With the completion of week 5 in the Iowa legislature, we have a week left in the funnel ending this coming Friday – when all individually sponsored bills in each chamber must be through committee to advance towards becoming a law this session. The pace was quick and next week will be even more frenetic as the pressure mounts to see progress on the range of introduced bills on a variety of subjects.
One bill that I believe will advance is the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, or RFRA for short. This bill is patterned about a federal law with the same name that was signed into law by President Clinton in 1993. One would think a federal law would be sufficient but unfortunately the US Supreme Court has ruled it does not apply to state or local issues – so this bill will follow the path taken by 23 other states to put in place better safeguards for religious freedom in Iowa.
Another advancing bill would criminalize the act of being an illegal alien in the state of Iowa – and is similar to a law that was introduced in Texas. As border states struggle to deal with the failure of our national government to defend our nation’s borders, it is critical that Iowa and other states join in the effort to defend against what Texas has properly identified as an invasion – the drugs, human trafficking and uncontrolled influx of unvetted people is simply not acceptable or sustainable.
I continue to advocate for SF2108, a bill that defines a gold-backed Iowa currency that creates a system for all Iowans to put some of their assets into gold in a state vault, paid for with nominal usage fees, with both purchases and withdrawals done at a fair price – a benefit currently not available at any price. With $34 TRILLION in existing federal debt, the CBO just announced their projection that the next ten years will add $20 TRILLION more debt and Social Security will be underwater, with a substantial reduction in benefits. No one believes the federal government can or will fix this debt crisis, states like Iowa must take proactive steps to protect its citizens and its sovereignty. The Central Banks are accumulating gold, I believe our state should make it feasible for each of you to do the same.
Another bill that is advancing is SF3140, an initiative of Governor Reynolds, that expands Medicaid coverage for pregnant mothers during pregnancy through 12 months postpartum and adjusts the income eligibility threshold to 215% of the federal poverty level (FPL) which strikes a balance between who is covered and for how long – this will help protect mothers and children during this critical phase of life.
A major reason I ran for office was the federal mishandling of the pandemic and the mandates that were placed on people throughout our nation – including in the US military (which affected all branches and components, including the National Guard, Reserves, contractors, etc). A big part of these mandates was the requirement to take an experimentally authorized drug or face termination/discharge. This week I introduced SF 2271, which would require the Iowa Department of Health to publish anonymized vaccination records for deceased Iowans, to ensure the outcome of these mandated medical drugs can be evaluated. To me it is unconstitutional and unconscionable to require a medical procedure/injection when there is no way to evaluate the health impact.
Please vote yes on bill SF2108
Thank you
Vote yes on all of these! Thank you Thank you Jacob for bring this to our attention! You’re truly a Godsend!