Trump's indictment and a whole lot of Iowa legislative news

April 3 "Capitol Week" is online

Apr 04, 2023

Dennis Hart and I are ready for things to slow down at the Iowa statehouse. Every week we have more material than we can manage. Donald Trump’s indictment on the last day of committee meetings before the legislature’s second “funnel” deadline was quite the curveball as well.

Although Dennis and I cover a lot of ground in every 30-minute show, there are lots of Iowa political stories we don’t have time to discuss. Just within the past week at Bleeding Heartland, I’ve published an analysis of one strange provision in the governor’s education bill, a post by Pam Mackey Taylor about a troubling Iowa Senate tax proposal, and my first take on the news that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee put two Iowa districts on its list of U.S. House targets.

If you don’t want to miss any articles or commentaries published on my other website, sign up for the free Evening Heartland newsletter, which goes out by email a couple of times a week.

On to the latest edition of “Capitol Week.” Remember, you can find all of our past shows (going back to February 2021) on KHOI’s website.

1×

0:00

-30:03

Feel free to share this post with anyone who might enjoy KHOI’s show about Iowa politics.

Dennis and I spent most of Monday night’s show talking about the legislative session, but we briefly touched on some other topics too:

We had to acknowledge the Iowa Hawkeyes’ incredible run at the NCAA women’s basketball tournament. If you’re looking for some entertaining reads about that team, check out this post by Jane Burns (“The state's long basketball tradition lives on in the Hawkeye coaches and what they teach their players”) or Chuck Offenburger’s thoughts on “A new high point for women’s sports in Iowa”;
Iowa GOP reaction to Donald Trump’s indictment followed the same script we’ve heard from Republicans around the country; remember that we don’t know what he’s been charged with or whether all of the criminal counts are directly related to the payoff to Stormy Daniels;
The newest Republican presidential candidate, former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, tried to carve out a different niche from the other contenders, who uniformly condemned the prosecution of Trump
CNN’s new national poll indicated that 60 percent of respondents approved of Trump’s indictment;
What bills are still alive at the Iowa legislature, including Governor Kim Reynolds’ wide-ranging education bill (Senate File 496); Republicans on the House Education Committee adopted a big amendment last Thursday;
Senate File 228 would cap non-economic damages in lawsuits related to commercial vehicle crashes; the big question is whether Senate Republicans will accept the House-approved version, which is somewhat less favorable to trucking companies;
House File 595 would enhance penalties for some crimes related to fentanyl;
Senate File 84 would increase penalties for some crimes related to sexual exploitation of a minor;
Senate File 547 would require drivers to keep their cell phones in hands-free or voice-activated mode (the existing ban on texting while driving is hard to enforce);
Senate File 543 would allow firearms to be stored in parked cars outside businesses or schools;
Senate File 326 would allow pharmacists to dispense hormonal birth control without the user getting a doctor’s prescription (House and Senate Republicans don’t entirely agree on the language);
House File 265 would license certified professional midwives in Iowa (Bleeding Heartland guest authors Bethany Gates and Rachel Bruns provided more background on this proposal);
The controversial proposal to relax child labor rules, known as House File 647 and Senate File 542, hasn’t been approved by the full House or Senate, but remains alive on the “unfinished business” calendar;
One of the most cruel bills to be considered this year, Senate File 494, would establish asset tests and other requirements that would kick thousands of Iowans off Medicaid and federal food assistance;
Senate File 478 would limit the authority of the state auditor; Republicans on the House State Government Committee have proposed a significant amendment to address concerns raised by groups representing auditors and CPAs, as well as the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency;
House File 526 would limit social media accounts for Iowans under age 18 (I anticipate this will be amended to require parental consent);
House File 577 would prohibit blackouts of Major League Baseball games, which doesn’t seem to be in the purview of the Iowa legislature;
Now on to the bills that are “dead” for this year—but remember, House and Senate leaders can resurrect anything regardless of the legislative calendar! The big one was House File 565, the effort to restrict eminent domain for carbon dioxide pipelines;
Several criminal justice-related bills (such as Senate File 525) died when House Judiciary Committee chair Steven Holt cancelled a meeting scheduled for March 30; at the statehouse, some viewed the move as retribution for the Senate burying the eminent domain bill (which Holt floor-managed);
Senate File 516 was a controversial proposal related to public lands; it was on the agenda for last Thursday’s House State Government Committee meeting, but didn’t come up (I wrote more about this at Bleeding Heartland);
The latest attempt to reinstate the death penalty never came up for an Iowa Senate vote; I had more to say about this legislation at Bleeding Heartland too;
House File 159 would prohibit criminal defendants from saying the victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity was a mitigating factor; this is the third time the Iowa House has overwhelmingly approved a ban on the “gay/trans panic defense,” only to see the measure die in the Senate Judiciary Committee;
We briefly touched on a few other bills that never even got a subcommittee hearing: the Democratic proposal to legalize marijuana (House File 442), the Republican efforts to ban all abortions (House File 510), abortion-inducing medications (House File 146), and same-sex marriage (House Joint Resolution 8);
House File 73, which would teach firearms safety in schools, got through a subcommittee but went nowhere after that;
The Iowa Board of Regents seems to have put House Republicans off pursuing House File 616, which would prohibit state universities from spending money on diversity, equity, and inclusion programs;
Dennis and I touched on some of the big bills that have already become law: the governor’s school voucher bill, the massive state government reorganization (Reynolds will sign that on April 4), limits on medical malpractice lawsuit damages, a ban on gender-affirming care for Iowans under age 18, the “bathroom bill” targeting transgender Iowans in schools, a licensing process for rural emergency hospitals;
I wanted to alert listeners to a bizarre Senate Appropriations Committee meeting on April 3, where Republicans advanced four bills that don’t specify any dollar amounts or full-time equivalent positions funded (Robin Opsahl covered this for Iowa Capital Dispatch);
Prospects for the legislative session to end on April 28, the target date for leadership;
I briefly explained the blockbuster Iowa Supreme Court ruling that enjoined a provision of a 2020 budget bill, because of state constitutional provisions on logrolling and bill titles.