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Iowa bill creating 'Don't Tread on Me' license plate advances
Also in the Capitol Notebook: Bill banning cities from hiring lobbyists with taxpayer money moved ahead in Senate
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DES MOINES — The Iowa Senate Transportation Committee advanced a bill that would require the state Department of Transportation to issue a “Don’t Tread on Me” license plate.
Introduced by Sen. Scott Webster, R-Bettendorf, Senate Study Bill 1162 would allow Iowans to purchase license plates with elements of the “Don’t Tread on Me” or Gadsden flag. The plates would be golden yellow and include the image of a black-and-white coiled snake in green grass.
The Gadsden flag was designed during the Revolutionary War in 1775 to symbolize resistance to tyranny and support for individual rights. The flag has come to be used by various groups and protesters, including in recent years by right-wing protesters such as the Jan. 6, 2021, rioters at the U.S. Capitol.
Each would cost $50 for five letter-number designated plates. The annual fee would be $5 in addition to the annual special Gadsden flag fee and the regular annual registration fee.
Funds from the fee would go to the state Department of Public Safety to provide grants for education and training on “the right to keep and bear arms and training on firearm safety.”
All Democratic members of the Senate Transportation Committee voted against the legislation.
House advances food aid but with caveat
Republican lawmakers on the Iowa House Health and Human Services Committee advanced legislation that would appropriate money to a program that matches dollars provided by the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program so recipients could purchase more fruits and vegetables.
But the funding for the Double Up Food Bucks program is contingent on whether the U.S. Department of Agriculture approves a waiver for exemptions that would strike nearly two-thirds of a grocery store’s food products from SNAP eligibility.
The program provides a 1-to-1 match to SNAP recipients to purchase fruits and vegetables.
Committee Chair Rep. Carter Nordman, R-Panora, said House Study Bill 216 allows for flexibility in SNAP purchases and incentivizes healthy habits, pointing to Iowa’s high rates of obesity and cancer.
“These obesity related diseases often disproportionately affect lower-income individuals at a much higher rate,” Nordman said. “The leading cause of death in Iowa is heart disease. This bill incentivizes better eating habits. This bill is not about policing what people are eating.”
The original legislation included a list of specific food products that would be considered SNAP eligible, which some critics argued would significantly limit food options for recipients. An amendment introduced by Nordman would let the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services put together a list of SNAP eligible foods instead.
Rep. Rob Johnson, a Democrat from Des Moines, urged committee members not to advance the bill, arguing it would restrict the flexibility of families to purchase food options that work for them.
“There are so many people in rural Iowa right now who are dependent on these benefits, there are so many people in urban (areas) who are dependent on these benefits,” Johnson said.
Democratic Rep. Tracy Ehlert, of Cedar Rapids, said further limits on SNAP create more stigma around using it. She said the flexibility around food products is helpful for children with special needs, like she experienced when she was a single mother on SNAP.
“There's already a stigma that comes with being on assistance like this. SNAP is not a handout,” Ehlert said. “I probably wouldn’t be sitting here as a legislator today without that.”
Ban on lobbyists for cities advances
Cities would not be able to use taxpayer funding to hire lobbyists under legislation approved by the Senate Local Government Committee.
Sen. Dave Sires, R-Cedar Falls, said Senate Study Bill 1042 helps ensure that only state lawmakers are advocating for constituents, not lobbyists hired by and to represent city leadership.
Democrats opposed to the bill pointed out that city councils and mayors who hire the lobbyists also are elected.
The bill was passed by the committee on a voice vote; Democrats Janice Weiner of Iowa City, Herman Quirmbach of Ames and Izaah Knox of Des Moines recorded themselves as voting against the bill.
It is now eligible for debate by the full Iowa Senate.
Gazette-Lee Des Moines Bureau
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