This Week at the Statehouse – Week 4
It’s been another busy week at the Capitol with over a hundred bills being introduced. Subcommittee and committee meetings continue to be held.
On Tuesday, representatives of UNI, University of Iowa and Iowa State University presented short statements to the House Government Oversight Committee regarding free speech issues that occurred on their campuses last fall and answered the lawmakers’ questions. Representing UNI was Leah Gutknecht, Assistant to the President for Compliance & Equity Management; Allyson Rafanello, Dean of Students; and Steffoni Schmidt, Associate Director of Student Life and the Student Advisor to Northern Iowa Student Government.
On Wednesday, Randy Pilkington, Executive Director of UNI’s Business and Community Services, and Jerry Thiel, Director of the Metal Casting Center and Additive Manufacturing Center, presented our state fiscal year (FY) 2022 budget requests to the members of the House Economic Development Appropriations Subcommittee. For the 21st consecutive year, UNI’s Business and Community Services (BCS) has provided assistance in all 99 counties. Our FY 2022 requests are status quo at $2.3 million for economic and community development, additive manufacturing and to help small and mid-sized businesses succeed. A copy of the presentation can be found here.
Also on Wednesday, President Mark Nook presented UNI’s FY 2022 budget request to the House Education Appropriations Subcommittee, along with the presidents of the University of Iowa and Iowa State University. Our FY 2022 state appropriations request is $1.5 million in recovery funds from the FY 2021 cut plus an additional $4 million investment from the state. This request will allow us to continue our commitment to providing the high-quality education our students need to be successful professionals and leaders in Iowa's changing economy, while also ensuring a reasonable, predictable cost of education for Iowa families. We are also asking for $6.7 million for STEM education, real estate education and our recycling and reuse center. A copy of the presentation can be found here.
New bills are being filed daily for consideration. As of today, the Board of Regents are registered on 234 bills for this legislative session. This link will provide a complete list of bills we are tracking (in the box marked as lobbyist, type in Mary Braun).
Some bills of interest from this week:
SF 245 allows paying college student athletes. Introduced to Senate Judiciary Committee.
HF 343 allows carrying of weapons on the grounds of a school, community college, or university. Introduced to House Public Safety Committee.
HF 222 reduces funding for K-12 schools, community colleges and the Regents institutions who utilized any United States history curriculum that in whole or in part is derived from the New York Times “1619 Project”, or any similarly developed curriculum. Introduced to House Education Committee; subcommittee of Wheeler, chair, Smith and Stone.
HSB 162 prohibits Regents universities, private colleges and universities, and community colleges from requiring students and employees to wear masks and social distance while off campus. A subcommittee meeting was held this week and the bill was voted out 2-1 (Mitchell & Nordman aye; Bohannan nay). Awaits action in House State Government 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 March 5th. This date does not apply to tax, spending and government oversight bills.
If you have any questions, please email me at mary.braun@uni.edu.