On Friday, February 22, the Legislature hit the first self-imposed deadline to narrow the number of bills still eligible for debate, called the “funnel”. While there are a few exceptions for tax and budget bills, any bill that has not cleared a House or Senate Committee is dead for the year. Click here to see the full list.
Democrats: Rewarding Hard Work
Strong Public Schools
- $300 million new investment in public schools, not corporations
- Reducing class size
- Using public money for public schools
- Raising pay and trusting educators to do their job
- Keeping rural schools open
- Involving more parents in their children’s education
- No teachers in jail or book bans
- Increasing funding for mental health service providers and programs in schools
Fair Taxes & More $$$ in the Pockets of Iowans
- Expanding tax credits for child care expenses
- Lowering income tax rates for the middle class
- Cutting income taxes for Iowans already in the workforce, sometimes working two or more jobs to make ends meet
- No more tax giveaways to corporations or millionaires
- Increased tax credits for essential workers like firefighters and EMTs
Fixing the Reynolds Workforce Crisis
- Affordable, accessible child care
- Raising wages
- Lowering costs for families
- Affordable housing
- Stopping divisive bills that make Iowa unwelcoming
- Expanding access to preschool
- Boosting funding for skilled worker training
Reynolds & GOP: Reward Corporations & Create Workforce Crisis
- Tax giveaways to corporations, millionaires, and special interests (HF 2317/SF 2206)
- Vouchers to shift money from public schools to private schools (SF 159/SSB 3080)
- Putting teachers and librarians in jail (SF 2198)
- Restricting solar power in Iowa (SF 2321)
- Cutting earned unemployment benefits (HF 2279/SF 2275; SF 2249)
- Putting monetary value on people’s lives when medical malpractice has occurred (HF 592/SF 557; HF 2279/SF 2275)
- Setting up new barriers to vote by mail (HSB 719/SSB 3143)
- Prohibiting transgender students in girls sports (HF 2416/SSB 3146)
- Prohibiting law enforcement from enforcing federal gun laws like background checks (HF 2303)
- Prohibiting employers from asking about vaccinations (HSB 647)
- Reducing safety at child care facilities by increasing child care ratios (HF 2131)
- Forcing doctors to provide false medical information to their patients (HF 2389)
- Allowing 16-year-olds to work with children without any supervision (HF 2198)
- Taking away food benefits from children during a pandemic (HF 2438)
- Raising class size and pushing teachers out of the classroom (HF 2316)
Bi-Partisan Bills Moving Ahead
- Improving newborn screening (SF 2290)
- Expanding dairy production in Iowa (SSB 3135/HF 2433)
- Expanding industrial hemp production in Iowa (SF 2110/HF 2380)
- Expanding meat and poultry production in Iowa (SF 2245)
- Creating “Choose Iowa” labeling and promotion program for Iowa food products (SF 2230/HF 2439)
- Creating a cold case unit (SF 2234)
- Increasing funding for Military Home Ownership Program to allow more veterans to buy their first home (SF 2264)
- Enhancing communication with Iowa’s returning veterans to ensure they access earned benefits (SF 255)
- Requiring employers to provide employees with reasonable pregnancy accommodations (HF 2257)
- Mental health loan repayment program (SF 2195)
- Teacher recruitment and retention (SF 2202)
- Health insurance coverage for hearing aids (HF 2188)
- Creating Cybersecurity Training Center Unit (HF 2361)
- More teachers qualify for Teach Iowa Scholars (HF 2083)
- More students eligible for scholarships (HF 2165)
- Suicide hotline number added to student ID’s (HF 2294)
- Scholarships for students with intellectual disabilities (HF 2306)
- Expand radon testing and mitigation in schools (HF 2412)
- Create teacher intern license (HF 2421)
- Give schools more flexibility for teacher substitutes (HSB 720)
- More transparency from drug companies (HF 2384)
- Expanding access to financial wellness resources (HF 2377)
- Cutting bureaucratic red tape for restaurant/bar owners (HF 2301)
- Strengthening consumer data privacy (HSB 674)
- New penalties for ransomware attacks (HSB 645)
- Expanding first responders access to live-saving naloxone for drug overdoses (HF 2323)
- Allowing DOT to share personal identification with law enforcement to help with missing persons’ cases (HF 2123)
- Encouraging Iowans to invest in their savings (HF 2329)
- Retirement benefits for State Fair police (HF 2374)
- Licensure of midwives, expanding birthing options for mothers (HF 2291)
- Expanding business and economic opportunity for native wineries (HF 2247)
- Sports betting revenues to community foundations, making quality of life improvements in our communities (HF 2286)
- Addressing the worker shortage, especially for teachers, by raising the income cap for retirees who go back to work (HF 2266)
- Additional dollars to public schools for paraeducators, substitute teachers, and bus drivers (HF 2315)
- Extending sunset for the Iowa Energy Center to 2027 (HF 2292)
- Increasing the penalties for drivers who cause accidents with bicycles (HF 2368)
- Increasing amount that can be spent helping veterans across the state (HF 2293)
- Creating additional legal protections for victims of human trafficking (HSB 721)
- Streamlining the process of submitting Groundwater Hazard Statements for property transfers. (HF 2343)
- Providing better access to hearing aids for children (HF 2188)
Good News: These GOP Bills Are Dead
- Letting politicians dictate discussion in social studies classrooms (HF 2053)
- Cameras in every classroom (HF 2177)
- Prohibiting abortions in Iowa (HF 2289)
- Adding “immunization status” to protected classes under Iowa Civil Rights protections (HF 2141)
- Prohibiting employers from requiring an applicant or employee to receive a vaccine for which a biologics license application has not been approved (HF 2067)
- Requiring filters on mobile devices to prevent accessing or displaying nudity or sexual conduct (HF 2066)
- Requiring intrusive and private information to be posted online about women who have had abortions (HF 2210)
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