Capitol Notebook: Iowa House advances legislation establishing school threat assessment teams

Schools would have the authority to create assessment teams to improve information sharing and collaboration when a student exhibits behavior that might threaten school safety under a bill headed to Gov. Kim Reynolds for her signature.

Senate File 583 passed the Iowa House Monday 91-0. It passed the Senate in March 48-0 and now is headed to Reynolds’ desk to be signed into law.

The bill would allow collaboration between schools and government agencies to provide services to students enrolled in kindergarten through 12th grade who are “experiencing or at risk of an emotional disturbance or mental illness, or who pose an articulable and significant threat to the health and safety of any person.”

The bill would authorize school districts, accredited non-public schools, charter schools and innovation zone schools to create school safety assessment teams that include school officials, law enforcement, mental health and social service professionals and juvenile court services.

“Threats directed toward the safety of our children at school are on the rise across the country,” said Rep. Henry Stone, the bill’s floor manager and Republican from Forest City.

Stone said the teams’ main purpose is to “assess concerning behaviors early, implement appropriate intervention strategies and facilitate necessary resources before a targeted act of violence occurs.”

“The inability to share information with one another is the most common barrier encountered by these multidisciplinary teams,” he said. “All this bill does … is if a school chooses to participate, it will give that school a tool that they can utilize to break that communication barrier and allow the school safety assessment team the ability to share information they found with each member of that team, while still following” federal rules and regulation that protect privacy of student education records and health information.

Rep. Monica Kurth, D-Davenport, noted the U.S. Secret Service's National Threat Assessment Center strongly recommends schools implement assessment teams to help prevent targeted violence. These teams are designed to identify and address potential threats, including those that could lead to violence.

The bill was introduced just over a year after a shooting at Perry Middle and High School killed a sixth-grade student and a principal and injured six others. The gunman, a 17-year-old student, killed himself.

Reynolds orders flags half-mast to honor Pope Francis

To honor Pope Francis, who died Monday, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds ordered all flags in Iowa to be lowered to half-staff immediately until sunset on the day of the Pope’s interment.

Reynolds’ order matches the proclamation issued by President Donald Trump.

Flags will be at half-staff on the Iowa Capitol Building and on flag displays at the Iowa Capitol Complex, as well as on all public buildings, grounds and facilities throughout the state, according to the governor’s office. The office encouraged individuals, businesses, schools, and local governments to do the same.

“Pope Francis devoted his life to serving Christ, leading the Catholic Church and its 1.4 billion members,” Reynolds said in a statement. “As it is written in Matthew, he was a good and faithful servant and has entered into the joy of the Lord. Kevin and I offer our condolences to Catholics in Iowa and worldwide.”

Iowa House advances psilocybin for PTSD treatment

Psilocybin, the active component in “magic mushrooms,” could be legally administered to help treat post-traumatic stress disorder and other disorders under a bill advanced by the Iowa House Monday.

House File 978, would establish a psilocybin production licensing board within the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services and allow the hallucinogen to be produced in the state.

Psilocybin, a naturally occurring hallucinogenic compound found in some species of mushroom, is listed as a Schedule I substance under the Controlled Substances Act. In the past few years, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has been studying the effects that synthetic psilocybin has on PTSD.

In recent years, voters in Oregon and Colorado have passed ballot measures decriminalizing natural psilocybin for therapeutic treatments.

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The bill’s sponsor, Republican Rep. John Wills, of Spirit Lake, who served in the U.S. military for 25 years and deployed overseas for three tours, said it will help create another form of treatment for veterans experiencing PTSD.

The proposed legislation’s board would have a similar structure to the state’s Medical Cannabidiol Advisory Board.

The House amended the bill to allow the board to decide whether to add other conditions and disorders to qualify for the treatment, as well as the administration of other psychotropic drugs backed up by peer-reviewed studies.

Under the legislation, there would be a limit of 5,000 patients who receive psilocybin recommendations. Recipients of the treatment would have to be at least 21 years old and be assessed by a qualified medical psilocybin provider who verifies they have PTSD.

If passed, the legislation is estimated to cost the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services $314,000 in 2026 and $335,000 in 2027 for additional staff and operating costs, according to the Iowa Legislative Services Agency.

State funding bill advances amid federal uncertainty

A bill that would allocate more than $574 million in federal block grant funding over each of the next two budget years passed the Iowa Senate — even as the state remains uncertain about what those federal funding levels will be.

Iowa Sen. Tim Kraayenbrink, R-Fort Dodge, noted during debate in the Senate that the federal block grant funding levels have not yet been authorized by Congress. The bill includes procedures for the possibility that the funds are less than the amount allocated in the bill.

The bill, Senate File 626, passed the Senate 45-0. It is now eligible for consideration in the House.

Gazette-Lee Des Moines Bureau