Update From the House for District 80 – April 1st, 2021

by Holly Brink

Week 12 Update

Hello Friends,

Happy Easter! I hope this holiday weekend is full of joy for you and your families. Here at the legislature it has been a chaotic week, as it is the second funnel which I will explain further below.

After this week, the legislature will look very different because almost all committees are done with their work. So the coming weeks will contain lots of debate almost every day, I will be sure to keep you all updated on important debates.
The Second Funnel Explanation

Since this week is the 2nd funnel, so I thought it would be helpful to give a quick explanation of what that means for bills this session.

What this means is that on April 2 all legislation must have been passed by the Chamber in which it was introduced (House or Senate) and also passed by a committee in the opposite chamber (Senate or House) in order to continue through the process. There are some exceptions, such as appropriations bills and bills that have been assigned to the Ways and Means committees in the House and Senate.

Bills are first assigned to committees, a group of about 20 legislators. From there, a bill can be assigned to a subcommittee. Subcommittees, usually made of three legislators, first screen the bills and then decide if they should move on to the committee. Sometimes the subcommittee does not meet to discuss a bill; that causes the bill to be dropped.

Once the subcommittee decides to forward a bill, the committee can make a decision to move the bill onto the floor where it can be debated.

If a bill fails to move forward, it sometimes can reappear as an amendment to another bill. Or it can be found in the body of another bill. Nothing is final until the final gavel, which closes the legislative session.

SF 517

I chaired the subcommittee SF517, a bill introduced by Holly Boeke, a senior at Oskaloosa High School. She is a constituent of mine and a page in the senate this year. This bill will make the page program count as a social studies credit and waive the physical education requirement for that semester. Thank you to Sen. Smith for letting Holly pitch her idea and thanks to all the pages who came to the subcommittee to support Holly!

Also if you have a high school student who wants to get involved, the page program is a great opportunity to be a part of. Below are pictures of Holly, myself, and Rep. Hite and my view in the subcommittee of all the pages in support of the bill.

Vaccine Update

The Governor has announced that starting April 5th all Iowa adults are eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. This is a great step that places Iowa well ahead of our peer states in distributing the vaccine to all who want it who are 16 years old or older.

There is special help through the 211 hotline for those who are over 65 and those younger with pre-existing conditions. The 211 hotline helps Iowans find available vaccines near them.