(C) Iowa Capital Dispatch
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Iowa lawmakers consider rules on blocked education, abortion laws [1]
['Robin Opsahl', 'More From Author', '- January']
Date: 2024-01-08
On the first day of the 2024 Iowa legislative session, a panel of lawmakers spent several hours considering rules to implement laws passed last year.
The Legislature’s Administrative Rules Review Committee approved rules Monday needed to carry out measures on education, abortion and child labor passed in 2023.
The committee moved to advance rules related to multiple high-profile measures enacted last year — including a law currently under a court injunction that would bar books with sexual content from schools and prohibit instruction and material related to LGBTQ+ subjects.
Most of the rules discussed by the committee did not receive public feedback during earlier steps of the rulemaking process, a necessary step in order for laws to become enforcable. Thomas Mayes, an attorney with the Iowa Department of Education, said the department received 82 written comments as well as in-person feedback on the educational materials law.
Many of the comments were related to underlying objections to the law as opposed to problems with the specific language being proposed, Mayes said. Others asked for the public comment period to be extended, but the education department plans to move forward with the rulemaking process.
Portions of the law are currently blocked from enforcement through a temporary injunction as the law faces two challenges in federal court. While some teacher and library advocates have called for the department to pause the rulemaking process, Mayes said the department has chosen to move forward with it.
“The department is mindful and … the state board is governing itself by the terms of the injunction issued by Judge Locher,” Mayes said. “But in my estimation, and that of staff that did not preclude the department’s ability to seek public comment, because, I’m never going to tell people they can’t publicly comment on pending rules and legislation.”
He also said advancing the rulemaking process is needed to allow enforcement of portions of the law not affected by the court cases, including a measure requiring schools to notify a student’s parents if they ask to use different pronouns or name than the ones they were given at birth.
Abortion rules
Lawmakers discussed rules for another law currently blocked by the courts — an abortion measure passed during a July special session. Democrats questioned the proposed rules on implementation of the law banning most abortions in Iowa after six weeks of gestation.
The so-called “fetal heartbeat” law would prohibit medical professionals from performing abortions as soon as embryonic cardiac activity is detectable — which typically occurs at six week of pregnancy — with exceptions for rape, incest, and to save the life of the pregnant patient.
Jill Stuecker, division director for the Iowa Department of Inspections, Licensing and Appeals, said the department received 62 public comment responses to the proposed rules, with 18 being technical feedback of the rules. The Iowa Board of Medicine plans to review draft revisions made by the Iowa Medical Society and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists at its Friday meeting, she said.
Sen. Nate Boulton, D-Des Moines, questioned the lack of language like “consistent with standard medical practices” or “reasonable medical judgment” in the rules as means to prove the abortion was medically necessary. Leif Olson, chief deputy attorney general, said that language on the use of “reasonable degree of medical certainty” is used in civil liability cases and not relevant to this law.
Though the rulemaking process is moving forward, the law cannot be enforced with an injunction in place. Abortion remains legal up to 20 weeks of pregnancy in Iowa as the new law works through the courts.
Child labor
The committee also advanced proposed rules for the implementation of a child labor law. The law extends hours that 14- and 15-year-olds can work. It also allows youth ages 16 and up to seek exemptions for work-study and employer training programs in restricted fields with dangerous working conditions, and to sell and serve alcohol in restaurants while kitchens are open.
Democrats on the committee questioned Mitchell Mahan, a DIAL attorney, about the conflicts between the Iowa law and federal law, specifically on the changes to 16- and 17-year-olds’ ability to work in potentially dangerous fields, and the hours and work tasks allowed for by 14- and 15-year-old employees.
Mahan confirmed that the law was in conflict with federal regulations, but said any problems would be up to the “enforcement attitude of the federal Department of Labor.”
Making changes to address the conflicts between the state and federal law would require new legislation. Though Mahan said the rules drafted were in line with the 2023 law, Boulton said the process could be a place to address the disputes with federal law.
“We want Iowa employers to feel secure and providing workforce opportunities for kids in this state, and we want them to comply with federal and state laws,” Boulton said. “And I would hate to see any situation where a parent or an employer in this state says, ‘okay, we’re complying with the statute,’ and put their kid in a dangerous position.”
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[1] Url:
https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2024/01/08/iowa-lawmakers-consider-rules-on-blocked-education-abortion-laws/
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