Erin Murphy

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds will give the Republicans’ response to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union Address on March 1.

Workers at child care centers would be allowed to watch more children, potentially creating new child care slot openings, under a proposal from Iowa Senate Republicans.

Roughly $9 of every $10 in state revenue would be poured into next year’s state budget, while the remaining money would be set aside, under the myriad proposals from Republicans at the Iowa Capitol.

Banning transgender girls from girls sports and requiring E15 ethanol at all gas stations are among the living; restricting eminent domain and requiring video cameras in classrooms are among the dead.

Ten Iowa middle- and high-school girls — two of them transgender — spoke Thursday at a legislative hearing on legislation that would ban transgender girls from competing in girls athletics in Iowa. Also, Gov. Kim Reynolds signed her first bill of the session: a $3.6 billion K-12 public education package.

Proposed income tax cuts are on the move, and work on the next state budget has started earlier than normal.

A proposal to enable parents to start legal proceedings against schools or educators who distribute books or materials the parents deem obscene advanced Wednesday at the Iowa Capitol. Also advancing was a bill that would require Iowa, ISU and UNI sports teams to schedule games against each other.

Iowa elections’ recount procedures would be streamlined, funding from private groups to help elections operations would be prohibited, and an additional signature requirement for votes cast by mail would be added under a new proposal being considered by state lawmakers.

Majority Republicans in the Iowa Senate are proposing a state budget of just more than $8.2 billion. Also, a ban on the use of eminent domain — the practice of the government claiming private land for private business projects — passed the first step of the legislative process, but only with hesitant support.

Gov. Kim Reynolds on Tuesday indicated she would likely sign into law a ban on transgender girls from competing in girls athletics in Iowa, should state lawmakers send such a bill to her.

During a rally at the Iowa Capitol on Monday, a coalition of advocacy organizations called for a moratorium on new factory farms. Elsewhere at the Capitol: Senate Republicans advance changes to Iowa’s unemployment system, including a reduction in the time to receive benefits.

Public K-12 schools in Iowa are in line for a 2.5 percent increase in state funding under a proposal that cleared the Iowa Legislature on Monday and is on its way to Gov. Kim Reynolds’ desk.

Sports betting in Iowa hit another peak in January, with more than $300 million bet in a single month for the first time, and is likely to continue climbing with big-ticket sporting events in February and March.

Cities, schools, counties take advantage of low interest rates

Bill is eligible for consideration by the Senate Judiciary Committee, but its long-term prospects are unclear.