How do you grade the Iowa Legislature so far? Depends

DES MOINES - It might not be dean's list material yet, but lawmakers are 'making good progress” toward earning a good grade based on the first part of the legislative session, Iowa House Speaker Pat Grassley believes.

'I was kind of a C student, so I know they're much better than that,” the New Hartford Republican said when asked to give the 2021 session a midterm grade.

His Democratic colleagues, though, assess the session so far much more harshly. House Minority Leader Todd Prichard, D-Charles City, gives the first 65 days of the scheduled 110-day session an 'F.”

'I think that this session has failed to grasp the moment that we're in,” Prichard said. 'We are in the middle of a pandemic. ... We have got record numbers of people at food banks ... record unemployment ... people dying on a daily basis and new infections on a daily basis. We have missed the opportunity to deal with the issues that are affecting everyday working Iowans - the pandemic.”

Rep. Jennifer Konfrst, a college professor who likes to give students 'a little chance at midterm,” rated the first portion of the session a 'D-.” However, she said, it's been frustrating because of the lack of attention majority Republicans have paid to the COVID-19 pandemic.

'It's almost like this year needs an asterisk (because) looking back you may not even know there was a global pandemic going on,” the Windsor Heights Democrat said. 'We haven't done a lot, really much of anything, to try to address it and help Iowans recover.”

If it weren't for the Biden administration and the American Rescue Plan just passed by Congress, she said, 'we'd be in an even worse shape. ... It'd be a big goose egg when it comes to COVID recovery for Iowans.”

The pandemic has impacted this session by adding urgency to the pace of lawmakers' work, Grassley said.

'With COVID-19, you know, we were in a situation where we wanted to make sure we kept things moving as fast as possible,” he said.

So Republicans, who control both the House and Senate, moved quickly within the first month of the session on Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds' call for a 100-percent in-person learning option for schools and approved a 2.4 percent increase in state aid to local schools.

The House also has approved several bills intended to increase access and afford ability of child care.

The GOP majority also has addressed several of the party's priorities, including an elections bill that limits early and absentee voting; amendments to restore felons' voting rights after they have completed their sentences; declare there is no right to an abortion in the Iowa Constitution; and a range of bills addressing what Republicans see as First Amendment issues especially at public universities.

'So I feel very good about where we're at,” Grassley said.

And there's time to do more, he said. Grassley talked about working toward agreement with the governor on a $450 million broadband infrastructure plan and expanding the renewable fuels market.

However, Prichard said, too much time has been wasted on partisan bills, including the elections bill and Senate passage of 'back the blue” bills and addressing what he called a non-existent issue of defunding police - all while ignoring the pandemic.

It's as if the Iowa Legislature 'was presented with a science test and we thought we were going to take an English exam,” he said.

Comments: (319) 398-8375; james.lynch@thegazette.com