This Week at the Statehouse – Week 5
Happy Valentine’s Day! One more week before 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. This date does not apply to spending and tax bills.
Week 5 continued with legislative committee and subcommittee meetings. New bills continue to be filed. The subcommittee on the Board of Regents regulatory relief bill was held on Thursday. SSB 3132 eliminates many reporting requirements and outdated Code language pertaining to the Regents institutions and adds some language allowing the institutions to expand and stimulate economic growth.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 few other bills of interest that had action this week:
HF 2359 makes the Praxis Core entrance exam into our teacher preparation program voluntary instead of mandatory. The bill also eliminates the requirement that institutions offering such a program must deny admission to any candidate who does not successfully pass the test. Instead, the bill requires that if an institution offers the test, the institution must report to the Department of Education by August 1 annually the percentage of students whose scores on the tests administered during the prior fiscal year were above, at, and below the minimum passing score set by the institution, as well as report any services or opportunities to retake the test the institution may make available to a student who fails the test. The department must compile the reports and publish the compiled information on the department’s internet site. The bill is on the House calendar and eligible for debate.
SF 2190 / HSB 598 addresses violent student behavior in the K-12 classroom. SF 2190 is on the Senate Calendar for consideration and HSB 598 is expected to pass out of House Education Committee next week. Both Republicans and Democrats are working on these bills and will come to some agreement by the end of session. These are the bills that allow for therapeutic rooms in schools.
SF 2058 / HF 2282 are the two bills that allow student-athletes to benefit financially from their name, image and likeness. The effective date of the Senate bill would be July 1, 2023; the House bill has an earlier implementation date of January 1, 2022. The Senate subcommittee held their meeting last week and the House subcommittee meeting is scheduled for next Monday. We believe this issue should be determined through the NCAA or by Congress and not have 50 different state rules.
HF 2384 / SSB 3077 are the changes made to last year’s Future Ready Iowa bill. Among other things, this bill establishes requirements for K-12 computer science education, including instruction in elementary/middle school and HS standards, including allowing online education. This bill does not make any changes to the Future Ready Iowa grant that students going to 4-year colleges could receive. HF 2384 in on the House calendar and SSB 3077 is expected to be voted out of Senate Commerce Committee next week.
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. 26 – Regents institutions presenting infrastructure requests to the Transportation, Infrastructure & Capitals Appropriations Subcommittee (including UNI’s Industrial Technology Center request)