Iowa Supreme Court considers abortion case, legislature enters home stretch
April 15 "Capitol Week" is online
The Iowa legislature is close to wrapping up its work for 2024. If they haven’t adjourned by this time next week, they will be close to the finish line.
I will continue to summarize the week in Iowa politics for KHOI listeners live at 7:00 pm on Monday. The station rebroadcasts the show at 6:00 am on Tuesday and noon Wednesday, or you can download “KHOI’s Capitol Week” in podcast form anytime on your favorite platform (Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify, etc.).
Here’s the audio file from our April 15 program. KHOI’s website has the full “Capitol Week” archive going back to February 2021.
Topics Dennis Hart and I covered this week:
We began with last Thursday’s oral arguments in Planned Parenthood v Reynolds, the sixth major abortion-related case the Iowa Supreme Court has considered in the past decade. I am still working on a deep dive about the case for Bleeding Heartland. You’ll be able to find that piece soon on the website or in my other free email newsletter;
One thing’s for sure: the Iowa Supreme Court will issue some binding opinion on whether to lift the injunction on the near-total abortion ban the state wants to enforce. All seven justices took part in the oral arguments, including Justice Dana Oxley (who recused from last year’s big abortion case);
The state wants the court to find that abortion regulations are subject to “rational basis” review, the lowest bar for the government to clear. Solicitor General Eric Wessan hammered on the point that the court’s majority held in 2022 that abortion is not a fundamental right subject to “strict scrutiny.” For that reason, he asserted the justices must apply the rational basis standard;
Planned Parenthood maintains that the appropriate standard is the “undue burden” test, which balances the pregnant person’s fundamental right to bodily autonomy against the state’s interest in preventing abortions. Plaintiffs’ attorney Peter Im explained why the justices should continue to block enforcement of the law while litigation proceeds in the Polk County District Court;
The Iowa Supreme Court is expected to issue an opinion by the end of June. I don’t know whether they will allow the law to go into effect, or keep it enjoined, but either way it’s likely to be a 4-3 decision;
Moving to legislative news, Governor Kim Reynolds made clear last week she’s not interested in revisiting the new law on Iowa’s Area Education Agencies. Some House Republicans are concerned about language that will allow school districts to divert tens of millions of dollars that now flows to AEAs for media and education services;
House Speaker Pat Grassley told reporters on Thursday that giving school districts more control over funding was the original purpose of the AEA bill. It doesn’t sound like he will be pushing for a fix;
On April 15, the Iowa Senate approved a bill regulating automated traffic cameras by 46 votes to 1. Versions of this legislation have bounced around the House or Senate for years, and I didn’t expect any progress on this front in 2024. Many Republicans would prefer to ban traffic cameras outright, but they didn’t have the votes to do that. So House File 2681 would require local governments to seek permission from the Iowa Department of Transportation for cameras. They would have to present evidence the cameras were needed for a genuine safety concern, and not just a way to generate revenue. The bill only affects cameras designed to catch drivers speeding—not red light cameras;
Another safety bill is headed to the governor. House File 2568, which the Senate unanimously approved last week, would require drivers to yield to people on any kind of conveyance in a crosswalk (bicycle, scooter, wheelchair, skateboard, etc.). Current law mandates yielding to pedestrians in crosswalks. At the House subcommittee on this bill, a representative of the Iowa Bicycle Coalition said the proposal was one of their top legislative priorities. (Another priority for the group failed to advance this year: reducing distracted driving by banning the use of handheld devices in moving vehicles);
Senate Republicans approved a constitutional amendment last week that would require a two-thirds vote in the legislature to increase income or corporate taxes (but not sales taxes or regressive fees). Since the House already approved House Joint Resolution 2006, the amendment is halfway to appearing on a statewide ballot. Both chambers would need to approve the same language following this year’s elections;
I wasn’t surprised last week when the Senate unanimously approved Senate File 2431, which would create a carve out from Iowa’s statute of limitations for civil lawsuits for survivors of sexual abuse. The bill was drafted narrowly to apply only to some 300 or 350 Iowans who are eligible to receive a portion of a national settlement against Boy Scouts of America. What surprised me: House Speaker Grassley told reporters that members of his caucus have serious concerns about changing the statute of limitations, especially since the bill didn’t go through the Judiciary Committee;
Another unanimous vote in the Senate sent House File 2680 to the governor. That bill expands disability coverage for police and firefighters who suffer from physical or mental health conditions that stem from their employment. The bill also makes changes to the pension systems for first responders. An earlier bill expanding cancer coverage for firefighters cleared the Iowa House unanimously but never received a Senate subcommittee hearing;
Voting along party lines, Senate Republicans accepted the House amendment to Senate File 2391. Democrats had supported an earlier version of the legislation, which prohibits “misbranding” of meatless food products. But House Republicans tacked on language seeking to ban Iowans on public assistance programs from buying egg substitutes. Democrats in both chambers blasted the attempt to tell Iowans what they can’t eat and warned the language would create problems for people with egg allergies;
Hot off the presses: on April 15, House Republicans approved the Senate amendment to House File 2586, a bill making it easier for school staff to carry firearms. It’s already legal for school districts to approve such policies, but those that tried ran into trouble from their insurance carrier. This bill tries to solve that problem by giving armed staff qualified immunity from criminal prosecution and civil suits if they hurt or kill someone while using firearms at school. The Senate took a grant program out of the bill, which had been conceived as a way to help school districts pay for the programs;
Also on April 15, the House approved a transportation budget for fiscal year 2025, which begins on July 1. The Senate already passed this bill (Senate File 2422) unanimously, making it the first appropriations bill to clear both chambers;
House members also passed House File 2689, which would establish a grant program to encourage attorneys to work in rural communities;
April 16 is the 100th day of the session and the last day legislators will receive per diem payments. The House and Senate won’t be done on Tuesday but leaders have indicated they hope to finish their work very soon. I may be spending some late nights at the capitol this week;
Reynolds signed about 40 bills last week. We talked about a few of them: Senate File 2340 creates a new crime of illegal entry to Iowa. This immigration bill modeled on a Texas law (which is probably unconstitutional);
Senate File 2204 (which both chambers approved way back in February) establishes new regulations on foreign land ownership;
Senate File 2252 relaxes standards for the so-called “MOMS” program, which funnels state money to crisis pregnancy centers;
Senate File 2161 is designed to deter “swatting,” making false reports to law enforcement;
House File 2594 creates a new crime: “organized retail theft.” It’s not clear whether this has happened in Iowa, but Republicans were reacting to news reports from other parts of the country;
Senate File 144 amends Iowa’s assault statute to criminalize the act of pointing a laser toward an aircraft;
Senate File 2243 is one of the bills designed to address “deep-fake” porn, in this case using AI to make it appear that a minor is participating in a sex act;
House File 2318 increases penalties for bestiality and tightens up the legal definition of such crimes;
Speaking of crime, Dennis and I circled back to a story we didn’t have time to get to last week: the incredibly light sentence given to Kim Taylor, who was convicted earlier this year on 52 counts of voter fraud and related offenses. Taylor solicited dozens of fraudulent votes in 2020, trying to help her husband (Woodbury County Supervisor Jeremy Taylor) win the GOP primary for Congress.
Thanks for reading or listening! Dennis and I will have much more legislative news to share next Monday.
P.S.—We ran out of time to discuss this on the show, but at Bleeding Heartland I wrote about the governor’s new $900,000 competitive grant program to expand summer meal sites for kids. Kim Reynolds wants you to believe this is as good as (or better than) the $29 million in federal funds she turned down, which would have helped an estimated 240,000 children who qualify for free or reduced-price school lunches.