This Week at the Statehouse – Week 4
Week 4 was a short week because of the Iowa caucuses on Monday. Legislative committee and subcommittee meetings continued to be held. New bills continue to be filed. This link will provide a complete list of bills we are tracking (in the box marked as lobbyist, type in Mary Braun).
The Board of Regents regulatory relief bill was introduced this week. SSB 3132 eliminates many reporting requirements and outdated Code language pertaining to the Regents institutions and adds some language allowing the institutions to expand and stimulate economic growth. A Senate Education Committee subcommittee meeting has been scheduled for next Thursday.
A few bills of interest that were either introduced this week or subcommittee meetings were held:
SF 316 – The House Education Committee amended this bill to add a member from the Board of Regents institutions on the special education interim study committee created in the bill. We are working to make sure we can get a UNI representative on this study committee. The bill is now on the House Calendar for consideration.
SF 2190 / HSB 598 – addressing violent student behavior in the K-12 classroom. Both bills held subcommittee meeting this week. SF 2190 did pass out of the Senate Education Committee and is now on the Senate Calendar for consideration.
HSB 585 – The House State Government subcommittee decided not to advance the bill that would have required the Regents institutions to study, plan and provide a report concerning emergency preparedness and response at outdoor stadiums. We had concerns about filing a report. We don’t want to skirt the requirements of this legislation, but we also don’t want to provide people a playbook on how best to circumvent the security we have at all three institutions.
SF 2161 – weapons on campus. Introduced in Senate Education Committee.
HF 2282 - allow student-athletes to benefit financially from their name, image and likeness. The bill has been introduced in the House Education Committee.
The Legislature’s first funnel date, when Senate policy bills need to come out of a Senate committee and House policy bills need to come out of a House committee to remain eligible for debate this legislative session, is February 21. This date does not apply to spending and tax bills.
On Friday, the Legislature’s Administrative Rules Review Committee (ARRC) met and discussed a Board of Educational Examiners administrative rule (ARC 4870C) that guides credit hour requirements for the All Science, All Social Studies, All English, All Business and Teacher Librarian certifications in Iowa. The faculty in pre-service teaching programs at all three Regents universities raised concerns about the sudden and drastic nature of these proposed changes. Also of concern is the lack of dialogue with the teacher preparation programs to ensure an understanding of what content would be sacrificed in these future teachers, or what alternatives there may be to help ensure all Iowa schools have qualified teachers in each of these subject areas.
After ARRC received numerous public comments, including from the Board of Regents, they told the BOEE they expect them to include the education community in their discussions prior to them bringing back their final proposed rules. At the earliest, they would come back to the ARRC in April. I’ll keep you posted as the rules progress.
If you have any questions, please email me at mary.braun@uni.edu.
Upcoming events in the legislature:
Feb. 17 – UNI Day at the Capitol, first floor rotunda, 11:30am – 2:30pm
Feb. 19 – Regents institutions presenting infrastructure requests to the Transportation, Infrastructure & Capitals Appropriations Subcommittee (including UNI’s Industrial Technology Center request)