More voter suppression from the Iowa GQP:
Iowa lawmakers advanced a pair of bills Monday that would make a raft of changes to elections, including banning ranked choice voting, standardizing training and limiting ballot eligibility challenges for federal candidates.
The bill with the more significant changes of the two, Senate Study Bill 3161, would do the following:
The bill was passed out of a Senate subcommittee on Monday by the two Republican members. Democratic Sen. Janice Weiner, of Iowa City, did not vote to advance the bill.
Sen. Jason Schultz, R-Schleswig, the chair of the Senate State Government Committee and sponsor of the two bills, said the bill was a “settling of our election procedures” and intended to instill trust in Iowa’s election process.
“We think we’ve gotten 80, 90 percent of the way there,” he said. “Iowa’s elections are rated among the top five in the country as far as reliability and integrity, and we plan on keeping that.”
The limit on eligibility challenges would make it impossible for individuals to lodge challenges to former President Donald Trump’s place on the election ballot on the grounds that he incited an insurrection, as groups in other states have done.
The Colorado Supreme Court ruled Trump ineligible to be on the state’s primary ballot because of such a challenge. The U.S. Supreme Court will decide on an appeal to that decision. The justices heard oral arguments on the case last week.
Schultz said the provision is to ensure that there are no similar ballot challenges in Iowa.
A separate bill, Senate Study Bill 3165, would require election workers to be trained before each election, rather than only primary and general elections. It would also direct the Secretary of State to adopt statewide rules for election worker training.
In the case of a recount, the bill would also require a recount board to include a report of its findings, including a full tally of ballots reviewed by the board.
Iowa lawmakers advanced a bill that would require Iowa's five biggest counties to elect their board of supervisors by voters in geographic districts rather than by the county at large.
Currently, Iowa counties use one of three representation plans for the board of supervisors. Voters can bring a petition for a ballot measure in order to change the plan:
Senate File 2283 would require that counties with a population of more than 125,000 use plan three. The rule would affect Polk, Linn, Scott, Johnson and Black Hawk counties. Polk and Linn counties already use plan three, while the other counties use plan one.
Lucas Beenken, a lobbyist for state associations representing counties and county supervisors, said counties are opposed to the bill and they would prefer the representation plan to be decided by the voters.
But rural residents of large counties like Black Hawk and Johnson said that they do not have proper representation on those boards, where members largely live in urban centers.
The bill advanced out of a Senate subcommittee by two Republican members, while the Democratic member did not vote to advance the bill.
City library officials and supporters from across Iowa again descended upon the Iowa Capitol to express opposition to legislation that would change library staffing and funding operations.
The latest proposal is more narrowly focused than previous bills that have been considered by state lawmakers this session. Senate Study Bill 3168 would allow a city council to change and oversee the process of hiring a library director and determine how to use some library funds without a public referendum.
That proposal is different from other bills, which also would give city councils the authority to change even more library operations — including book selection — without a public vote.
The two Republicans on the subcommittee panel for Senate Study Bill 3168, Sens. Jesse Green, of Boone, and Mike Klimesh, of Spillville, signed off on advancing it to the full Senate Local Government Committee. Sen. Janice Weiner, of Iowa City, declined to sign off on the bill.
Green said this proposal was introduced to ensure city council members have more input into the hiring of library directors. Library officials and advocates said while they appreciated that this bill is more limited in scope than others introduced this session, they fear it will nonetheless open the door to partisan political intrusion on library operations.
All assets seized by law enforcement officers would be a part of the criminal forfeiture process, and would be returned to the individual unless that person is convicted, under legislation being considered by state lawmakers.
House Study Bill 634 is model legislation from the conservative, Libertarian-minded Institute for Justice. The organization said such policy is needed to better balance the rights of Iowa property owners with law enforcement’s ability to seize property during investigations.
The Iowa County Attorneys Association expressed strong opposition to the proposal.
The two Republicans on the subcommittee panel, Reps. Phil Thompson, of Boone, and Bill Gustoff, of Des Moines, signed off on advancing the proposal to the full House Public Safety Committee.
Pesticide manufacturers could not be sued for failing to alert people of potential health risks if the product has a federally-approved warning label under legislation advanced by Iowa Senate Republicans on Monday.
Senate Study Bill 3163 was proposed by Bayer, a pharmaceutical and chemical company that produces Roundup, a herbicide with the main ingredient glyphosate that is commonly used by growers of corn and soybeans, Iowa’s most abundant crops.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has determined that glyphosate products used according to label directions do not result in health risks.
During the hearing, agriculture and business groups supported the proposed legislation, while individual Iowa farmers spoke in opposition.
Republican Sens. Jeff Edler, of State Center, and Mark Costello, of Imogene — both farmers — signed off on advancing the bill to the full Senate Agriculture Committee, while Democratic Sen. Bill Dotzler, of Waterloo, declined to support it.
www.thegazette.com
Iowa lawmakers advanced a pair of bills Monday that would make a raft of changes to elections, including banning ranked choice voting, standardizing training and limiting ballot eligibility challenges for federal candidates.
The bill with the more significant changes of the two, Senate Study Bill 3161, would do the following:
- Limit challenges of petitions of federal candidates to the legal sufficiency of the petition, or the residency, age or citizenship requirements of the candidate.
- Create a pilot program for a third party to maintain Iowa’s voter database.
- Ban ranked choice voting.
- Ban the use of ballot drop boxes in the state.
- Require that absentee ballots be received by a county auditor’s office the day before the election, and allow the auditor to begin mailing absentee ballots two days earlier.
The bill was passed out of a Senate subcommittee on Monday by the two Republican members. Democratic Sen. Janice Weiner, of Iowa City, did not vote to advance the bill.
Sen. Jason Schultz, R-Schleswig, the chair of the Senate State Government Committee and sponsor of the two bills, said the bill was a “settling of our election procedures” and intended to instill trust in Iowa’s election process.
“We think we’ve gotten 80, 90 percent of the way there,” he said. “Iowa’s elections are rated among the top five in the country as far as reliability and integrity, and we plan on keeping that.”
The limit on eligibility challenges would make it impossible for individuals to lodge challenges to former President Donald Trump’s place on the election ballot on the grounds that he incited an insurrection, as groups in other states have done.
The Colorado Supreme Court ruled Trump ineligible to be on the state’s primary ballot because of such a challenge. The U.S. Supreme Court will decide on an appeal to that decision. The justices heard oral arguments on the case last week.
Schultz said the provision is to ensure that there are no similar ballot challenges in Iowa.
A separate bill, Senate Study Bill 3165, would require election workers to be trained before each election, rather than only primary and general elections. It would also direct the Secretary of State to adopt statewide rules for election worker training.
In the case of a recount, the bill would also require a recount board to include a report of its findings, including a full tally of ballots reviewed by the board.
Bill would require district-level election of supervisors in large counties
Iowa lawmakers advanced a bill that would require Iowa's five biggest counties to elect their board of supervisors by voters in geographic districts rather than by the county at large.
Currently, Iowa counties use one of three representation plans for the board of supervisors. Voters can bring a petition for a ballot measure in order to change the plan:
- Plan one: each supervisor is elected at large with no district requirements;
- Plan two: the county is split into equal-population districts, and representatives from those districts are elected by voters in the whole county;
- Plan three: the county is split into equal-population districts, and representatives from those districts are elected by voters in the districts.
Senate File 2283 would require that counties with a population of more than 125,000 use plan three. The rule would affect Polk, Linn, Scott, Johnson and Black Hawk counties. Polk and Linn counties already use plan three, while the other counties use plan one.
Lucas Beenken, a lobbyist for state associations representing counties and county supervisors, said counties are opposed to the bill and they would prefer the representation plan to be decided by the voters.
But rural residents of large counties like Black Hawk and Johnson said that they do not have proper representation on those boards, where members largely live in urban centers.
The bill advanced out of a Senate subcommittee by two Republican members, while the Democratic member did not vote to advance the bill.
Library supporters oppose bill
City library officials and supporters from across Iowa again descended upon the Iowa Capitol to express opposition to legislation that would change library staffing and funding operations.
The latest proposal is more narrowly focused than previous bills that have been considered by state lawmakers this session. Senate Study Bill 3168 would allow a city council to change and oversee the process of hiring a library director and determine how to use some library funds without a public referendum.
That proposal is different from other bills, which also would give city councils the authority to change even more library operations — including book selection — without a public vote.
The two Republicans on the subcommittee panel for Senate Study Bill 3168, Sens. Jesse Green, of Boone, and Mike Klimesh, of Spillville, signed off on advancing it to the full Senate Local Government Committee. Sen. Janice Weiner, of Iowa City, declined to sign off on the bill.
Green said this proposal was introduced to ensure city council members have more input into the hiring of library directors. Library officials and advocates said while they appreciated that this bill is more limited in scope than others introduced this session, they fear it will nonetheless open the door to partisan political intrusion on library operations.
Asset forfeiture would require criminal conviction under bill
All assets seized by law enforcement officers would be a part of the criminal forfeiture process, and would be returned to the individual unless that person is convicted, under legislation being considered by state lawmakers.
House Study Bill 634 is model legislation from the conservative, Libertarian-minded Institute for Justice. The organization said such policy is needed to better balance the rights of Iowa property owners with law enforcement’s ability to seize property during investigations.
The Iowa County Attorneys Association expressed strong opposition to the proposal.
The two Republicans on the subcommittee panel, Reps. Phil Thompson, of Boone, and Bill Gustoff, of Des Moines, signed off on advancing the proposal to the full House Public Safety Committee.
Added legal protections for pesticide manufacturers
Pesticide manufacturers could not be sued for failing to alert people of potential health risks if the product has a federally-approved warning label under legislation advanced by Iowa Senate Republicans on Monday.
Senate Study Bill 3163 was proposed by Bayer, a pharmaceutical and chemical company that produces Roundup, a herbicide with the main ingredient glyphosate that is commonly used by growers of corn and soybeans, Iowa’s most abundant crops.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has determined that glyphosate products used according to label directions do not result in health risks.
During the hearing, agriculture and business groups supported the proposed legislation, while individual Iowa farmers spoke in opposition.
Republican Sens. Jeff Edler, of State Center, and Mark Costello, of Imogene — both farmers — signed off on advancing the bill to the full Senate Agriculture Committee, while Democratic Sen. Bill Dotzler, of Waterloo, declined to support it.
Capitol Notebook: Iowa elections bill would ban ranked choice voting, add absentee rules
Also, lawmakers advance a bill that would require district-level elections of supervisors in large counties
www.thegazette.com
