Capitol Notebook: Trump administration drops Title IX appeal

An attempt by former President Joe Biden’s administration to prohibit discrimination in education based on sexual orientation and gender identity under Title IX has been halted after President Donald Trump’s administration on Monday dropped the federal government’s appeal to a federal court ruling that blocked the Biden administration’s rule.

Iowa, under Republican Attorney General Brenna Bird, had joined a multistate lawsuit challenging the Biden administration’s proposal, which would have effectively expanded the scope of Title IX — the 1972 law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in education at K-12 schools and higher education institutions — by extending those protections to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity and sex characteristics.

A judge blocked the rule’s implementation in July, and the Biden administration appealed. On Monday, the Trump administration dropped the appeal.

Many of the states in the lawsuit, including Iowa, have laws that would have been in violation of the proposed rule. Reynolds signed a law last year that requires school students and staff to use the bathroom that matches their sex assigned at birth.

“Common sense is back in the White House,” Bird said in a statement. “I was glad to fight against Biden’s gender ideology mandate that forced boys into girls’ locker rooms and sports teams. I’m also grateful to President Trump for ending Biden’s scheme that put half a century of landmark protections for women and girls on the chopping block.”

Senate Republicans pass ban on citizen police review boards

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Citizen police review boards like the ones in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City would be prohibited in Iowa communities that already have civil service commissions under legislation voted out of the Iowa Senate by majority Republicans.

Citizen police review boards have been created in some Iowa cities in an attempt to improve relationships between local police and the public.

The bill also changes the makeup of civil service commissions — which oversee the testing, hiring, promotion and discipline for police officers, firefighters and other civil service positions — based upon population, as well as the standards and procedures for the removal, discharge, demotion, or suspension of a city civil service employee.

Sen. Scott Webster, R-Bettendorf, said the legislation is needed to defend law enforcement from political interventions by citizen review boards and the media coverage that goes along with them, and that the boards violate a police officer’s right to due process.

Sen. Janice Weiner, D-Iowa City, noted some citizen police review boards in Iowa have been in place for decades, and that the boards have not created a legal “double jeopardy” for Iowa police.

The bill, Senate File 311, passed the Senate on a 37-9 vote with five Democrats joining all Republicans in support. A similar bill passed the Iowa Senate last year by the same count, but was not considered in the Iowa House.

Senate Republicans again approve judicial nominating changes

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The governor would get one more nomination — and with it, a majority — on the commissions that recommend state judge candidates to the governor under legislation approved largely along party lines in the Iowa Senate.

Currently, the 11-member judicial nominating commissions for district court vacancies are comprised of five attorneys, five appointees from the governor, and the senior-most judge in the district, who serves as the chair. The commissions create a short list of candidates for judicial vacancies, from which the governor makes an appointment.

The bill would replace the judge with a sixth appointee by the governor.

Sen. Julian Garrett, R-Indianola, has pushed the legislation for years, saying it is needed because the attorneys and judge outweigh the governor’s appointees.

Sen. Herman Quirmbach, D-Ames, called the proposal a further politicization of Iowa’s courts. Similar changes were made in 2019 to the commissions that make recommendations for vacancies to the Iowa Supreme Court.

The bill has passed the Senate in previous years and did again Monday; Senate File 407 passed, 31-15, with only Republicans supporting and two Republicans joining all Democrats in opposition. The bill is eligible for consideration in the Iowa House, which in past years has not taken up the proposal.

Ban on schools as satellite voting for school issues passes

Schools could not serve as satellite voting sites for elections for school bonding and levy votes under legislation approved by Senate Republicans.

Sen. Cindy Winckler, D-Davenport, said the bill’s language says a school cannot serve as a satellite voting location for bonding questions, but does not specify that it must be a school bonding question. Winckler claimed the bill could bar schools as satellite voting locations for any bonding question.

Senate File 140 passed the Senate on a 33-13 vote that was largely along party lines, with mostly Republicans supporting and Democrats opposing. The bill is now eligible for consideration by the full Iowa House.

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Bill would prohibit minors from using tanning beds

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Anyone under 18 would be prohibited from using tanning beds under legislation advanced by the Iowa House on Monday.

The Iowa House passed House File 524 81-13, with lawmakers pointing to the state’s rising cancer rates as the driving factor behind the legislation. Iowa ranks second-highest in cancer rates compared to other states.

“We need to attack cancer in every way to ensure Iowa cancer rates do go down. There are other guardrails for cancer prevention, like smoking and drinking, this bill is really no different,” the bill's sponsor, Republican Rep. Hans Wilz of Ottumwa, said.

According to the American Academy of Dermatology, using tanning beds before age 20 can increase the chances of a person developing melanoma by 47 percent.

Iowa has a similar melanoma rate to Sun Belt states like Arizona and Florida, according to the Iowa Cancer Registry.

The bill would require written consent in person from a parent or guardian for a minor to use a tanning bed. It also would require tanning facilities to include the following statement: “UV tanning devices increase the risk of melanoma, a particularly deadly type of skin cancer. UV radiation is most dangerous when exposed at a young age.”

Facilities that violate the restrictions would have to pay a fine of up to $1,000.

The Iowa Senate passed similar legislation in 2015, but it did not pass in the House.

Under proposal, registered sex offenders could not be firefighters

House lawmakers unanimously advanced legislation that would prohibit anyone on the sex offender registry from receiving firefighter certification.

House File 793 also would prohibit anyone on the sex offender registry from serving as a volunteer firefighter.

The House also advanced an amendment that would extend the prohibition to anyone who works at a fire station.

Proposal would limit special elections for vacant positions

The Iowa House passed legislation 66-30 that would allow cities to file an action in district court to contest a petition for a special election if the vacated unexpired term is less than one year.

The floor manager for House File 510, Rep. Megan Jones, a Republican from Sioux Rapids, said special elections are costly to fill a seat for just a few months.

“This allows cities a mechanism to prohibit the spiteful petitions or the bitterness of someone having some bad feelings as a result of a prior election,” Jones said.

Democratic Rep. Adam Zabner from Iowa City said he is concerned the bill could limit the ability of voters to contest an appointment they have an issue with.

Gazette-Lee Des Moines Bureau

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