With a second key deadline looming at week’s end in the Iowa Legislature, there remain many significant proposals with work still to do in just a few days if they are to remain available for further consideration in this year’s session.
Defining “man” and “woman” in state law; helping schools arm teachers and other staff; creating legal penalties for causing a pregnancy to end, which could also impact fertility treatments — these are among high-profile proposals needing at least a little more legislative approval if they are to remain on the track to become law this year.
Even the one issue that has dominated the 2024 session like no other — Gov. Kim Reynolds’ proposal to overhaul the way the state’s nine area education agencies are operated and funded — still needs legislative attention by the end of this week.
All of these proposals and hundreds more face the second legislative deadline of the 2024 session: the second funnel. By the end of this week, legislation must be approved by one full chamber — either the Iowa House or Senate — and at least a committee in the opposite chamber in order to remain eligible for consideration moving forward.
Any bill that fails to garner that much legislative support will be considered “dead.” However, leaders in the majority party have the ability to resurrect the “dead” bills through multiple legislative tools. And sometimes they do.
The funnel deadline does not apply to bills that deal with tax policy, the state budget or other spending measures. So bills that deal with, for example, increasing the salaries of public school teachers and support staff, Reynolds’ proposed streamlining of the state’s mental and behavioral health systems, or statehouse Republicans’ plans to further decrease state income taxes, are not subject to this week’s deadline.
The following bills and topics are among the many that state lawmakers must advance at some point this week if the bills are to survive this second funnel:
In her Jan. 9 Condition of the State address to the Iowa Legislature, Reynolds set the tone for the next four months when she called for dramatic changes to the operating and funding structures of Iowa’s area education agencies.
Since that day, Reynolds has unveiled her proposal and offered changes after hearing feedback from educators and parents, and majority party Republicans in the Iowa Senate and Iowa House have introduced their own proposals.
Instead of allowing state funding to go directly to the AEAs, as is currently the case, Reynolds has proposed giving school districts more direct control over special education funding, and moving oversight of AEAs to the state education department instead of local boards.
Senate Republicans’ proposal is similar to the governor’s, but keeps some of that state funding moving straight to the AEAs and calls for the Iowa Department of Education to work with the AEAs on a new oversight structure.
House Republicans went a completely different route. The House bill keeps AEAs as the sole provider of special education support. While state funding for special education services would go to the school districts, schools would be required to use that funding on services provided by the AEAs.
House Republicans passed their plan out of the chamber — barely, on a 53-41 vote with nine Republicans voting against it. Shortly after the House’s passage, the Senate was scheduled to debate the bill. But in an unusual move, it was pulled from the debate calendar and has not been seen since.
Legislation proposed by Reynolds that would define “man” and “woman” in Iowa Code based on a person’s sex assigned at birth has yet to advance out of the House.
House Republicans passed the bill out of committee last month over the protests of transgender Iowans and civil rights activists who called it discriminatory, arguing it would lead to the "erasure" of transgender and nonbinary people from Iowa Code. But lawmakers have yet to take up the bill on the House floor and send it off to the Senate.
House File 2389 defines “man” and “woman” and several other terms in Iowa Code based on a person’s sex assigned at birth. The bill would also allow transgender people to be excluded from sex-segregated spaces like bathrooms and women’s shelters.
It would also require transgender Iowans to list both their sex assigned at birth and their post-transition sex on their birth certificate.
Reynolds and Republicans said women and men possess unique biological differences, and that the bill was necessary to protect the health, safety and rights of women in spaces like domestic violence shelters and rape crisis center.
However, both the Iowa Coalition Against Sexual Assault and Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence are registered opposed to the bill.
LGBTQ and civil rights advocates said the bill is another attack on transgender Iowans, and its use of pro-segregation language should raise alarm. It says the term “equal” does not mean “same” and that “separate accommodations are not inherently unequal.”
www.thegazette.com
Defining “man” and “woman” in state law; helping schools arm teachers and other staff; creating legal penalties for causing a pregnancy to end, which could also impact fertility treatments — these are among high-profile proposals needing at least a little more legislative approval if they are to remain on the track to become law this year.
Even the one issue that has dominated the 2024 session like no other — Gov. Kim Reynolds’ proposal to overhaul the way the state’s nine area education agencies are operated and funded — still needs legislative attention by the end of this week.
All of these proposals and hundreds more face the second legislative deadline of the 2024 session: the second funnel. By the end of this week, legislation must be approved by one full chamber — either the Iowa House or Senate — and at least a committee in the opposite chamber in order to remain eligible for consideration moving forward.
Any bill that fails to garner that much legislative support will be considered “dead.” However, leaders in the majority party have the ability to resurrect the “dead” bills through multiple legislative tools. And sometimes they do.
The funnel deadline does not apply to bills that deal with tax policy, the state budget or other spending measures. So bills that deal with, for example, increasing the salaries of public school teachers and support staff, Reynolds’ proposed streamlining of the state’s mental and behavioral health systems, or statehouse Republicans’ plans to further decrease state income taxes, are not subject to this week’s deadline.
The following bills and topics are among the many that state lawmakers must advance at some point this week if the bills are to survive this second funnel:
Area education agencies
In her Jan. 9 Condition of the State address to the Iowa Legislature, Reynolds set the tone for the next four months when she called for dramatic changes to the operating and funding structures of Iowa’s area education agencies.
Since that day, Reynolds has unveiled her proposal and offered changes after hearing feedback from educators and parents, and majority party Republicans in the Iowa Senate and Iowa House have introduced their own proposals.
Instead of allowing state funding to go directly to the AEAs, as is currently the case, Reynolds has proposed giving school districts more direct control over special education funding, and moving oversight of AEAs to the state education department instead of local boards.
Senate Republicans’ proposal is similar to the governor’s, but keeps some of that state funding moving straight to the AEAs and calls for the Iowa Department of Education to work with the AEAs on a new oversight structure.
House Republicans went a completely different route. The House bill keeps AEAs as the sole provider of special education support. While state funding for special education services would go to the school districts, schools would be required to use that funding on services provided by the AEAs.
House Republicans passed their plan out of the chamber — barely, on a 53-41 vote with nine Republicans voting against it. Shortly after the House’s passage, the Senate was scheduled to debate the bill. But in an unusual move, it was pulled from the debate calendar and has not been seen since.
Gender identity
Legislation proposed by Reynolds that would define “man” and “woman” in Iowa Code based on a person’s sex assigned at birth has yet to advance out of the House.
House Republicans passed the bill out of committee last month over the protests of transgender Iowans and civil rights activists who called it discriminatory, arguing it would lead to the "erasure" of transgender and nonbinary people from Iowa Code. But lawmakers have yet to take up the bill on the House floor and send it off to the Senate.
House File 2389 defines “man” and “woman” and several other terms in Iowa Code based on a person’s sex assigned at birth. The bill would also allow transgender people to be excluded from sex-segregated spaces like bathrooms and women’s shelters.
It would also require transgender Iowans to list both their sex assigned at birth and their post-transition sex on their birth certificate.
Reynolds and Republicans said women and men possess unique biological differences, and that the bill was necessary to protect the health, safety and rights of women in spaces like domestic violence shelters and rape crisis center.
However, both the Iowa Coalition Against Sexual Assault and Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence are registered opposed to the bill.
LGBTQ and civil rights advocates said the bill is another attack on transgender Iowans, and its use of pro-segregation language should raise alarm. It says the term “equal” does not mean “same” and that “separate accommodations are not inherently unequal.”
Time running out on some big bills being considered by Iowa lawmakers
AEAs, gender ID, school safety and many other significant bills need more legislative attention this week to survive a legislative deadline.
www.thegazette.com
