Senate passes anti-bullying bill but Iowa GOP has reservations

URBANDALE - A key House GOP leader Wednesday signaled that a Senate-passed anti-bullying measure that is one of Gov. Terry Branstad's top priorities may have problems among majority Republicans.

'I can tell you that a very large portion of our caucus does not support that bill, especially in the current form,” House Majority Leader Linda Upmeyer, R-Clear Lake, said in response to a question posed by a member of the Westside Conservative Club at the group's weekly breakfast meeting.

Upmeyer said some House Republicans are concerned that parents would not be contacted in all circumstances where a child may be involved in a bullying incident. The Senate-passed bill would require parental notification of incidents while allowing exceptions if the victim may be threatened further.

Other provisions of the Senate bill, which is on the House debate calendar, would give schools the authority to address off-grounds and online incidents, and would create training programs for school officials and a statewide task force to provide ongoing analysis of bullying issues.

'We believe that families absolutely are the ones that can change the behaviors of the kids moving forward,” Upmeyer told the breakfast gathering.

She said schools were given authority to address issues that take place outside of the classroom under a 2007 anti-bullying law, 'so we don't believe that more is necessary - at least many of the caucus members don't. And so, if that bill does move forward, I think it will look very different.”

Later in the day at the Statehouse, Upmeyer said a decision has not been made on the fate this session of the anti-bullying bill, adding 'I'm not sure yet how this is going to turn out.”

Rep. Ron Jorgensen, R-Sioux City, chairman of the House Education Committee, said he remained hopeful it will move forward and he was optimistic it would pass the House en route to the governor's desk.

However, he said it would be the majority leader's call whether the bill would get debated.

'I feel, if it gets run on the House floor, it passes, so I hope they do run it,” ” said Jorgensen noted it would take support from minority Democrats to achieve the 51 votes needed for House passage.

Branstad, in an interview, said he believed there would be 35 to 40 House Republicans who would vote for the anti-bulling bill, and there would be support from Democratic representatives as well. He noted that 43 senators voted for passage last month.

'I'm hopeful that same thing can happen in the House,” he said.

'A lot of these important issues should not be done just by one party,” the governor said.

Sen. Rob Hogg, D-Cedar Rapids, the bill's floor manager in the Senate, said the Senate passed a good bill with bipartisan language that provides for parental notification and helps make Iowa schools safer. He said it was now up to the GOP-run House to decide the measure's fate this session.

'I think I'll just let the Republicans fight each other on that issue,” Hogg said. 'If the Republicans in the House want to have an internal civil war over that, that's their opportunity to have an internal civil war.”