I am looking forward to seeing you at my town hall meetings, all of which will be held on Saturday mornings. These meetings are scheduled all over my district in Bremer, Butler, Chickasaw and Floyd counties and are set as follows:
Saturday, Feb. 3rd in Sumner at Sumner Public Library from 9 to 10 a.m.
Saturday, Feb. 3rd in Nashua at the Nashua Welcome Center (Gateway to Northeast Iowa Welcome Center) from 11 a.m. to Noon
Saturday, Feb. 3rd in Fredericksburg at Upham Memorial Library from 1 to 2 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 10th in Parkersburg at the Parkersburg Public Library from 9 to 10 a.m.
Saturday Feb. 10th in Allison at the Allison Public Library from 11 a.m. to Noon
Saturday, Feb. 10th in Denver at the Denver Community Room from 1 to 2 p.m.
Rep. Charley Thomson will join me for the meetings in his district.
My Priorities
- Religious Liberty: Protect the rights of people to live and work according to their beliefs without fear of punishment by the government, which includes the 1st Amendment freedom of speech and religious freedom. Several bills are coming forward. We’ve pushed on this for a number of years now and it appears these may actually get passed this year. We’ll see…..
- Pornography: Destroys children, marriages, and families virtually unhindered, especially on the internet. Nearly 100% of 18-year old males have been exposed to pornography. Several bills coming forward. Another area I have pressed on for several years and now it appears this may actually get addressed this year, especially as the governor has made it one of her priorities.
- Carbon Capture Pipeline – This is an issue I’ve heard from constituents about and am very concerned about the possibility of private companies using eminent domain to seize farmland in the form of easements for a taxpayer-funded private project that has no public use, has health and safety risks, and is based on debatable climate change ideas. This issue needs to be addressed by the legislature this session but it will be an uphill battle.
- Election Integrity – Bills are coming forward to help clean up voter rolls, require verification of U.S. citizenship to register to vote, and allowing cities and counties larger than 3500 to hand count paper ballots. I think we will get to address the voter roll issue, but the rest will be another uphill battle.
- Local Government Regulation of Counselors – Prohibit that as state already regulates it. Some local governments have restricted counselors from helping their clients change their sexual orientation or live according to their biological sex. Counselors should be able to have open and client-directed conversations with their clients about sexuality and identity. This issue stems out of a problem with the city of Waterloo.
- Protection in Public Restrooms – Same as we did for schools last year, require public restroom use to be based on biological sex
- Enforcement of CRT Law: Adding parent-driven civil enforcement and other penalties to Iowa’s law prohibiting teaching of critical race theory (CRT) in schools as parents have said a number of schools are continuing this programming of students in spite of the law and there appears to be a lack of action in current enforcement.
- Opt-In for Sex Ed.: Require parents to opt-in their child to sex ed. Class instead of opt-out as is done currently. This will result in more parents being informed about content of those classes, which touch on sensitive topics related to sexuality, identity and family religious and moral standards.
- Disaster Emergency Reform – Emergency law needs to be updated to include greater protections for these rights and for the legislature to share the burden with the governor during a disaster emergency. This is a leftover issue from the pandemic that needs to be addressed while we are not in a pandemic.
Bills Moving in Committee
The following bills are moving in subcommittee or committee at this time:
Religious Liberty in Health Care – Protects the right of conscience for medical professionals, institutions, and insurance companies. They shall not be required to participate in or pay for services that violate their conscience.
“Biomarker testing” – Insurance companies are required to provide coverage for “biomarker testing”, which is a special analysis done medically that helps in diagnosis, treatment, or management of a patient’s disease or condition.
Vaccination Information – Schools are required to inform parents of exemptions allowed under state law from vaccinations required to attend school.
HPV Vaccine – Parental consent would be required to administer the HPV vaccine to a minor.
Governor’s Literacy Bill – Schools must use “evidence-based” reading curriculum, including phonics, and discontinue teaching reading based on context, visual cues, or memory. Schools also must develop personalized reading plans for students not proficient in reading from 4th grade to 6th grade.
School Chaplains – Schools would be authorized to allow chaplains to provide services to students, either as a paid employee or as a volunteer. These services would be available to students on a voluntary basis.
Opt-In for Sex Ed. – Require parents to opt-in their child to sex ed. Class instead of opt-out as is done currently
Teacher Spending Accounts – Schools would be required to have a teacher spending account for each full-time teacher to be used to help purchase classroom supplies: $500 for each beginning teacher and $200 for other full-time teachers.
Display of American Flag – Prohibits homeowners’ associations from forbidding the display of the American flag on the outside of their house
County Veteran Service Officers – Appropriates funding for each county veteran service officer to attend national training in order to help them better help veterans with their claims
Left Lane “Camping” – Requires drivers to drive in the right-most lane, with some exceptions. If a road has more than two lanes, the driver is required to drive in the middle lane.
Driving Too Close to a Bicyclist – If a driver drives too close to a bicyclist causing a serious injury or death, the driver is subject to penalties
Unemployment Benefits & Work Searches – This bill codifies current practices of Iowa Workforce Development (IWD) regarding required weekly re-employment activities that must be completed by an individual seeking to claim unemployment benefits. Additionally, the bill requires the identity of an individual seeking to claim unemployment benefits to be verified once per benefit year. It is important to note that this bill does not change the work search waiver for the highway construction, repair, or maintenance employees. Each week, a minimum of four work search activities must be performed, documented, and reported to the Department.
Minors Drivers Licenses – The bill codifies the unanimous recommendations made by the Minor Driver’s License Interim Study Committee. This bill addresses the available driving privileges for persons between the ages of fourteen and a half and sixteen. Under current law, a person that is at least fourteen and a half and has held a learner’s permit for six months, completed driver’s education, and had no accidents or traffic violations may apply for special driver’s licenses granting privileges to drive unaccompanied to school, extracurricular activities, and farm work. Currently, these privileges do not extend to non-farm work. This bill would treat farm work and non-farm work the same, creating a privilege for this age group to drive to all types of work unaccompanied as opposed to just farm work.
A licensee’s parent or guardian must provide the DOT with written consent for the licensee to drive to work. The bill does not authorize a licensee to drive as part of the licensee’s employment. For example, if a licensee were employed at a pizza parlor, the licensee would not be permitted to drive to deliver pizzas.
