Sheets Snapshot – March 2, 2017

We are in Funnel Week and the wheels of government continue to roll in spite of the rancor and emotion of the Labor and Life Bills. I ran a Bill in Subcommittee, Committee, and on the floor of the House allowing earlier access to military documents in Iowa for historians. The vote in every case was unanimous. I then ran a Subcommittee for businesses to reasonably accommodate pregnant women. It passed the Subcommittee unanimously, also.

The Senate Passed SF2 weeks ago and the Senate subcommittee passed SF253 this week. SF2 would defund abortion providers, and SF253 is a “Life at Conception” Bill. I am told SF253 lacks the necessary votes to proceed. House leadership has not yet acted on either.

HSB 93 with Amendment is the Election Modernization & Integrity Act. The Secretary of State muddied the waters with his well-intended voter ID card approach. This House Bill will make it easier to vote, harder to cheat, and would not turn anyone away. It will make voting as easy as the Hyvee express lane. According to the Des Moines Register poll, it gives Iowans what 69% want. It only suppresses long lines & non-Iowa voters.
95% of registered Iowa voters (about 1.7M people) have a DOT-issued photo ID (driver’s license or non-operator ID)
For the remaining 5%, (about 85,000 people), they show their new, free, voter registration card (same as current card, but it includes a barcode and a unique, confidential voter ID number.)
Other acceptable IDs are military ID, passports, veteran ID, and voter acceptance cards.
If unable to show a voter ID, then they must adhere to the election day registration requirements, be attested for by a registered voter in their precinct, or cast a provisional ballot.
For the transition period to the new system, may as a backup, vote by signing an oath attesting to one’s identity for any election prior to Jan. 1, 2019.
For absentee voting, the Bill adds a requirement for DOT-issued ID numbers or new voter registration number on absentee ballot request form. Further, the ballot will be rejected if the signature is different than that on record.

There is much more to report, but it will have to wait until Funnel week is history. Thank you for your interest.

* March 4: League of Women Voters @ 10am at the Market on Main Street
* March 11: “Osky Eggs & Issues” @ 8:30am at Smokey Row in Oskaloosa.
* March 18: Albia Forum @ 8:30am First Iowa State Bank in Albia
* March 18: “Legislative Coffee” @ 10am in Centerville at the office of Chariton Planning and Development; 308 North 12th Street.

Please contact me with any questions or concerns at larry.sheets@legis.iowa.gov or 641-895-6153.

Posted by on Mar 3 2017. Filed under Local News, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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