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As ‘funnel’ week ends, lawmakers pass bills on AEAs, elections, parking meters [1]
['Robin Opsahl', 'More From Author', '- February']
Date: 2024-02-15
Election changes, fetal development education requirements and parking meters were among the topics Iowa lawmakers debated Thursday, the last day to move certain bills before the first legislative deadline of the 2024 session.
House Republicans introduced several major education bills the previous day and shepherded them through the subcommittee and committee processes Thursday. The quick turnaround was necessary — most legislation must be passed by a committee in at least one chamber this week to remain eligible for consideration.
While there are some exceptions to the deadline, lawmakers spent Thursday in committee meetings passing through bills to ensure they remain up for debate in the coming weeks.
Here are some of the bills that survived the “funnel” deadline Thursday:
Education
Area Education Agencies: The House Education Committee approved House Study Bill 713 on a 15-8 vote.
Though Democrats voted against the measure, they praised House Republicans for the proposal, the result of weeks of work on Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds’ proposed overhaul of the Area Education Agencies system. AEAs provide special education services to Iowa students.
Rep. Skyler Wheeler, R-Hull, thanked Republicans, Democrats and AEA stakeholders for their work to put together the bill in the past month.
“Resetting the conversation, being able to kind of go back to the start and work through some of this, has been a significant, I would say, victory for our republic,” Wheeler said.
The governor’s initial proposal would have allowed schools to contract with private companies or other AEAs to meet students’ special education needs, in addition to cutting agencies’ ability to provide general education and media services — though these provisions were pulled back in an amendment.
The legislation was met with significant opposition by educators and Iowans whose families receive AEA services. While a House subcommittee voted down the bill, senators advanced the measure with plans for changes. On Wednesday, the Senate Education Committee passed an amended version of the Reynolds’ bill.
In the subcommittee meeting Thursday, advocates, educators and lobbyists said the new bill addresses many of the concerns they had with the initial legislation. The House bill would continue sending all federal special education funds directly to AEAs, and would require state and local funding for special education to go to school districts, which would be required to continue using AEAs to provide those services.
School districts would be able to work with private entities for media and general education services beginning in the 2025-2026 school year, and could still work with AEAs for these services on a contract basis.
In the subcommittee meeting, some advocates still brought up concerns with the bill on issues like operational sharing or the future of AEAs’ crisis intervention services, but thanked House lawmakers for the proposal. Melissa Peterson with the Iowa State Education Association said while the organization is still registered in opposition to the legislation, “this is our favorite so far.”
Peterson and others specifically pointed to the bill’s creation of a task force to study the AEA system and make recommendations to lawmakers ahead of the 2025 legislative session. This provision would allow an examination into the concerns people have with AEAs and Iowa’s special education provisions, she said, and find “opportunities for improvement.”
Heather Sievers, the founder of Advocates for Iowa’s Children and mother to a child who uses AEA services, said she still had concerns about the legislation limiting AEA and school districts’ ability to share resources and collaborate to provide services most efficiently — especially in rural school districts.
“The fundamental core issue with the bill, still, is that we’re kind of backtracking in time, moving away from an integrated model, which I think is what people are worried about,” Sievers said.
Wheeler emphasized in both the committee and subcommittee meetings that the legislation is still not a finished product, and that conversations will continue on how to further change the proposal to address specific concerns. He said he has never looked at the topic of special education services and AEAs as a political or philosophical issue, but as a question of how to improve services and outcomes for students.
“And do I think it’s there yet?” Wheeler said. “No, I do not. But I think we can get there. I think we’ve made so much progress, we have so many people at the table — and yeah, I think we can get there.”
Fetal development education: The House Education Committee advanced House File 2031 along party lines Thursday, a bill that would require schools to show fetal development videos to students.
Rep. Molly Buck, D-Ankeny, repeated calls from reproductive rights advocates in the bill’s subcommittee meeting that the material schools would be required to show may not be medically accurate.
The bill highlights “Meet Baby Olivia,” a video produced by the anti-abortion group Live Action, as an example of what would be shown in classrooms.
Buck said many of the development facts, as well as the “views expressed” in the video, run contrary to those accepted by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Buck said she believed subjects mandated to be taught in school should be based in accepted practices and information by the scientific community.
“I also will be very upfront and honest that I have a lot of trouble with the ‘Baby Olivia’ video just because it is put out there by a group who has a very one-sided agenda,” Buck said. “And I don’t think we should be presenting one single agenda to our kids at school, be it one side or the other.”
Rep. Anne Osmundson, R-Volga, said many of the facts in the video come from the Endowment for Human Development, citing the organization’s stated commitment to neutrality on “all controversial bioethical issues.”
“I don’t see that is one-sided,” Osmundson said. “This bill is about teaching children the basic facts about human development in an approachable way.”
College student data reports: The House Education Committee unanimously passed an amended version of House File 2347, which would make college and career transition counselors exempt from supplemental weights for school districts and require data reports from community colleges.
The bill would bar college and career transition counselors from counting toward supplemental weighting caps for school districts with shared operational functions with community colleges or other organizations. The change allows districts to receive additional funding for student support and resources.
The amendment struck requirements that private universities and certain other institutions gather data and compile reports on their graduates, including income and student loan debt. Community colleges would still be required to publish information and statistics about different career paths and debt through the Iowa Student Outcomes website, which Rep. Dan Gehlbach, R-Urbandale, said they already do.
Critics of the bill said in a Wednesday subcommittee meeting that the original bill would duplicate data reporting requirements colleges and universities already fulfill and create additional burdens for colleges and schools. It could also lead to reporting inaccurate data, opponents said.
“I served on the subcommittee and I’m very pleased, I think the amendment solved the problems that people brought up in subcommittee,” Rep. Monica Kurth, D-Davenport, said.
Government:
Election law: Ballot drop boxes and ranked-choice voting would be banned under House Study Bill 697, which the House State Government Committee passed Thursday on a 15-7 vote. Its companion, Senate Study Bill 3161, passed through the Senate committee Wednesday.
The bill also requires absentee ballots to be received by county auditors the day before the election and requires absentee voters to list their driver’s license or voter ID numbers when returning their ballots.
Rep. Adam Zabner, D-Iowa City, said in the House committee meeting that the measures will make it more difficult for voters, especially those with disabilities, to participate in elections.
“I mean, for God’s sake, your ballot – you turn in your ballot on Election Day, and it’s not going to count? That would make us one of the most restrictive states in the country. It’s just plain wrong,” he said.
The bill also includes a provision limiting challenges Iowans can pose to federal candidates’ eligibility to appear on the ballot. Zabner said the legislation is “a favor for one man,” former President Donald Trump, who faces 91 felony charges and is currently involved in a U.S. Supreme Court case weighing whether Colorado has the ability to disqualify him from the state’s presidential primary ballot.
Rep. Bobby Kaufmann, R-Wilton, said the measure is not a “voter suppression” tactic as opponents claimed and makes voting easier in Iowa.
“This bill is about election integrity,” Kaufmann said. “I’m happy to report that Iowa will remain number one in election integrity in the United States.”
Public safety and judiciary
Hemp regulation: Legislation expanding state regulatory oversight of hemp products passed the House Public Safety Committee unanimously Thursday, despite some lingering concerns that the legislation might negatively affect children with medical conditions.
House Study Bill 665 includes measures allowing the state Department of Health and Human Services to more directly regulate the sale of hemp-derived and cannabis products. The agency could penalize businesses that are not conforming to Iowa law, such as the sale of products that are above Iowa’s THC limit or in a non-accepted form like raw flower products or alcoholic beverages containing THC.
Rep. Steven Holt, R-Denison, said when hemp laws were written a few years ago, “little did we know that scientists could get into the laboratories and produce THC-infused drinks that could get people high. At this point, we’re the wild wild west — they could even be serving them to minors.”
Rep. Bob Kressig, D-Cedar Falls, supported the bill but said he was concerned about language that could “criminalize” parents who purchase hemp products for their children who suffer from brain injuries, epilepsy or other conditions that the state’s medical cannabidiol program was intended to address.
Holt said he expected changes in the bill before it reaches the House floor.
Parking meters: A bill that would forbid “double dipping” by electronic parking systems, House Study Bill 669, advanced out of the House Public Safety Committee on a vote of 14-9.
Rep. Hans Wilz, R-Ottumwa, said the bill would affect parking systems like the one in Des Moines, which uses phone apps or kiosks or other electronic means to sell time to drivers. If someone leaves a parking space before their time is expired, they forfeit the money for the extra time and the next driver to use the space cannot claim the time. The city ends up collecting “double rent” on the space, he said.
The bill would require parking meters to allow the use of a parking space by any user for the duration of the time purchased, regardless of whether the person who paid for the parking is occupying the space. It would also require meters, kiosks, or internet applications used to purchase parking to display any remaining time left by a previous user.
Police officer decertification: The House Public Safety Committee, with little discussion, unanimously passed legislation that would require automatic decertification of a police officer after a second conviction for drunken driving.
House File 2413 would extend the list of offenses that require decertification by the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy. It applies to an officer who twice pleads guilty to or is convicted of driving a vehicle with a blood-alcohol concentration of .08 percent or more, or with a measurable amount of a controlled substance in their blood or urine.
Agriculture and environment
Grain indemnity fund: A bill that is meant to help modernize the state’s Grain Indemnity Fund received unanimous support from the Senate Agriculture Committee.
Senate Study Bill 3174 would roughly double the fund’s operating balance and will expand its coverage to credit-sale contracts. The fund reimburses farmers for their losses when a state-licensed grain dealer buys their corn or soybeans but goes defunct before paying.
The fund covers 90% of losses at amounts of up to $300,000 per sale. The bill would increase the minimum fund balance to $8 million and the maximum to $16 million. The current minimum and maximum are $3 million and $8 million.
Sen. Jeff Edler, R-State Center, said further changes to the fund’s operation are possible as the bill continues through the legislative process.
— Kathie Obradovich, Jared Strong and Brooklyn Draisey contributed to this report.
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