Sherman for governor, legislative action, Iowa challenges anti-discrimination law
Feb. 17 edition of "KHOI's Capitol Week"
My goal is to send out the recap from Monday night’s radio show on Tuesday morning. But today I was at the capitol early, and things never let up. State Auditor Rob Sand and Governor Kim Reynolds both held press conferences in the morning, and I attended or listened in on two Iowa legislative committee meetings and seven subcommittee meetings.
The audio file from Monday night’s show 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.
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by and , by , and the , a group effort led by (I’ll be one of the regulars, and Spencer will produce).Here’s what
and I discussed on our latest program:Brad Sherman makes it official
On Monday morning, former State Representative Brad Sherman announced he will seek the Republican nomination for governor in 2026. His plans were one of the worst-kept secrets in Iowa politics. We talked about his background and previous political activism.
Sherman’s campaign press release indicated that he’ll focus on a “platform of defending Iowans’ rights against eminent domain abuse, encouraging fiscal responsibility, promoting family values, and returning government to the foundational principles that made America great.”
Sherman also said in that announcement, “I look forward to working with President Trump—who I endorsed early and supported in rallies, caucuses, conventions, and elections—in his agenda to restore the America we love.” It was a not-subtle dig at Governor Kim Reynolds, who campaigned for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis before the Iowa caucuses.
We talked about Sherman’s prospects to win the GOP nomination. Last month, I wrote in more detail about the four constituencies that could be important sources of support for Sherman, assuming he ends up competing against Reynolds next year.
While it’s extremely unlikely Sherman could beat Reynolds, he could do real damage to her campaign by forcing her to spend a lot of money to shore up her right flank in the primary. That could put her at a financial disadvantage compared to the likely Democratic nominee, Rob Sand.
Previewing the special election in House district 100
Last week, both parties selected their candidates for the March 11 special election in Iowa House district 100. The winner will succeed Republican State Representative Martin Graber, who passed away unexpectedly in January.
I wrote more at Bleeding Heartland about Democratic nominee Nannette Griffin, a longtime business owner in Fort Madison, and Republican nominee Blaine Watkins, a legislative clerk who just graduated from college in December.
The fundamentals of this district favor Republicans. But as we just saw in Iowa Senate district 35, anything can happen in a low-turnout special election. Democrats are running the same playbook in House district 100 and touting Griffin’s ties to the community and life experience. They are characterizing Watkins as a “bought and paid for GOP pawn” who “will do whatever they want, no questions asked.”
Meanwhile, the Republican nominee is focusing on direct voter contacts, with help from outside groups like Americans for Prosperity, and promising to work on property taxes, school choice, and economic growth.
News from the Golden Dome
We spent about half of the program on legislative coverage. Last week Republicans in the Iowa House and Senate approved versions of a K-12 school funding bill (Senate File 167). We talked about the differences in the GOP plans, and the contrast offered by Democrats, who want to increase per-pupil state funding by more than double the rate Republicans have put on the table.
There was bipartisan opposition in both chambers to the GOP funding plan: three Republican senators and five Republican representatives joined all Democrats present to oppose the bill (roll calls are here and here).
We touched on several other education-related bills:
Republicans on a House subcommittee approved House Study Bill 84, which would extend the ban on teaching about gender identity or sexual orientation (which currently applies to grades K-6) to grades 7-12.
The House and Senate Education committees have both advanced versions of the “Baby Olivia” bill, which would require schools to show fetal development videos (Senate File 175 and House File 371). It’s controversial because the model video, produced by an anti-abortion group, is full of medical inaccuracies. We’ll be talking about this again on next week’s show, because the full Senate approved the bill on February 18.
Education committees in both chambers have advanced bills that would change the definition of prohibited “grooming behavior” by school staff (House File 167 and Senate File 273).
Iowa Senate Education Committee chair Lynn Evans, a former public school district superintendent, is working on a bill to fix some issues that arose from last year’s legislation on chronic absenteeism. (Senate File 277)
A House subcommittee advanced Governor Reynolds’ proposal to ban cell phones during instructional time. (House Study Bill 106) I forgot to mention that the companion bill is through the Senate Education Committee.
House Education Committee chair Skyler Wheeler shelved his bill that would require teachers to refer to the “Gulf of America” instead of the “Gulf of Mexico.” He doesn’t think the legislation is necessary now that leading apps have changed the designation.
The Iowa House Higher Education Committee was busy last week. Republicans brought in a guest speaker to make the case for creating a “School of Intellectual Freedom,” which will platform conservative views on politics and economics. GOP members of the committee advanced the bill that outlines what this school will do (House File 437).
Republicans moved several other higher education bills through subcommittees last week:
House Study Bill 60 would ban private colleges that participate in Iowa’s tuition grant program from establishing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) offices;
House Study Bill 62 would allocate at least half of Iowa tuition grant funds to students “pursuing majors leading to high-wage and high-demand jobs”;
House File 154 would provide free tuition and a $5,000 stipend per semester at Regents universities for students who got a perfect 36 on the ACT or 1600 on the SAT exams.
Other legislative action
Before debating school funding last Thursday, the Iowa House approved a resolution expressing the chamber’s support for the state of Israel (House Resolution 3). We talked about the amendments offered by Democrats, which both failed along party lines. I was surprised that the final vote was so lopsided: 76 to 10. All the no votes came from Democrats; click here to view the roll call.
In the public safety area, committees in both chambers have approved versions of a hands-free driving bill (Senate File 22 and House Study Bill 64). Meanwhile, Republicans on a Senate subcommittee advanced a bill last week that would raise the speed limit on some roads from 55 mph to 60 (Senate File 73). Representatives of law enforcement spoke against that proposal, saying it would lead to more crashes and serious injuries.
State Representative Charley Thomson chaired three subcommittees last Thursday to advance bills inspired by the controversy over Summit Carbon Solutions’ CO2 pipeline. House File 242 is similar to a bill the Iowa House approved last year, which would allow landowners to go to court earlier to find out whether a project qualifies for eminent domain. House File 238 would stipulate that permits for a CO2 pipeline could be issued for a maximum of 25 years, with no option to renew. (Current law allows such permits to be renewed.)
Thomson’s third bill, House File 239, would re-establish some of the independence the state’s Office of Consumer Advocate lost as part of the 2023 state government reorganization. (Thomson was one of the House Republicans who did not vote for that bill two years ago.)
I expect the Iowa House to approve several of these pipeline-related bills, but I haven’t seen any sign of a changed dynamic in the Iowa Senate. So I assume all of this legislation would die in the Senate Commerce Committee.
Some good news on the openness and freedom of expression front: last week the Senate Judiciary Committee approved an anti-SLAPP bill (Senate File 47), designed to help defendants fight frivolous lawsuits grounded in their The companion bill (House Study Bill 116) is through subcommittee and will clear the full House Judiciary Committee this week.
A pair of bills proposed by the Iowa Public Information Board are moving forward. One would extend the time frame for filing a complaint over an open records or open meetings violation from 60 days to 90 days. The other would require government bodies to promptly acknowledge public records requests and let the requester know approximately how long it will take and how much it will cost to fulfill the request.
Last legislative story for this week: the Iowa Senate unanimously approved a ban on ticket bot purchases (Senate File 146). Yes, there were some Taylor Swift references during the floor debate.
News from Washington, DC
We didn’t spend much time on federal government news, but I wanted to flag a few stories. The U.S. Senate confirmed Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. as Health and Human Services secretary, and Brooke Rollins as secretary of agriculture. On a party-line vote, the Senate Judiciary Committee advanced Kash Patel’s nomination for FBI director.
The Trump administration and Elon Musk’s DOGE have fired or placed on leave thousands of federal employees. I haven’t seen any details on how many Iowans were affected. I have heard some anecdotes about VA or USDA employees—please reach out if you have details. Brian Gibbs wrote a Facebook post that went viral after he lost his dream job as a park ranger at Effigy Mounds in northeast Iowa.
Iowa Capital Dispatch reported, “With uncertainty abounding when it comes to National Institutes of Health grant funding and possible changes to its policies, the University of Iowa could potentially see a loss of more than $33.5 million in its research projects.”
Iowa asks court to strike down 1973 anti-discrimination law
We had a few minutes to talk about my exclusive reporting about a federal lawsuit Iowa joined last September. I explained the background on Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, which has outlawed discrimination on the basis of disability since 1973.
Attorney General Brenna Bird normally likes to brag about suing the Biden administration, but her office didn’t announce this lawsuit. Seventeen Republican-led states are challenging a U.S. Health and Human Services Department rule that spells out many forms of illegal discrimination against disabled people in health care settings. But the plaintiffs are asking for more: they want the court to declare Section 504 unconstitutional because of how it restricts the way states can use federal funds.
Bird refuses to admit that her office is trying to make Section 504 unenforceable. She (falsely) claims the case is about transgender people. You can read much more about her dishonesty in my post from Sunday morning.
We had just a couple of minutes to talk about a federal court hearing which I attended earlier this month in Des Moines. U.S. District Court Judge Stephen Locher is considering two lawsuits seeking to invalidate parts of Iowa’s 2023 law known as Senate File 496. One set of plaintiffs, led by the major publisher Penguin Random House, are just trying to block the school book ban (which applies to grades K-12). The other set of plaintiffs are LGBTQ students and the advocacy group Iowa Safe Schools; they are challenging the book ban, the “don’t say gay/trans” teaching restrictions for grades K-6, and a provision requiring schools to inform parents or guardians if students request an accommodation related to their gender identity.
Spencer and I will discuss this case more after Judge Locher issues his ruling, which should appear in March if not later this month.
Thanks so much for reading or listening!