Capitol Notebook: Reynolds to sign bills dealing with fentanyl, child care

Gov. Kim Reynolds will sign a handful of bills on a tour across the state this week, holding public ceremonies to enact laws dealing with fentanyl, child care, vehicle enforcement and butcheries.

Reynolds will hold a fentanyl roundtable in Atlantic on Tuesday, where she will sign House File 595 into law. The bill will hike penalties for manufacturing and selling fentanyl, a potent synthetic opioid. It also will increase penalties for providing or selling a drug to someone that results in their death, and increase access to opioid antagonists like naloxone, that can reverse the effects of an overdose.

Later Tuesday, Reynolds will sign Senate File 513, which will transfer certain motor vehicle enforcement employees from the Department of Transportation to the Department of Public Safety. The ceremony will take place at the Interstate 80 weigh station in Adel.

On Thursday at the Childcare Discovery Center in Fort Dodge, Reynolds plans to sign House File 707. The bill will make more parents eligible for state child care assistance, but require that they work more hours. The bill will bump up the eligibility limit for child care assistance to 160 percent of the federal poverty line and require recipients to work 32 hours per week, up from 28 hours.

Later on, Reynolds will visit Rutland to sign into law House File 185, which increases eligibility for butchery businesses to participate in the butchery innovation and revitalization program.

AG updates immigration lawsuit

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird announced new claims in a Texas-led lawsuit against President Joe Biden’s administration’s immigration parole practices, which have been put on pause by another lawsuit.

The lawsuit challenges a May 10 update to the U.S. Border Patrol’s parole practices, which would allow officials to parole migrants crossing the border to alleviate overcrowding at border facilities if certain conditions are met. The migrant would then generally be required to schedule a hearing date within 60 days, but the parole could be extended under certain conditions.

A Florida judge issued a temporary halt on the practice in response to a separate lawsuit filed by the state of Florida on Thursday.

“At a time where we have record numbers of illegal immigrants flooding our southern border, the Biden administration decided to make things worse,” Bird said in a news release Friday.

Seat belt campaign

Iowa officials are urging Iowans to buckle up ahead of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Click It or Ticket campaign.

The enforcement effort will run from May 22 to June 4.

The “Click It or Ticket” campaign is managed by the Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau, which works with local governments and the state to improve traffic safety and reduce deaths.