Good riddance to bad bills

This has been the sort of legislative session where often the best outcome you can hope for is bad ideas getting scrapped. Last week, several misguided bills failed to clear a second funnel deadline, a procedural threshold meant to pare down the number of eligible bills as lawmakers push toward adjournment.

We hope these “dead” bill stay dead.

A so-called “personhood” bill that declared life begins at conception and likely would have complicated Iowans’ ability to access fertility treatments didn’t make the cut. Gov. Kim Reynolds’ latest salvo at the rights of transgender Iowans, defining “man” and “woman” in such a way that would encourage discrimination, failed to clear the funnel.

Legislation permitting state agencies to hire private accountants to conduct annual audits, bypassing the Democratic state auditor was tossed. As was legislation that would have placed rigid restrictions on diversity, equity and inclusion programs on state university campuses.

Iowa schoolkids won’t be required to learn from a history and civics curriculum written by conservative groups and imposed by Republican lawmakers.

Some of these bills got the heave-ho because majority Republicans were wary of costs and unintended consequences. Others were scrapped amid infighting between House Republicans and Senate Republicans.

Whatever the reason, we’re glad to see them go.

But the problem with dead bills is they sometimes come back to life. Bad ideas that didn’t clear the funnel sometimes show up late in the session as amendments to budget legislation and other bills. Sometimes, these zombie bills show up late at night during the often-chaotic final push toward adjournment.

So vigilance still is required. And, of course, many lousy ideas remain alive — “reforming” AEAs, letting pesticide makers off the hook for legal liability, permitting the arming of school staff and yet another set of election law changes remain alive. Lawmakers are also considering banning subpoenas that allow defense attorneys to gain details about a criminal investigation.

The Senate and House have differing proposals to enact more income tax cuts, perhaps putting the state on track to eliminate the income tax.

So, much can happen in the final weeks of the session. Here’s to hoping when the dust settles, the scrap heap of bad bills will grow even larger.

(319) 398-8262; editorial@thegazette.com