Articles Tagged: Iowa Legislature

At a school tour in Des Moines, Reynolds also announced her legislative proposal to align all per-pupil state funding for public schools to charter schools.

Iowa Senate Republican lawmakers advanced a proposal Tuesday that would allow Iowa to revoke public pension benefits from public employees convicted of felonies, while acknowledging the bill’s current language is overly broad and will require changes.

Iowa Senate committee advances bill that would require county registrars to verify the U.S. citizenship of Iowans registering to vote using the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE.

The proposed legislation would require school districts to verify the identity and employment eligibility of all employees, and state regulators to confirm the lawful presence of any individuals who apply for state licensure.

The legislation would ban local governments from issuing identification cards like the ones issued by a Johnson County program that has been around since 2015.

Iowa House Republicans on Wednesday unveiled a “tough on crime” legislative package that would impose a mandatory 20-year prison sentence on repeat offenders, tighten bail rules and expand public access to judicial performance data.

With only modest concern raised by a Board of Regents lobbyist and Democratic lawmaker, a House higher education subcommittee Tuesday advanced a bill that would prohibit Iowa’s public universities from increasing resident undergraduate tuition and fees by any amount for the next five years.

Iowa Senate lawmakers on Tuesday rejected a bill that would block the state judicial branch from weighing in on and determining whether legislation passed by state lawmakers violates the Iowa State Constitution.

Iowa Senate lawmakers advanced a House-passed bill prohibiting eminent domain for carbon capture pipelines, with plans from a top Senate Republican to amend the legislation with his own proposed plan, likely extending a heated debate on the issue.

The group includes 12 Democratic members between the House and Senate, and will focus on advancing legislation that protects civil rights, ensures fair treatment in the justice system and promotes equity in housing and education through collaborative work.

An Iowa Senate subcommittee advanced a bill Monday that would make it a crime to engage in any acts attempting to alter the weather.

Drey, who was elected to represent northwest Iowa’s Senate District 1 in an August special election, breaking the chamber’s Republican supermajority, said she learned of her diagnosis five days before the legislative session started.

In a rare legislative move, the proposal to repeal Iowa casinos’ exemption from the state’s public smoking ban was not advanced after an initial hearing on the bill

House Republicans want predictability and relief now, the governor wants certainty for taxpayers plus restructuring, Senate Republicans want a rebuild, and Democrats want relief without squeezing local governments as hard. The fight now is how much pain lawmakers think cities and counties can absorb in exchange for lower tax bills.

New Iowa Senate Majority Leader Mike Klimesh, R-Spillville, said he will take the lead and see the bill through its legislative process, a task that rarely is undertaken by leaders in either chamber of the Iowa Legislature.