It’s funnel week at the Iowa Capitol, so by Friday a bill needs to be approved by a committee in either the House or Senate to be considered for passage this legislative session. It’s supposedly a fixed deadline, but it’s really just an observed custom, because there are existing exceptions for certain bills — such […]
Iowa House of Representatives
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‘Shouldn’t we be working on something more important in education?’: Republicans in House ed committee fast-track Gov. Reynolds’ bill targeting trans Iowans’ ID
Just a few days after Gov. Kim Reynolds introduced a sweeping bill targeting transgender and nonbinary Iowans, that bill is now eligible for a floor vote in the Iowa House. HSB 649, which the governor filed last Thursday, was approved by the House Education Committee on Tuesday on a party-line vote. All of the committee’s […]
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A bill protecting ‘teachers of faith’ from having to respect students’ or parents’ preferred pronouns advances as LGBTQ rights advocates rally
“They are trying to wear us down,” Courtney Reyes of One Iowa Action said about the raft of anti-LGBTQ legislation Republicans have introduced this year in the Iowa Legislature. “We’re not going anywhere.” Reyes, the executive director of the nonprofit that advocates on behalf of LGBTQ Iowans, was speaking at a rally in the Iowa […]
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One day after bill undermining transgender rights is defeated, Gov. Reynolds introduces new bill targeting IDs for trans and nonbinary Iowans
One day after a bill that would have stripped legal protections for transgender people out of the Iowa Civil Rights Act was rejected in the Iowa House, Gov. Kim Reynolds introduced a new bill targeting transgender Iowans. Reynolds’ submitted HSB 649 to lawmakers a few hours after Iowa Capitol Dispatch reported on the existence of […]
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GOP bill would require Iowa students be shown womb animation video based on anti-abortion ‘propaganda’
On Tuesday, Republicans on an Iowa House subcommittee voted to advance a bill that would mandate K-12 students receive instruction on fetal development based on the work of an anti-abortion group. HF 2031 would require the health curriculum in both public and accredited private elementary, middle and high schools to include a “high-definition ultrasound video, […]
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Bill to remove protection against gender identity discrimination from Iowa Civil Rights Act gets a scheduled hearing
Since taking control of both chambers of the Iowa Legislature in 2017, Republicans have repeatedly passed discriminatory legislation targeting transgender Iowans with the full support of Gov. Kim Reynolds, who has signed those bills and other anti-LGBTQ legislation into law. But even when pushing through those bills almost exclusively on party-line votes, Republicans still understood […]
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Journalist Laura Belin granted press credentials by Iowa House for the first time in five years — days after filing a First Amendment lawsuit
After years of denying Laura Belin press credentials to cover the Iowa House of Representatives, it took the chief clerk of the House less than a week to reverse course after Belin filed a federal lawsuit. On Wednesday, Belin and the nonprofit Institute for Free Speech, which was representing her in the lawsuit, announced Belin […]
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After being repeatedly denied press credentials by the Iowa House of Representatives, journalist Laura Belin files a federal lawsuit
Laura Belin, one of Iowa’s leading political journalists, filed a federal lawsuit on Friday after being denied press credentials by the Iowa House of Representatives for the sixth year in a row. “Refusing to credential journalists for arbitrary reasons — or because lawmakers may not like tough coverage or her point of view — is […]
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History-making Hiawatha City Councilmember Aime Wichtendahl is running for the Iowa House
Hiawatha City Councilmember Aime Wichtendahl is running for the Iowa House of Representatives in District 80. Democrat Art Staed currently represents the Linn County district, which cover Hiawatha, Robins and part of Cedar Rapids, but he announced last week he’s running for the Iowa Senate seat held by fellow Democrat Todd Taylor, who, in turn, […]
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‘Mean-spirited’ bill restricting how teachers can support transgender students moves quickly through Iowa House
On Tuesday afternoon, the three members of an Iowa House subcommittee listened to an hour of testimony on HF 9, a bill aimed at preventing teachers and other school staff from acknowledging the identities of transgender students unless they first receive parental permission to do so. With only a few exceptions, the speakers testified strongly […]
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State lawmaker accuses some educators of promoting socialism
An Iowa House subcommittee advanced a bill Wednesday that would require high school teachers to hold class discussion comparing political ideologies “that conflict with the principles of freedom and democracy that were essential to the founding of the United States.” House File 12 specifically mentions communism and totalitarianism. Iowa Rep. Steven Holt, a Republican from […]
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In the new District 1, Democrat Christina Bohannan faces a staunchly anti-abortion, GOP super PAC-supported incumbent
Southeast Iowa has gone from being the 2nd Congressional District to the 1st since Christina Bohannan began running for its U.S. House seat in August 2021. But the major concerns of its residents have remained the same, she said. Inflation and the cost of living has been a constant topic, Bohannan told Little Village. ”When […]
