The Rozenboom Report – February 15, 2019
Sen. Ken Rozenboom (R-District 40)
by Sen. Ken Rozenboom
It’s become obvious to me that the best way to speed winter along is to work in the Iowa Senate…the weeks just fly by! We’re already five weeks into the session, and I expect the session to last less than our normal target of 15 to 16 weeks. So we probably already have more than a third of the session behind us. Committee work continues as the first funnel is only three weeks away. March 8 is the final date for Senate bills and joint resolutions to be reported out of Senate committees and for House bills and joint resolutions to be reported out of House committees.
As chairman of the Natural Resources and Environment committee, I scheduled four bills for committee consideration on Thursday, and all four bills were approved with unanimous votes. You may soon be hearing about “Logan’s Law” (SF 86). On July 4, 2017, fourteen year old Logan Luft from Charles City was killed in an ATV rollover accident. On his driving learner’s permit Logan had indicated he wanted to be an organ donor in the event of his death, and his wish was granted. Five of his organs were used as transplants for others, and Logan’s parents have met three of those organ recipients.
Because this young man was an avid outdoorsman, his parents asked Sen. Waylon Brown and Representative Todd Pritchard to consider sponsoring legislation to the have organ donor designation become an option on hunting and fishing licenses, just as it is for driver’s licenses. Hence, the bill is named Logan’s Law. This bill will be considered by the full Senate soon.
Senate Study Bill 1099 passed out of the Education Committee this week on an 11-4 vote. This bill deals with the protection of public forums, freedom of expression, and freedom of association at Iowa’s community colleges and regent universities. In recent years students at some college campuses have attempted to limit free speech and public forums if those students object to the views of certain speakers or campus groups.
America has long cherished the freedoms enumerated in the First Amendment, including the freedom of speech, and the freedom of assembly. However, on some college campuses, those freedoms are being threatened by students who interrupt or shout down other students or speakers with whom they disagree. In recent poll 37% of college students said that shouting down speakers was acceptable, at least sometimes, and 10% of students said it was acceptable to use violence to prevent someone from speaking.
And, at the University of Iowa, BLinC (Business Leaders in Christ), a Christian student group, was “decertified” by the university last year because the group denied a leadership position to gay student who refused to sign a statement of faith. The university insisted that BLinC would have to change its religious beliefs if they were to be allowed back on campus. Earlier this month a federal judge granted a permanent injunction that will keep the University of Iowa from rejecting BLinC’s status as a legitimate student campus group, saying that the university had “unevenly applied their human rights policy”.
SSB 1099 provides common sense, proactive protections for our first amendment rights, and for belief based student organizations in Iowa. Not passing this bill threatens students at all of Iowa’s public universities by taking away the ability of students and other members of campus groups to exercise the rights provided in the first amendment. It’s disappointing to me that four Iowa Senators voted against this bill, especially when none of them articulated their objections to the bill. Perhaps we will hear the reasons for their objections when the bill is debated on the Senate floor.
Please continue to communicate with me on issues that concern you. It’s always great to have visitors come to the Capitol like the FFA groups from Pella Christian and Eddyville on Thursday. My email address is ken.rozenboom@legis.iowa.gov. The next legislative forum is Eggs and Issues at Smokey Row in Oskaloosa on February 23 from 8:30 – 9:30. I hope to see you there.
