Vander Linden Capitol News Update March 15, 2012
Representative Guy Vander Linden works at his desk in the Iowa House
House Approves Education Reform
On Wednesday, the House considered and passed House File 2380, the Education Reform bill.
The bill received nearly twelve hours of debate on 56 amendments and passed on a partisan vote of 53 to 46
with eight amendments brought forward by the minority party and accepted.
The final bill came before the full House after 5 subcommittees that spent over a dozen hours considering the bill, committee discussion that spanned 3 days and a public hearing before the legislature. The concentration of power in the Department of Education, as found in the original bill, was lessened, and local control was evident throughout the final version. The entire process demonstrated much collaboration between the two sides of the aisle resulting in the House Republicans passing a bill that will move the state forward in education.
The bill recognizes that one-size-fits-all education isn’t necessarily true. Incorporated into the bill are various elements: expanding online learning opportunities, implementing competency-based education; strengthening charter schools; positioning good teachers in front of all classrooms and allowing principals to lead by delegating non-instructional duties to assistants. The bill also allows for developing stronger assessments to help determine students’ educational progress; strengthening early literacy initiatives and resources to help students achieve reading competence by the end of third grade. Finally, it provides several means to continue discussions on how to make Iowa’s education system the best it can be for our children.
The bill will now travel to the Senate for consideration. The Senate has been working on its own version of the Governor’s education reform proposal. House Republicans look forward to a bipartisan effort of education reform.
Iowa’s Unemployment Rate Continues to Drop, Now at 5.4%
Iowa Workforce Development announced this week that Iowa’s unemployment rate had dropped to 5.4% in the month of January. The last time Iowa’s unemployment rate was this low was in April of 2009, when the number was at 5.3%.
Revised Workforce Development data has shown a steady decrease in the unemployment over the past six months.
In August of last year, Iowa’s unemployment rate was at 6.0%, in September the number was at 5.9%, October was 5.8%, November fell to 5.6%, December held at the 5.6% mark, and now the rate has fallen to 5.4% for January. Even with the drop, Iowa remains the state with the 6th lowest unemployment rate in the nation. The five states with better unemployment rates than Iowa are: New Hampshire (5.2%), Vermont (5.0%), South Dakota (4.2%), Nebraska (4.0%), and North Dakota (3.2%).
Nonfarm employment saw a net gain of 3,700 jobs from December to January as the numbers rose from 1,480,600 to 1,484,300. The sectors reflecting the biggest gains were ‘manufacturing’ (+3,500) ‘leisure and hospitality’ (+3,200), while ‘education and health services’ (-2,500), and ‘professional and business services’ (-1,200) were the sectors with the biggest losses.
House Republicans will continue their efforts to secure a business climate where job creators can continue to put Iowans back to work.
House Republicans Protect Iowa’s Kids From Predators
Iowa parents work hard to keep their children safe from predators both in person and online. The Iowa House Republicans recognize the challenges parents are facing from predators that are willing to go to great lengths to exploit vulnerable children. House File 2390 came from the Judiciary Committee to give law enforcement and prosecutors additional tools to fight those who harm children.
House File 2390 strengthens Iowa’s human trafficking laws as well as closes loop holes for possession of child pornography. The bill passed out of the Judiciary committee on February 21st, with unanimous, bi-partisan consent. Rep. Walt Rogers was the floor manager of the bill when it was debated on March 8th. The bill received overwhelming support and passed the house by a vote of 93-0, with 7 members absent.
The first several sections of the bill increase the punishment for those who engage in human trafficking and strengthens code language. The bill requires those convicted of human trafficking to register on the sex offender registry and also provides that mistake of age is no defense in a human trafficking case. Estimates of the number of children and adults forced in to human trafficking vary, but what is known is that this multibillion dollar industry is putting Iowa kids at risk.
In 2008, a Nebraska man was charged and convicted, in Iowa, for recruiting young teenage girls for prostitution. Thankfully, few cases of human trafficking have been found in Iowa and the language in this bill insures anyone who engages in this crime is punished to the fullest extent of the law.
In addition to human trafficking, HF 2390 strengthens Iowa’s laws against child pornography. Under a 2007, Iowa Supreme Court Case, the state code was interpreted to mean no matter how many images of child pornography appear on a computer, the violator can only be charged with one count per computer. Clearly, this was not the original intent of the code and the language in HF 2390 makes it clear that a prosecutor can file multiple charges against a defendant for possession of multiple computer images of child pornography.
Protecting Iowa’s children from predators should be a priority of all Iowans. House File 2390 is now in the Senate awaiting action. In order for the bill to survive the funnel, the Senate must act quickly and move the bill out of the judiciary committee before Friday.
