Government : Hello, Iowa House District 84 from the State Capitol!

Week 10 is "in the books" as we debated each day and passed another 54 bills, with 22 unanimous, 21 were bipartisan, and 11 along party lines. Most of these again originated in the Iowa House.

On Monday, March 17th, I was honored to be the floor manager of a bill out of my Veterans committee, House File 779, which pertains to people eligible to receive license plates with the word "VETERAN" and the U.S. flag for their vehicles. Current law limits these plates to veterans who served in the Armed Forces, and former members of the reserve forces of the U.S., or the Iowa National Guard who served at least 20 years and were honorably discharged. This bill intends to add the reserve forces and national guard members who have been honorably discharged, regardless of the number of years served. I think this is a great bill that recognizes the people who have served, and it passed unanimously. It now moves to the Senate for their consideration.

Also on Monday, we passed HF 793 unanimously, which prohibits a person on the sex offender registry from being a firefighter, whether certified, noncertified, or volunteer. On Tuesday, the House passed several bills pertaining to education on all levels. HF 856 is a bill that prohibits state entities from expending moneys to fund diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) officers in state offices and officers. A national poll released on Feb. 20th by Rasmussen (https://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/trump_administration_second_term/53_approve_trump_ending_dei_policies) found that likely voters approve of President Donald Trump's efforts to end DEI in the federal government by a margin of 53 to 42.

On Wednesday, HF 189, which allows nonpublic students who reside within the school district or in a contiguous school district to be able to immediately participate in a public school's athletic programs if the nonpublic school does not have the program. Also passed was HF 389. This bill adds additional protection for public or nonpublic students from abuse by school employees that are responsible for the care of the child. Alleged abuse shall be reported to DHHS, and if abuse actually happens, it shall be reported to law enforcement.

On Thursday, we passed HF572, which creates a new section in code by making it illegal to smuggle someone who is in the country illegally, including knowingly concealing them from law enforcement. Thirteen democrats and two republicans voted against this bill. HF 649 is a bill that modifies the definition of human trafficking by clarifying that there does not need to be an ongoing relationship between the individuals. This passed unanimously. These are just a few of the bills being passed to improve the lives of people across this great state.

On Monday, I had the pleasure of meeting constituents Karl and Mary Clapp, who moved to Atkins just last year from Marion. They brought along four of their grandkids: Ronan, Maverick, Violet, and Elsie Didier who I think were on spring break from school.

I hope you have a safe and healthy week and support our local businesses. We hope to be finished with this year's session by May 2, but we shall see!