Update From the House for District 80 – February 25, 2021

by Holly Brink

Week 7 Update

Hello Friends,

The 7th week of session finally contained some good weather; spring is coming soon. The busy week kept me inside though with long debates Tuesday and Wednesday and committees throughout the week. Below are some key points of what happened this week and what is coming up in future weeks.
Government Oversight – Ames Update

Last week I mentioned that I had invited leaders from the Ames School District to attend the Government Oversight committee on this Tuesday to discuss their Black Lives Matter Week of Action. With less than 24 hours until the hearing, I was contacted by an attorney for the school district stating that representatives from the Ames School District would be unable to attend, after they had confirmed that date over 10 days before.

Parents and community members from Ames continue to contact myself with concerns related to how the week was handled and I have rescheduled the hearing for March 9th and I expect Ames leaders to attend.
Government Oversight – Free Speech

About a month ago we heard from leaders from the University and their Dental School and Representative Olson asked how long the school needed to make changes to their policies and the Dean stated “one month”. On March 2nd Government oversight will hear an update about what changes have been made to remove the culture of bias against conservatives at the University of Iowa Dental School.

Each of the three Regent universities and the Regents themselves are now aligned on the importance of free speech thanks, in part, to the work of myself and other colleagues in the legislature making this a priority. The Board of Regents Free Speech Committee on Wednesday, formed in response to the free speech issues on our campuses last fall, provided 10 recommendations to improve free speech on our campuses.

The Free Speech Committee has ten recommendations. The first is that each syllabus at regent institutions will have a First Amendment statement, comparable to the one that Iowa State University has implemented following a Professor prohibiting counter viewpoints in their classroom and in papers. The syllabus statements should reaffirm the schools’ commitment to First Amendment protection of freedom of speech. The syllabus free speech statement will be reviewed at the beginning of each course.

Another recommendation is that university resources will not be used for partisan activities. This will not affect recognized student groups and individual students from utilizing university facilities. Universities will not permit discrimination or denial of educational benefits because of the viewpoints of a student organization or a student.

The full recommendations can be found here and should be viewed as a start towards fixing this problem.

2nd Amendment – HSB 254

Whether you live in a city or in a rural area, your right to keep in bear arms is essential and Iowa House Republicans are committed to protecting it. HSB 254 will improve public safety, eliminate needless regulations, and reassure law abiding citizens that they do not need the government’s permission to practice their Constitutional right to bear arms.

This bill DOES

Reaffirm that law-abiding Iowans don’t need to ask the government’s permission to practice their Constitutional right by eliminating the need to get a permit to carry or acquire a firearm.

This bill DOES NOT

Eliminate the need for a background check in order to purchase a firearm.

In fact, it will result in more complete background checks because if someone attempts to purchase a firearm without it, they will need to pass a federal background check before the purchase can go through.

This bill DOES

Expand Iowans’ access to state-approved training organizations to become trained to carry a handgun by creating a DPS database of approved organizations.

This bill DOES NOT

Eliminate the need to take training if a person wants a permit.

This bill DOES

-Prohibits landlords of government-assisted housing from banning firearms.

This bill DOES NOT

Impact landlords’, who operate privately, ability to ban firearms.

Election Integrity

On Wednesday the House passed the election bill that I talked about in last week’s newsletter. It now goes to the Governor for her signature.

Faith in our elections is low and we must take steps to address that. Iowans deserve an election system they can trust. Faith in our elections is critical to our democracy.

This bill aims to ensure there is uniformity of election procedures throughout the state, make sure our county auditors are following the law, and better maintain voter databases.

The funnel is next week which means that legislation must pass out of committee by the end of the week, so it will be a full week. Please make sure to email or call me with any comments on active legislation as this is a very important time for a whole host of bills! I always enjoy hearing from you.

Holly Brink
State Representative, Iowa District 80
(641)295-7111
Holly.brink@legis.iowa.gov