The Iowa Legislature continues to do a lot of committee and floor work as we get ready for the second funnel deadline. Bills that are not passed out of one chamber and out of committee in the other chamber by April 3 will not be eligible for consideration this year. Tax and appropriations bills are […]
School Funding Legislative Democrats are not focused on student achievement or learning. They are focused on education spending. There is a difference and the facts clearly support that the Democrats top goal is increasing spending, not improving student achievement. There is no link between setting the supplemental state aid figure and rising student achievement. There […]
Dear friends in District 80. The House passed an “Ultrasound Bill”. This bill requires an ultrasound be conducted before an abortion, and that the mother of the unborn child be given the opportunity to see the ultrasound and hear the heartbeat. The bill does not require the woman to see or listen, but the attending […]
The Iowa Legislature has completed the tenth week of the session with a flurry of floor debate and votes on a wide variety of legislative issues. In the last two weeks the Senate has discussed and voted on over ninety bills that will now move over to the House for their consideration. Many of the […]
It was an active week in the Iowa Senate as we spent most of our time in floor debate and voting. This is quite a contrast from past weeks, which were dominated by a heavy load of subcommittee and committee work prior to the first funnel deadline. Our floor work this week was quite extensive; […]
IDALS Announces Three Water Quality Initiative Projects On Thursday, March 5, 2015, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS) issued a press release in which Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey announced that three additional watershed demonstration projects have been selected to receive $1.4 million in funding through the Iowa water quality initiative […]
Des Moines, Iowa – It was slated to be a bi-partisan presidential candidate event, to be held on the Iowa State Fairgrounds. It turned out to be a GOP event, mostly, with one exception in former Lt. Governor Patty Judge. Bruce Rastetter has made his fortune in the agribusiness, and some are calling him the […]
This is the end of “Funnel Week” which is a week full of activity to get the Bills ready for floor action… With the recent shenanigans in the State House, the Governor has signed the gas tax hike into law. Talk of raising the minimum wage continues but rarely mentions the unintended consequences. The Employment […]
On February 24, 2015 both the Iowa House and the Iowa Senate passed Senate File 257, commonly referred to as the gas tax bill. By the end of the same week Governor Branstad had signed the bill into law; the new gas tax rates went into effect on March 1. This culminated a debate that […]
Weapons Use Bill Advances This week, a bipartisan house committee advanced House Study Bill 201, an act relating to the manufacture, acquisition, sale, and use of firearms and suppressors. The bill focuses on keeping Iowans safe while ensuring 2nd Amendment rights are preserved. In 2010, Iowa law was changed to make it easier for law […]
