Helena Hayes Capitol Update February 18, 2024
by Helena Hayes
Such is the nature of bills during session, but that is just the way things work at the capitol… it is a sprint, and we often times change course. My goal as District 88 House Representative is to keep open communication lines between state politics and those back home, so please read over sections that interest you and pass over the rest.
This weekend was full… Saturday was the Fairfield Chamber forum and three county conventions. Thank you to the many in Mahaska, Keokuk, and Jefferson County who volunteered as delegates and alternates. You spent hours revising and proposing planks to our fantastic Republican platform. I loved seeing all the familiar faces and hearing you thoughtfully debate the issues! A big thank you to Mendy with the chamber for always hosting us so graciously!
But before moving on, I have found that this opening section has become for me something of a personal letter to each of you as I attempt to understand the issues and discern the times. I very much appreciate the feedback and encouragement I receive from people like Einar, Emory, and Tanya, the hugs and prayers from Diana, Barney, and Molly and the engaging conversations with people like Andrew, Mark, and Andy. I see this elected position as obedient service to the Lord, and I am so thankful for the people who have chosen to engage in the process with me!
There are two things I want to highlight before moving on to capitol specifics. Let’s begin with a quick glance to the federal level:
The Fairfield Journal posted an article stating that the U.S. Senate passed a $95.3 billion aid package to assure that the United States is required to be involved in foreign wars for years. Included in the bill is language which would possibly trigger automatic impeachment of the next president (presumably Donald Trump) if they decided to terminate continued funding for Ukraine. Twenty-two Republicans (out of fifty-three) voted in favor of the bill. This includes both of our Senators: Ernst and Grassley. Please read the full article here and for a deep dive, find the bill link here.
As I have contemplated many of the struggles we face as a nation and society, I found that it is necessary to understand the philosophies undergirding them, including one that so many of us are not familiar with, critical theory.
A friend of mine recently wrote an excellent article that so clearly explains critical theory and how it relates to the distortion of truth. He states, “Critical Theory presents a serious problem for all Americans. In our ignorance of what Critical Theory is and what it asserts (a better word would be what it agitates for or foments political insurrection in order to accomplish), we are allowing ourselves to be divided. When division reaches a critical point, then manipulation and propaganda may be successfully applied to derive a predetermined outcome. That predetermined outcome always includes the grouping of people into oppressors and oppressed. This is effectively the Hegelian Dialectic Reasoning in action.”
Please add critical theory to your understanding by checking out his article:
In- Depth: Marxist ‘Critical Theory and Its Use to Distort the Israel-Hamas War.
Improving School Safety
House Study Bill 675
This week, the House Public Safety Committee passed HSB 675 which focuses on personnel able and ready to protect students in the event of an emergency.
Policies in this bill include:
Schools with an enrollment of over 8,000 students shall employ at least one school resource officer or private security officer. A grant program is created to match funds to help schools pay for these positions.
Creates a new permit that allows a school employee to carry weapons. The requirements for this permit are strictly prescribed and extensive.
For more details, see the graphic I have included below.
Iowa Food Banks
This week, representatives from Food Bank appeared at the Capitol to lobby for their policy initiatives. In Mahaska and surrounding counties, our food bank representative is the Food Bank of Iowa (their address and number is displayed above).
Some of their 2023 results include:
Distributing of 45 million meals.
Rescuing 27 million lbs. of food diverted from landfills.
Purchasing more than 1.5 million lbs. of local food.
Purchasing $11.5 million in food to feed the hungry.
Here is their hope for this legislative session:
The need: The six Feeding America member food banks and their network of over 1,200 food pantries and meal sites are seeing record numbers Iowans.
It is estimated that there are 238,000 Iowans whom they strive to reach.
The ask: A $5 million state appropriation with matching funds provided by the Iowa Food Bank Association (IFBA) network.
Iowans Feeding Iowans Act would:
Fund food bank purchases of food from Iowa-based manufacturers, retailers, and processors (such as Barilla, Grain Millers, Fareway, Hy-Vee…) to be distributed to non-profit food bank network.
20% of the food will be procured from local farmers or producers.
Be matched dollar for dollar by participating Feeding America Food Banks, turning $5 million in to $10 million.
Purchase highly desired nutritious foods such as produce, dairy, eggs, and protein.
Utilize the well-established Iowa Food Bank Association member distribution network to get food to Iowans all 99 counties.
Ensure all money goes to buying food.
Education
The House has been engaging in conversations with the AEAs, teachers’ union, superintendents, and parents to develop bills to improve special education outcomes and increase teacher pay.
This week, three bills were introduced as a result of these in-depth discussions; AEA reform, increasing teacher pay, and a 3% SSA increase.
These bills are not set in stone and discussions are ongoing. However, these will be the bills we work off of next week after the funnel deadline.
HSB 714: Increasing Teacher Pay
We have taken feedback from the teachers’ union, superintendents and more as we crafted this legislation to responsibly raise teacher pay.
The House bill increases the minimum teacher salary from the current amount of $33,500 to $47,500 beginning next year, and then bumps it up again to $50,000 the following year.
This bill also increases the minimum wage for education support staff to $15/hour.
Our teachers are doing essential, important work. We want our teachers to receive the compensation they deserve and incentivize more people to enter the profession.
While some may say this bill may not directly address veteran teachers, our plan includes additional TSS money and increasing State Supplemental Aid by 3%, both of which would give schools additional money to spend on teacher salaries how they see fit.
HSB 713: Improving Special Education Outcomes
While the Governor’s original AEA reform proposal has not passed committee, we have continued discussions with stakeholders to draft our own legislation to improve outcomes.
The goal of the bill is to improve special education outcomes through the process of providing accountability over the AEA’s services, creating a task force to review the current system and look for areas of improvement, and giving more flexibility to the school districts on how to spend their money.
A couple important things to note that are different about the House bill from the original proposal you may have heard about previously:
The goal of this bill is for there to be no disruption to special education services.
This bill does not terminate any employees of the AEA’s.
This bill does not prohibit the AEAs ability to perform any of the services they do now.
Here are some bullet points of what the bill does:
Ties the salary of each AEA’s chief executive to the average salary of the superintendents of the districts they cover. Currently, the 9 chiefs each make around $300,000 annually.
Puts the Department of Education in charge of professional development and gives the DOE true oversight over the AEA’s budgets.
Creates a legislative task force to review the AEA system and make recommendations.
The money devoted to special education will stop at the school district, but school districts will be required to contract with the AEAs to provide those special ed services.
This bill gives school districts more control of media services and education services money over time. Many districts may continue to use the AEAs for all services. However, if they can provide those same services for less money, or more effectively through other means, they will have that flexibility.
Starting in school year 2025-2026, the media services money would stop at the school district.
Beginning in school district 2026-2027, both the media services money and the education services money would stop at the school district.
The school district would then have discretion over how best to spend those funds and provide the services they need to their students.
This is just a quick summary of this bill. We will continue to dig into the details as this bill works its way through the legislative process.
Local Government Compensation Boards
One piece of legislation passed by the House Local Government Committee was House File 2345 (renumbered HF 2514) which amends the Iowa Code to restructure how county elected officials and employees of the county receive cost of living and salary increases.
Currently, increases to elected official salaries are recommended by a compensation board which is made up of appointees of every county elected office. The board annually reviews compensation and sets a schedule of compensation for the next budget year. That schedule is voted upon by the board of supervisors, however, increases recommended by the compensation board can only be adjusted evenly across all positions. Some of argued that this limits the flexibility supervisors can use to set the compensation for the elected officials of the county. There is also concern that a board comprised of people appointed by the officials who would receive an increase creates a possible conflict of interest or lack of fairness in the process.
HF 2345 as amended would eliminate compensation boards and instead require the base salaries of elected officials to be set by ordinance to go into effect after the next election of that office. If the supervisors provide the county employees a cost of living increase they would be authorized to provide a salary increase to the elected officials not to exceed the Consumer Price Index. The legislation aims to ensure the elected officials are considering the salaries of the county employees before being able to increase their own salary increases. Additionally, it provides open transparency to the voters about how proposed salary increases are made for their elected officials.
Ag Grant Opportunity!
If you are looking for a great opportunity to earn a small grant for community youth groups related to farm safety projects, I-CASH is now currently accepting applications for this year’s agricultural youth grants.
If interested, follow this link: https://icash.publichealth.uiowa.edu/programs/agricultural-youth-grants/
Capitol Visitors
Director Brian Dunn of Sieda Community Action joined others from across the state to meet with legislators this week. Sieda has a presence in each county as a non-profit organization with a focus on implementing a range of programs designed to provide advocacy, access to supportive services, and service coordination. These programs strive to strengthen families, promote child development, and help individuals and families with basic needs. Some of those programs include Family Development and Self-Sufficiency (FaDSS), Parents as Teachers resources, and many more.
Visit Seida.org for more info.
This week also featured education at the Capitol which included Iowa’s Area Education Agencies (AEA), Iowa Association of School Boards (IASB) and School Administrators of Iowa (SAI). I had the opportunity to visit with Angela Livesey, previous North Mahaska Superintendent and now with Great Prairie AEA, Great Prairie Chief, Nathan Wood, along with Derek Philips, Superintendent from Pekin Community Schools. As you can imagine, members of the education committee have been very busy with this year legislation.
Many Iowa students spent a day at the capitol this week promoting various programs in their school districts. Students from Pella Community School District, including a former homeschool science student of mine, featured their growing apprenticeship program. Student Hanson King explained the details which include specific work-related classes and several levels of interviews. He is an apprentice with Pella Corp and is excited to have experience in production, quality, engineering services, design and much more.
First Responders
The State Government Committee passed a piece of legislation to further protect the first responders across the state. House File 2183 (now House File 2482) was passed unanimously. The bill, as amended by the Committee, changes Iowa Code to ensure that all types of cancer are covered for Iowa’s firefighters. Currently, there are only 14 types of cancer that are covered under the presumption that it was contracted while on active duty as a result of the job. There are over 200 types of diagnosable cancers.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, cancer is the leading cause of death among firefighters. Research shows that due to the carcinogenic materials and the significantly greater exposure to chemicals, gases, vapors, and particles that firefighters are 9% more likely to be diagnosed with cancer than the general population and 14% higher risk of dying of cancer than the general population. If enacted this legislation would provide coverage to all cancers and alleviate concern when a firefighter gets a life-altering diagnoses that they have to wonder if their cancer treatment will be covered.
House File 2183 will move to the House floor for the consideration of the full legislative body. House Republicans have over the past several legislative sessions strongly supported legislative efforts in the House to provide expanded coverage for firefighters’ pension funds.
Work-Based Learning
This week, House Labor and Workforce Committee passed House Study Bill 686 which attempts to address workforce shortages. This bill continues previous efforts on the creation of hands-on opportunities for high school students through programs that prepare them for the workforce. The experience will count as core credit and would include employment during the summer months.
The bill also makes changes to the Last-Dollar Scholarship program. It adds that an eligible program of study includes a program of study or major that is jointly approved by College Student Aid Commission and IWD that aligns with at least one of ten priority in-demand fields.
Lastly, the bill changes student teaching requirements. Student teaching experience could be 4 weeks in length if the following requirements are met:
The student bears primary responsibility for planning, instruction, and assessment within the classroom for a minimum of 4 weeks during the student teaching experience.
The BOEE has issued a substitute license, substitute authorization, or para-educator certificate to the student, and the student has prior experience working as a substitute teacher or a para-educator, including experience under the teacher and para-educator registered apprenticeship grant program.
A student may satisfy the requirements related to the student teaching experience if all the following requirements are met:
The student teaching experience takes place in the classroom of a cooperating teacher who is appropriately licensed in the subject area and grade level endorsement for which the student is being prepared and lasts for at least ½ of each school day.
Under supervision of the cooperating teacher, and for at least ½ of each school day, the student bears the primary responsibility for planning, instruction, and assessment within the classroom for a minimum of 4 weeks during the student teaching experience.
The BOEE has issued a para-educator certificate to the student, and the student works as a para-educator for at least ½ of each school day during the 14 week student teaching experience.
Iowa Motor Truck Association
The Iowa Motor Truck Association held their annual event at the Capitol this week, giving truck rides and a driving competition. I appreciated the opportunity to meet with owners and operator members from southeast Iowa.
I was reminded of their great contribution to so many aspects of our economy. There are 111,280 trucking jobs in Iowa that offer competitive wages and the average annual trucking industry salary in 2022 was $52, 748.
For more information, visit their website here.
How to support me
What do people like me need for support as elected officials in a state office?
* Prayer (the key!)
* Your input – either for or against the issues
* Volunteers
* Yards for signage (both yard sign and barn signs/4×8)
* “Word-of-mouth” support by expressing your approval to others
* and of course, financial donations:
Hayes for House, Treasurer
2812 170th Street
New Sharon, Iowa 50207
Thank you all!!
Upcoming Events
Here are the dates for upcoming forums I will be at! I welcome all whom I proudly represent to join me for these meetings. I want to hear what you have to say!
Coffee & Conversation (Formerly Eggs & Issues)
To be held at Smokey Row Oskaloosa (109 S Market St. Oskaloosa, IA) on the following dates:
February 24th @ 8:30 to 9:30 am
March 23rd @ 8:30 to 9:30 am
Fairfield Chamber of Commerce Forum
To be held at the Fairfield Arts and Convention Center (200 N. Main Street. Fairfield, IA) on the following dates:
April 20th @ 7:30 am
If you have any questions about these events, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. All forums and events will be posted on my Facebook page as well as here in the newsletter!
Contact
As always, please do not hesitate to reach out with any questions, comments, or concerns you may have. I love to hear from you and want to represent you accurately!
Website: https://www.helenaforhouse.com
Email: helena.hayes@legis.iowa.gov
Phone: 515.281.3221
