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Charlie Smithson, the secretary of the Iowa Senate, complained to the administrator in charge of the Iowa Occupational Safety and Health Agency (IOSHA) about a “hazard alert letter” by agency inspectors criticizing how the Republican leaders who appointed Smithson failed to address COVID-19 concerns in the Iowa State Capitol Building, and suggested the letter might […]
The Iowa House Judiciary Committee voted in favor of a bill intended to prohibit so-called “vaccine passports” on Monday. The bill was introduced on Friday, two weeks after Gov. Kim Reynolds called for such legislation. “I strongly oppose vaccine passports and I believe that we must take a stand as a state against them, which […]
Republicans in the Iowa Senate approved an amendment to the Iowa Constitution that would undermine a woman’s right to an abortion on Tuesday. Senate Joint Resolution 2 passed on a party-line vote, with all Senate Republicans voting in favor and all the chamber’s Democrats voting against it. “Everyone deserves the freedom to make medical decisions […]
The Iowa Senate passed two bills concerning gun sales on Monday. The first removes the requirement for a person to be licensed to buy or carry a gun, and the second provides broad immunity against lawsuits to gun manufacturers and dealers. Both bills passed the Republican-controlled chamber on party-line votes. HF 756 and HF 621 […]
The Iowa Senate passed a bill allowing landlords to discriminate against anyone receiving federal housing assistance on Wednesday. The Senate had previously passed the bill on a party-line vote, but Republicans in the Iowa House amended SF 252 (formerly SSB 1079) when it passed the bill on Monday, so the Senate had to approve the […]
After more than four and a half hours of floor discussion on Tuesday night, the Iowa House of Representatives voted along party lines to approve a bill that imposes restrictions on diversity training offered by any state or local government agency and prohibits any instruction in public schools or universities on certain “divisive concepts” related […]
On Monday, the Iowa House of Representatives passed a bill already approved by the Senate, which would overturn ordinances in Iowa City, Marion and Des Moines that prevent landlords from discriminating against people who receive federal housing assistance. In addition to invalidating existing ordinances, SF 252 (formerly SSB 1079) would also prohibit any local government […]
A bill that would restrict discussion of “divisive concepts” related to racism and sexism in Iowa schools and universities was passed by an Iowa House subcommittee on Monday. Both of the Republicans on the subcommittee voted for it, and the lone Democrat opposed it. HSB 258 would require that the instructor of any mandatory diversity […]
Just eight days after it was introduced in the Iowa Legislature, a bill that would make it harder to vote but easier to remove people from voting rolls, and creates new criminal liability for local election officials, received its final approval. On Wednesday night, the Republican-controlled Iowa House of Representatives sent the bill to Gov. […]
A bill that would halt state funding to any city or county that reduces the budget of its local law enforcement agency is making its way through the Iowa Senate and House of Representatives. SSB 1203, known in the House as HSB 230, was introduced last Thursday and approved by subcommittees in the both the […]
At least 33 state legislatures around the country, most of them controlled by Republicans, are working on bills that restrict voting. Iowa is one of them. “These bills are an unmistakable response to the unfounded and dangerous lies about fraud that followed the 2020 election,“ the Brennan Center for Justice said in a report on […]
An effort by Republicans in the state legislature to eliminate tenure at Iowa’s three public universities advanced this week, as the House Education Committee passed a bill to end tenure at the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa, and a Senate subcommittee approved the Senate version of that bill. […]
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