Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement Action Fund let its supporters know about some bills working their way through the legislative process in Des Moines. Bills that they acknowledge will likely not advance very far.
“Unfortunately, these people and planet first policies face an uphill battle,” they wrote. “Why? Because statehouse rules often allow a single legislator in charge of a committee or committee assignment to stall these bills from the get go. That means they never receive a public hearing or even a committee debate.”
House File 96 would create a new Code chapter 135E. It would establish the healthy Iowa program, which provides comprehensive, universal single-payer health care coverage and a health care cost control system for all residents of Iowa.
Representatives Bruce Hunter, Art Staed, Mary Mascher, Bruce Bearinger, Jeff Kurtz, Vicki Lensing and Beth Wessel-Kroeschell put their names on the bill.
House File 44 would created a crude oil disaster prevention and response fee to be applied to crude oil transported out of the state by pipeline and payable by the owner or operator of a pipeline company. Fifty percent of the fees collected shall be deposited in the water quality infrastructure fund and the other 50 percent shall be deposited in the water quality financial assistance fund.
Rep. Marti Anderson filed the bill.
House File 70 is an act repealing the declaration that the English language is the official language of the state of Iowa. It was filed by Rep. Hunter and cosponsored by Representatives Staed, Mascher, Kurtz and Lensing.
House File 101 is referred to as an Iowa Dream Act. The bill directs the board of directors of a community college and the state board of regents to adopt policies that take effect not later than Jan. 1, 2020, relating to an additional classification of students, for purposes of determining tuition and fees, to grant resident status to certain individuals.
To meet the requirements of the policy, an individual must have attended an accredited school in Iowa for at least five years prior to graduating from high school, or received a high school equivalency diploma in this state; be accepted for enrollment by a public post-secondary institution in this state; must not have been required to pay tuition to attend a public high school in this state; and must sign an affidavit, if the individual does not have a social security number, stating that the individual will pursue U.S. citizenship at the earliest possible time the individual is able to do so.
This bill was filed by Rep. Hunter and cosponsored by Representatives Staed, Mascher, Lensing, Wessel-Kroeschell and Charlie McConkey.
