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Despite entities across the state saying proof of COVID-19 vaccination won’t be required, the House judiciary committee yesterday discussed a bill to ban Iowa from putting a person’s vaccination status on personal identification cards. House File 889 also bans businesses from requiring people on the premises provide vaccination proof. If a business or government-owned establishment—like […]
The legislative session may be winding down, but the fight over budget priorities is still going strong. One of those fights concerns the resources and support systems for victims of crime, and how those groups who handle that are funded. Currently, the state-level funding is running out. But other sources aren’t so secure, either, especially […]
Iowa law enforcement would have greater freedom to commit “clearly egregious” conduct and protesters could be more likely to be struck by cars, according to legislation passed by the Iowa House of Representatives on Wednesday evening. Rep. Jarad Klein introduced an amendment reinserting language from Senate File 476, also known as the “Back the Blue” […]
History is written by the victors, and education about that history is usually determined that way, too. And the truth comes out when that power is challenged. In 2020, Nikole Hannah-Jones, an Iowa native and reporter for New York Times Magazine, won a Pulitzer Prize for commentary for her introductory essay for the 1619 Project, […]
Despite widespread opposition from their constituents, the push by Republican lawmakers to add language to the Iowa Constitution effectively banning abortion has moved forward. Less than one third of Iowans support the measure, and fifty eight percent oppose it, according to the most recent Iowa poll conducted by the Des Moines Register. The Republican-majority Senate […]
Iowa’s poor investment in state services and prioritization of tax cuts has held the state back, according to Democratic legislators. And in the waning days of the legislative session, legislators are now trying to wrap up the last items of business for the year, including the budget going forward. Currently, the legislature is working on […]
The proposed anti-trans legislation introduced this session may have failed, but the topic isn’t dead. For a bizarre, brief moment Rep. Sandy Salmon seized a moment to attack trans students. During the debate on HF 847, a bill about education programs in Iowa, Salmon introduced amendment H-1270, which would include a section barring trans girls […]
This Iowa legislative session has seen an unusually large number of extreme proposals, whether it’s discriminating against transgender Iowans or expanding the rights of gun owners beyond even the Second Amendment. Though not all have even made it through a subcommittee, Iowans have noted the change. That’s why Rep. Jennifer Konfrst appeared at Moral Mondays […]
The permitless carry bill that passed the House of Representatives last week has made it one step closer to becoming law, putting Iowans in greater danger of becoming subject to the growing problem of gun violence. Despite the recent mass shootings in Atlanta, Georgia and Boulder, Colorado, the permitless carry legislation is now headed to […]
Two firearms laws passed the Iowa House of Representatives last night that could threaten the safety of Iowans by making it easier for bad actors to purchase guns, and by making it harder to hold gun manufacturers accountable in a court of law. One of those bills was the Firearms Omnibus (HF 756), which passed […]