State Assembly
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Iowa Republican blocks bill to expand firefighter cancer coverage
Sen. Jason Schultz (R-Schleswig) declined to advance a bill that would provide Iowa firefighters with more comprehensive disability coverage for cancer treatment. “In highly emotional situations like that, somebody has got to be the taxpayer’s watchdog and remove emotion and think logically about the situation,” Schultz, a former small-town fire chief, told the Iowa Standard.…
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Immigration attorney describes Iowa GOP anti-migrant bill as ‘redundant’
Immigration advocates noted there are a few issues with a new Republican-backed bill aimed at undocumented migrants that is working its way through the Iowa Legislature. HF 2608 would require the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to verify the citizenship status of anyone who applies for public assistance, something the agency already…
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How ‘fetal personhood’ laws can limit family-planning options like IVF
Enshrining the idea of life beginning at fertilization, before implantation, would threaten Iowan’s abilities to access certain kinds of contraceptives and to in vitro fertilization (IVF). It would also be a serious blow to reproductive freedom. Sally Frank, a law professor at Drake University, explained how the logic works. “If fertilization is the moment of…
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While Republican legislature obsesses over culture war, Iowa Dems pitch pocketbook policies
All Sami Scheetz wanted to do was feed kids. The Democratic representative from Cedar Rapids introduced HF 575 last session, which would allow 23,000 Iowa students enrolled in the federal reduced breakfast and lunch program to receive free meals at school. The state would use a small portion of its billion-dollar-plus surplus to pay the…
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When getting a raise means losing health care: Disabled Iowans fighting back
By all rights, Sioux City resident Erica Carter should be a success story. Despite a spinal cord injury 13 years ago—which left her unable to get out of bed without help—Carter was able to complete both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in accounting. Today, she is the finance manager at a public school and is…
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Iowa high school senior says bill to arm teachers makes him feel ‘unsafe’
An Iowa school student questioned state senators about a Republican proposal to arm Iowa teachers and staff in an attempt to deter school shooters. “This bill, for me, makes me feel unsafe, it means that this bill is going to put more guns into the hands of students and, frankly I find that profoundly nonsensical.…
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How Iowa’s ‘religious freedom’ law could be used to discriminate
Legalized discrimination on religious grounds could be a major consequence of Iowa’s new “religious freedom” bill when Gov. Kim Reynolds signs it into law. During the Iowa Senate debate on this legislation, Sen. Janice Weiner (D-Iowa City), one of Iowa’s three Jewish legislators, said this legislation would be a “blank check for discrimination.” She is…
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House GOP pushes through bill aimed at undermining AEA services
Rep. Chuck Isenhart (D-Dubuque) can already see the writing on the wall for Iowa’s Area Education Agencies (AEAs), after Thursday’s Iowa House vote to move forward in implementing large-scale changes to the agencies. During the House debate on its amended AEA bill, Isenhart laid out exactly how he thinks Republicans will use this bill to…
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A handful of Iowa House Republicans trying to tie birth control to abortion
Some Iowa House Republicans are attempting to bog down a bipartisan bill to legalize over-the-counter birth control by adding amendments that compare birth control to abortion, limiting how long a person can receive birth control under the bill, and adding penalties for pimps. All the House Members who introduced the various amendments are on record…
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1,300 Iowa moms, 400 babies could lose health coverage under postpartum Medicaid bill
Thousands of Iowa women and hundreds of babies could lose Medicaid coverage under a bill that passed through the Iowa Senate. On Monday, the Iowa Legislative Services Agency released a fiscal note for SF 2251, a bill that would expand postpartum Medicaid coverage but limit eligibility for pregnant people. The agency notes that the Iowa…
