News from the Iowa legislature and a "Capitol Week" anniversary

Audio and recap from our Jan. 30 show

Jan 31, 2023

It’s a special week for Dennis Hart and me. On February 1, 2021, we recorded our first episode of “Capitol Week” on KHOI Community Radio. So this week’s show—our 105th—marks the beginning of our third year on the radio. When we launched, we weren’t sure whether the station would continue the program beyond the 2021 legislative session.

Dennis and I have a great time working together and are able to pack a lot of Iowa political reporting and analysis into each 30-minute show. (The full archive is available on KHOI’s website.)

If you have the capacity to give, please consider donating to KHOI. They run the station on a shoestring budget, mostly using volunteers, and broadcast a diverse mix of talk and music programming.

Back to our weekly “Capitol Week” recap. Here’s the audio for the January 30 show:

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Topics Dennis and I covered:

Only three weeks into the legislature’s 2023 session, the biggest story of the year may already have happened. We spent the first several minutes discussing the school voucher bill, which received final approval in the Iowa House and Senate last Monday night. At Bleeding Heartland, I had more to say about each of the twelve Republicans who defied Governor Kim Reynolds and voted against the bill;
How Reynolds was able to persuade some Republicans from rural areas who had opposed previous versions of a school voucher plan;
A brief explanation of how this “school choice” plan will roll out and how much it will cost (you can read the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency’s fiscal note here);
How the school voucher plan may affect public K-12 districts differently, depending on whether private schools exist in their area;
Some key points opponents raised during the Iowa House and Senate debates over the voucher bill;
Early moves on “tort reform” bills, which would limit damages in medical malpractice lawsuits and liability for trucking companies (as with the voucher bill, passage in the Iowa Senate is assured, but it’s not clear there are 51 votes for these bills in the House);
A bill that would support small rural hospitals (Tom Barton covered this in more detail for the Cedar Rapids Gazette);
The House bill that would limit eligibility for federal food assistance (SNAP benefits) and Medicaid programs. This one has received national attention due to its restrictions on the kind of food Iowa recipients could buy with SNAP funds, but the main purpose of the bill is to have fewer Iowans qualify for these programs, period (the Iowa Hunger Coalition has more information about that);
The status of the Senate bill that would repeal the gender balance requirement for most Iowa boards and commissions;
A proposed state constitutional amendment that would establish a procedure for recalling Iowa elected officials;
Last week’s effort by Dave Nagle and David Oman to save the Iowa Democratic caucuses as the Democratic National Committee is set to finalize its presidential nominating calendar;
The Iowa Democratic Party selecting a new state chair, Rita Hart, and the massive challenges she faces (I had more to say about that at Bleeding Heartland);
Rita Hart’s plan for rebuilding the party, and how she will approach fundraising and organizing (you can read the 11-page plan she submitted to the party’s governing body here);
The new “steering committee” that will handle many operational decisions for the Iowa Democratic Party;
Hart’s prospects for turning things around;
What I’m watching for the rest of this week at the Iowa legislature.