Articles Tagged: Governor

Recent state Supreme Court rulings ensured abortion access for pregnant women, but Iowa Republicans are working to nullify those rulings

Republicans say the bill will create more child care opportunities; Democrats say it will burden low-income families with higher child care costs

Governor and Senate Republicans are delaying adjournment in hopes that House Republicans will pass the bill.

Republicans say the bill will help address a shortage of child care workers; Democrats say it will not help, and could create dangerous scenarios with unsupervised teens monitoring multiple toddlers at day care centers

Iowa will become just the fourth state with 16 weeks or fewer of state unemployment benefits under legislation that needs only Gov. Kim Reynolds’ signature to become law.

State lawmakers on Tuesday approved with strong, bipartisan support a proposal to require that most Iowa gas stations sell the E15 blend of ethanol in at least one pump.

Under the new law, cities including Cedar Rapids and Iowa City will no longer be able to restrict firework sales to only certain zoning categories.

Advocates say the proposal does not go nearly far enough in increasing protections for mobile home owners and renters, and thus does little to address the recent proliferation of out-of-state companies that have bought mobile home lots and parks and increased rent and fees.

The impasse over Reynolds’ private school tuition assistance proposal may be the most significant element of legislators’ attempts to finish their work for the session. It’s something Reynolds has spent multiple years pushing and Senate Republicans have backed. But the resistance where it exists within the House Republican caucus has been firm.

In addition to vouchers, K-12 transparency, unemployment benefits, a proposed ethanol mandate, and the bottle bill remain on lawmakers’ to-do list.

Glenwood Resource Center, the state-operated facility for Iowans with intellectual and developmental disabilities, has been under scrutiny from the federal justice department. State leaders announced Thursday it will close in 2024.

There appears to be some significant ground to cover before the Republican-led Iowa House and Senate reach an agreement on those issues.

State lawmakers have given the first stage of approval to a proposed state constitutional amendment that would clarify what happens when Iowa’s governor must be replaced.

They opposed Senate File 2263, which would end the requirement the Senate confirm a governor’s appointments to about two dozen state boards and commissions. Currently, those appointments must be approved by a two-thirds vote of the 50-member Iowa Senate.

Deidre DeJear, the likely Democratic candidate for Iowa governor, filed her nominating signatures Tuesday, officially making her the first Black woman in Iowa’s history to be the Democratic or Republican party candidate for governor