Hite Capitol Update – March 25th, 2022
by Dustin Hite
This week in the Iowa House, we move closer to ending session and getting back home. We passed several budgets off the House floor, which is usually a sign that we are down to some of the final things. However, even though budgets are beginning to be set, there are still several important things we are still working on.
On Wednesday, Senate File 522 passed off the House floor unanimously. I had the privilege of being the floor manager of this bill. Senate file 522 provides enhanced penalties for people who physically abuse older Iowans or steal from them. In addition, it creates a new crime of financial exploitation of an older person. In my practice back home, I have seen instances where older Iowans have been taken advantage of financially, sometimes by a stranger, but many times by a loved one or close friend. This bill will give county attorneys the tools to prosecute these crimes and ensure the safety of older Iowans.
Another monumental bill that passed off the Iowa House floor was House File 2567. Prior to the session beginning, I made it one of my priorities to address the situation where teachers violate the trust we put in them and physically or sexually abuse students. The vast majority of the teachers in Iowa, both in our public schools and our private schools, are good people who are doing their best to educate our youth. Many of them go above and beyond their job description and work before and after school to ensure that they are doing the very best. However, as is the case with many large groups, there are some bad apples. Many of us have either seen in our own communities or heard in the news of cases where teachers sexually abuse students, and are not held accountable.
Beginning last summer, I started working on this bill. I spoke with parents of students who were harmed by these people. I spoke with investigative reporters who were also looking into the same issue. I reviewed numerous cases which ultimately ended up in front of the Board of Education Examiners (BOEE) where that trust I spoke of earlier was violated. I also spoke with members of the education community, child abuse prevention authorities, and asked questions of BOEE. After all of this investigation, I started to work on what would become House File 2567.
With this bill, we make substantial and important changes to our system at both the state and local levels to ensure the safety of our children and to ensure those bad actors are held accountable. First, the age of the victim for mandatory reporting of child abuse is increased from 12 years to include all children. Second, all full-time employees of schools are made mandatory reporters of child abuse and will receive mandatory reporter training.
In looking at the BOEE and how they process cases, we also made some significant changes. The BOEE is required to keep track of all unfounded complaints and reevaluate the complaints if a pattern of violations begins to form. When asked last fall whether these complaints were being tracked, I received the answer that they are not. Later on this year, the answer was changed to yes. In any event, it will be law that the BOEE is required to keep track of all unfounded reports and review them if multiple complaints are made. This bill requires the BOEE to investigate an administrator if a complaint is founded against a teacher which is a mandatory reportable offense. The investigation will focus on whether the administrator made that mandatory report, and if they didn’t, they must look into the reason. All to often we see administrators who fail in their duties to students when they don’t make those mandatory reports.
Along those same lines, for the first time, this bill implements a fine of up to $5,000.00 for an administrator who intentionally fails to report a mandatory report and up to $10,000.00 for administrators who intentionally conceal information. These administrators already can be subject to license sanctions, and these fines are intended to get the attention of administrators and make them do the right thing.
This bill also now prohibits schools from entering into agreements with personnel who is fired or resigns whereby the school agrees to not disclose the facts and circumstances surrounding the teacher’s leaving. I have seen several of these agreements and I believe that it is a shame that schools put their own liability over the safety of other schools. These types of agreements will be outlawed and schools will be protected from sharing the truth about the teacher’s departure.
Finally, the bill makes a huge improvement to the way complaints about sexual abuse are handled. Currently, there must be a criminal conviction of a sexual abuse type crime before the revocation of a license is mandatory. Under this bill a criminal conviction is no longer required, and now the BOEE must revoke a license if the board finds that these offenses happened. I heard the BOEE explain situations where a teacher had an inappropriate relationship with a student and that teacher was able to get their teaching license back. This bill ensures that the policy in the State of Iowa is that if a teacher crosses that line and sexually abuses a student, that teacher will never see the classroom again, regardless of the outcome of the criminal case.
I have spent much of my time both during session and before session working on this issue. It has become a large collaboration of various groups and House members on both sides of the aisle. I am happy to say that this bill passed unanimously off the House floor on Thursday night. This bill is a huge step forward in ensuring the safety of our students, and making sure that those people who want to harm our students are not welcome in our schools.
Along with all the floor action this week, I met with my friends from the Pella Electric Cooperative as they paid a visit to the State House for the REC’s day on the hill. I encourage you all to reach out to me at dustin.hite@legis.iowa.gov with any questions, comments, or concerns, or to schedule a visit to meet with me at the Capitol before the session is over.
