This week at the Capitol marked the 15th week and the 100th day of the 2022 legislative session. While the 100th day usually marks the scheduled end of session, we will be back again in the coming weeks to finish our work for the year. Until we adjourn, we will continue fighting for important priorities for Iowans, such as reforming unemployment, education, and workforce policy. The reason we continue our work past our scheduled end date is because we are taking the time to ensure Iowans’ money is being spent in smart ways by building a fiscally responsible budget and continuing to implement conservative spending practices. As Majority Leader Jack Whitver told the Des Moines Register recently, “We didn’t get elected to come spend money.” While priorities of the governor and Senate Republicans languish in the House, we will continue working on policy that will improve the lives of Iowans and make the future of Iowa even stronger.
The Senate was the only chamber working this week and it resumed debate on a number of bills. One of these bills was HF 2123, which the Senate passed unanimously on Tuesday afternoon. HF 2123 allows law enforcement to share driver’s license photos when a person is missing, or a person is a suspect in a missing person’s case. Under current law, law enforcement cannot share these photos with the public. In missing persons cases, minutes matter. This bill is common-sense legislation that eliminates government restrictions to let law enforcement more effectively do their jobs.
On Tuesday the Senate passed SF 2380, a bill to designate February 1 of each year as George Washington Carver Day in Iowa. George Washington Carver was an agricultural scientist, inventor, and the first African American to earn a Bachelor of Science degree. He attended Simpson College where he studied art and piano, and later attended Iowa State University where he studied botany. Washington Carver invented and created many new agricultural innovations, one of the most important being the idea of crop rotation, which is still used in Iowa fields to this day. He was also recognized with the Iowa Award, the state’s highest citizen award, in 2002. Thanks to his perseverance and innovative spirit, he dramatically improved the lives of people across the globe, helping lower food costs for the entire world.
