Second funnel week extravaganza on KHOI Radio
March 18 "Capitol Week" is online
I spent most of Monday afternoon in the public gallery above the Iowa Senate chamber, rather than at my desk on the Iowa House press bench. Nearly two weeks after senators were expected to debate their version of a bill on Area Education Agencies, GOP leaders finally brought the bill to the floor. To no one’s surprise, they didn’t heed the warnings more than 30 Iowa superintendents emailed to all 150 legislators on Sunday evening.
Dennis Hart and I didn’t need another item to add to the program, which was already going to be packed due to the legislature’s second “funnel” deadline on March 15.
At Bleeding Heartland, I published two analytical pieces covering the state of play for each item on Governor Kim Reynolds’ legislative agenda, and the major disagreements between House and Senate Republicans, who killed a lot of each other’s bills last week.
Dennis and I organized our show in a more traditional mode: what’s alive due to legislative action, what’s alive because it is on the “unfinished business” calendar, and what’s dead (in theory). Remember, if you mainly enjoy listening to the show and don’t need to read the bullet points enclosed below, you can subscribe to “KHOI’s Capitol Week” through your favorite podcast platform, such as Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or Amazon Music.
To sample our back catalog, KHOI’s website has the full “Capitol Week” archive going back to 2021.
Here’s the audio from our March 18 show.
Here we go:
We began with Monday afternoon’s Senate debate over the AEA bill. I explained the most important changes senators made to House File 2612 before sending the bill back to the lower chamber. I want to emphasize how unusual it is to have six GOP senators voting against anything leadership wants. That level of dissent is less rare in the House caucus;
The Senate bill includes provisions to increase teacher pay, as Reynolds did with her initial AEA plan. House Republicans separated those issues and approved a bill with more generous raises for teachers and school support staff;
I doubt there are 51 votes in the House for the Senate’s AEA bill, but negotiations will be intense in the coming weeks, and some other legislation may be pulled into the horse trading. House Speaker Pat Grassley and Senate Majority Leader Jack Whitver indicated last week they are determined to do something on AEAs before the legislature adjourns for the year;
On to the list of bills still alive. One would set state funding for K-12 school districts for the coming school year. By law, the legislature should have enacted a school funding bill more than a month ago. House Republicans have approved a 3 percent per pupil increase, while Senate Republicans have not advanced a bill with a specific funding level;
Voting along party lines, the Senate Education Committee did advance House File 2617, which would require schools to show a fetal development video to students in grades 7-12. Republicans amended the bill to remove a specific reference to the “Meet Baby Olivia” video created by an anti-abortion group;
House File 2487 establishes new reporting requirements for school districts if an employee has been disciplined for “grooming” behavior;
We covered this one out of order: House File 2618 would change elementary school literacy standards to incorporate the “science of reading” approach favored by Governor Reynolds. The bill is still alive, but not the the usual way (passage by one chamber and a committee in the other chamber). Rather, this one is on the “unfinished business” calendar, from which leaders can bring it to the floor at any time;
House File 2553 would require public schools to let private school students participate in extracurricular activities not offered at their own school. When the Senate Education Committee considered this bill, Republicans rejected a Democratic amendment that would have forced private schools to accommodate public school students in the same way;
One of the most controversial bills still moving is House File 2586, which would make it easier for school districts to authorize teachers and staff to carry firearms at school;
The Senate State Government Committee advanced House File 2319, which would prohibit local governments from offering guaranteed income programs that have no work requirements or limits on how recipients can spend the money. The bill was inspired by a pilot program in Polk County;
The governor’s plan to reorganize mental health and substance abuse services is still moving (companion bills House File 2509 and Senate File 2354). Marissa Payne and Erin Murphy summarized its key points for the Cedar Rapids Gazette, and Michaela Ramm and Galen Bacharier wrote an explainer for the Des Moines Register;
The House Agriculture Committee advanced Senate File 2391, a food labeling bill addressing meat substitutes. It appears that House Republicans intend to add back in some far-reaching provisions the Senate removed during floor debate, which would ban state universities from conducting certain kinds of research;
On to the “unfinished business” calendar, where House or Senate leaders can park policy bills that would otherwise have not made it through the funnel. Dennis and I didn’t have time to discuss them all, but we wanted to flag a few major proposals. One is the big election bill (House File 2610) containing more restrictions on early voting and ensuring that a candidate for federal office can’t be kept off the ballot due to a felony conviction;
House and Senate Republicans are still far apart on the governor’s proposal to cull numerous state boards and commissions. Senate File 2385 sticks more closely to Reynolds’ plan, whereas House File 2574 would spare about 60 boards that would be axed under the Senate bill;
The House Human Resource Committee didn’t advance Senate File 2251, the governor’s plan to extend postpartum Medicaid coverage for some Iowans while excluding others from coverage. Grassley indicated House Republicans may be willing to include this idea in the health and human services budget;
A complicated bill on electric transmission lines (House File 2551 and Senate File 2372) would reenact a law the Iowa Supreme Court enjoined last year;
The House-approved bill regulating hemp consumables (most notably “Climbing Kites” beverages) is on unfinished business after the Senate didn’t act on House File 2605;
Leaders haven’t entirely given up on a bill that would combine two contentious ideas: restricting drivers’ use of cell phones, and banning local governments’ use of traffic cameras (Senate File 2337 and House File 2595);
Moving to bills that didn’t make it through the funnel: House File 2575 would enhance criminal penalties for non-consensual termination of a pregnancy, changing the wording throughout the statute to say “causes the death of an unborn person.” The bill died in the Senate Judiciary Committee out of concerns it would imperil IVF—even though Senate Republicans passed a nearly identical bill five years ago;
Governor Reynolds won’t get to sign House File 2389, her latest attempt to discriminate against transgender Iowans;
House leaders have shelved House File 2584, the governor’s proposal to allow pharmacists to dispense hormonal birth control without a prescription. Grassley told reporters there was no “consensus” in his caucus on the issue. He didn’t mention that the bill could easily get through the House with votes from Democrats and Republicans;
House leaders made no effort to save a bill they pulled earlier in the month in the middle of floor debate. I wrote about House File 2363, which would require some fathers to pay for pregnancy and birth-related expenses, near the end of this Bleeding Heartland post;
I was surprised the House State Government Committee didn’t take up Senate File 2311, the latest GOP attempt to undermine State Auditor Rob Sand;
Quite a few education-related bills died, including House File 2320 (to prohibit undocumented immigrants from receiving in-state tuition at state universities and community colleges), House File 2558 including many provisions on higher education, and House File 2548 on banning gender-neutral terms when teaching foreign languages that have a gender structure;
I’m not convinced this one is really dead, but the Senate Judiciary Committee did not advance House File 2608, which would create a new crime of “smuggling” undocumented immigrants;
On the flip side, the House did not move Senate File 2340, making it a crime for people denied entry to the U.S. to enter Iowa. Democrats had said the bill was an unconstitutional attempt for the state to regulate immigration, a federal issue CORRECTION: This bill was actually on “unfinished business” and the Iowa House approved it on March 19;
Republicans on the House Labor and Workforce Committee also killed the Senate-approved bill (Senate File 108) requiring employers to use the E-Verify system to confirm employees were legally in the country. Business lobby groups strongly opposed this bill;
State Senator Jason Schultz didn’t convene a subcommittee on House File 2482, which received unanimous approval from House members who wanted to expand cancer coverage for firefighters;
House File 2549, prohibiting the use of artificial intelligence in election materials, also met its demise in the Senate State Government Committee;
Senate File 2106, which would have codified current job search requirements for Iowans receiving unemployment benefits, did not advance in the House;
The House never debated House File 2309, which would have made jail booking photos confidential records in most circumstances;
Although the Senate didn’t advance two House-approved bills related to nursing home inspections (House File 2585) and salary caps for traveling nurses (House File 2391), Grassley told reporters the House still hopes to do something related to nursing homes this year;
The labor community was relieved to see no floor action on Senate File 2374, which would have made it more difficult for public sector unions to recertify their bargaining units;
Of interest to communities like Ames, which are located near U.S. Highway 30: the Senate Transportation Committee didn’t advance House File 2569, which would instruct the state Transportation Commission to prioritize widening that highway;
We briefly touched on some important bills both chambers have already approved, which are waiting for Reynolds to sign: the so-called “religious freedom” bill that would make it easier to discriminate against certain people; the repeal of the gender-balance requirement for state boards and commissions; enhancing criminal penalties for “swatting” calls; and a new bill on bestiality;
Also in the legislature last week, the Iowa House Ethics Committee unanimously dismissed an ethics complaint against Republican State Representative Dean Fisher. He is trying to start a private school in his district after voting for the governor’s school voucher plan last year;
The state’s Revenue Estimating Conference met on Friday to project revenues for the next two fiscal years. The numbers could affect the budget targets GOP lawmakers use to draft appropriations bills for fiscal year 2025;
Last point: all four Iowans in the U.S. House voted for a bill that would force the popular app TikTok to get a new owner or be banned in the U.S.
Whew! I think that may be a record number of topics for one episode of “Capitol Week.” Thank you for reading or listening.
Again, thank you for your exhaustive summary of an exhaustive list of legislative actions. It makes me wish we could go back to years ago when the Iowa legislature met only every other year: 50% less time for damaging legislation!
Thanks for the update. I've often wondered about Iowa’s GOP effort to reduce the number of state employees, including publIc school teachers.the Would the AEA re-do give $ directly to schools, with a GOP hope the schools will hire from the "private sector"? It may be the same people, but off the direct public payroll. Public employees organize, fund raise, lobby, campaign, and vote against the GOP. I know Bransted used to brag about reducing the number of public employees. How much is that affecting this legislative session?