programs to be suspended or scrapped.
Senator Bernie Sanders brought his “Fight oligarchy” tour to Iowa City on Saturday and packed the hall. He is visiting Congressional districts narrowly won by Republicans (in this case Mariannette Miller-Meeks), hoping to help scuttle the House GOP plans for harmful budget cuts. I can’t imagine that Miller-Meeks would vote against anything House leaders want as she gears up to face a MAGA Republican primary challenger for the second time.
We had just a minute to talk about the Des Moines Register and Ann Selzer filing motions to dismiss Trump’s baseless lawsuit over the pre-election Iowa Poll. Attorneys for Trump and his fellow plaintiffs (Miller-Meeks and former State Senator Brad Zaun) are asking the federal court to send the case back to state court, where it was filed. I have a Bleeding Heartland post in progress about the legal arguments; subscribe to my other free email newsletter for links to everything published at the main site.
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I appreciate your transcripts as well as the audio. Thank you!