First GOP caucus "cattle call" and lots of Iowa legislative news

April 24 "Capitol Week" is online

Apr 25, 2023

Dennis Hart and I were on the air for longer than usual again Monday night, with a few cutaways to promote KHOI Radio’s spring fundraising drive. If you appreciate community radio that’s commercial-free and offers diverse talk and music programming, please consider supporting KHOI if you are able.

The Iowa legislative session is winding down, but lots of work remains to be done before the House and Senate adjourn for the year. At Bleeding Heartland, I briefly summarized the major bills Republicans recently sent to Governor Kim Reynolds and what’s left on the agenda.

On to the latest “Capitol Week.” Remember, you can listen to any of our past programs for free on KHOI’s website. The audio clip for April 24 is available here.

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Topics Dennis and I covered in this week’s show:

The status of the federal lawsuit seeking to suspend FDA approval of mifepristone, a leading medication used for abortions and miscarriage care; if you want to dig deeper, I recommend Steve Vladeck’s coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court’s “shadow docket” ruling on Friday;
The U.S. Supreme Court’s action guarantees that mifepristone will be available for now, but if that ever changes, medication abortions will remain accessible in Iowa using a misoprostol regimen;
We talked about Iowa Public Radio’s reporting on nearly 70 victims of sexual assault awaiting reimbursement for emergency contraception, following Attorney General Brenna Bird’s decision to halt those payments; (I’m still waiting for the Attorney General’s office to provide records I requested in mid-February);
Discussing the first “cattle call” event of the 2024 Iowa caucus campaign, Dennis and I focused on what some of the Republican presidential candidates said about abortion, transgender accommodations, and education (you can watch the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition proceedings on C-SPAN or read more about the speeches at Iowa Capital Dispatch, the Des Moines Register, and the Cedar Rapids Gazette);
In case you missed it last week, long-shot presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has hired former Iowa Senate President Jake Chapman as his state co-chair;
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis did not attend the Faith and Freedom event in Clive, but he met with members of Congress including U.S. Representative Randy Feenstra last week, and will come to Feenstra’s picnic fundraiser in Sioux County next month;
President Joe Biden is expected to announce his re-election campaign on April 25; we briefly discussed recent polling showing that while Biden’s approval numbers are not great, he leads Donald Trump by a wide margin among voters who disapprove of both presidencies;
We wanted to acknowledge today’s unexpected firings of Tucker Carlson and Don Lemon; you can read more about that in The Washington Post and New York Times;
Dennis and I spent several minutes on Senate File 496, the sweeping “parental empowerment” education bill the Iowa House and Senate amended and sent to the governor last week; at Bleeding Heartland, I walked through its provisions (including “don’t say gay,” forced outing of transgender students, and new restrictions on school library books);
A second education bill, Senate File 391, is designed to give school districts more flexibility; the Bleeding Heartland post explains how it will relax rules on teacher or librarian qualifications, and reduce curriculum requirements;
The House and Senate approved competing property tax bills last week; we tried to keep it simple but you can read more about House File 718 and Senate File 569 in Iowa Capital Dispatch, the Cedar Rapids Gazette, and Des Moines Register;
Republican lawmakers reacted to an Iowa Supreme Court decision by not answering questions during floor debate, which temporarily derailed consideration of a child labor bill last Monday night; I wrote a deep dive about this at Bleeding Heartland;
Iowa Senate Republicans agreed to the House amendment to a bill shielding trucking companies from liability; I explained the key changes to Senate File 228;
Following that overnight debate last Monday, Iowa Senate Republicans approved Senate File 542, which would relax child labor regulations;
Iowa voters will have a chance in 2024 to approve a constitutional amendment outlining the line of succession if a governor leaves office, because the Iowa Senate approved House Joint Resolution 3 last week (this proposal grew out of a controversy I covered extensively in 2017; this post is one of the most labor-intensive articles I’ve ever written for the website);
We recapped some of last week’s significant Iowa Senate confirmation votes;
The Iowa House approved Senate File 478, a bill that would limit the state auditor’s authority; the House amendment doesn’t change the proposal in any meaningful way, and I explained why State Auditor Rob Sand and independent observers are so concerned;
The Iowa Public Information Board is still hoping the Senate will approve a bill that would improve the process of requesting public records; I wrote about the bill after House members unanimously approved it in March, but I’m not optimistic the Senate will act this year;
Anti-hunger groups have urged the governor to veto Senate File 494, which would kick thousands of Iowans off federal food assistance and/or Medicaid; I explained why Reynolds will almost certainly sign the measure (she quietly endorsed the concept of an asset test in 2021);
Can the Iowa legislature adjourn by April 28? I doubt it, and here’s why; but it’s possible the House and Senate can finish work on the budget, property taxes, and a few other outstanding bills by this weekend;
Students and allies protested a pending gun bill at the capitol on Monday; I explained what’s in House File 654, which the Senate has not yet taken up;
We spent a couple of minutes on my research about whether the Iowa legislature could expel one of its members, as recently happened in Tennessee;
We wrapped by sending our best wishes to Dave Price, who is stepping down as political director of WHO-TV after 22 years at the station.

Dennis and I will be back on the air next Monday, but only for our usual 30 minutes. No doubt the legislature will give us plenty of material.

Final note: If you’re looking for a fun read, Business Insider’s Bryan Metzger took a detour to the Windsor Heights Dairy Queen (famous due to Senator Chuck Grassley’s tweet) while he was in town covering the Faith and Freedom event.