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

Pastor Joshua Graber (right) and son Ethan (2nd from left) of Vinton visit the Iowa State Capitol on March 25th.

The Iowa House had another busy week, which was the eleventh into this year's session. We passed 48 bills, and 18 were unanimous, 19 were bipartisan, and 11 by party line.

This last summer, I received a call from a former Benton Community School District employee that the requirements for prospective bus drivers were pretty stringent and could be made a little less restrictive to alleviate the state-wide bus driver shortage. On Monday, we passed House File 395 which does just that. This bill intends to approve drivers who successfully completed entry-level driver training that meet federal requirements of an approved course of instruction. It passed the house 94-1!

Iowa House Republicans continue to make improvements in our election laws, and HF 928 was passed on Tuesday, and will prevent frivolous requests. It sets the new threshold for recounts of the apparent margin of victory to .15% or less for statewide and federal elections. Recounts for the general assembly or local races will be limited to margins of victory of 1% or 50 votes.

Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate recently announced (https://sos.iowa.gov/news-resources/iowa-secretary-states-audit-voter-registration-lists-finds-277-confirmed-noncitizens) that 277 confirmed noncitizens are registered to vote and 40 of these actually casted ballots. The Biden Administration stonewalled Sec. Pate from comparing registered voters in Iowa with the federal SAVE (Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements) Program. In other words, the Biden Administration didn't care if people broke election laws to vote in the election last November. HF 954 addresses voter integrity and was passed with only republican votes 64-31.

On Wednesday, the Iowa House passed two bills to help protect landowners' property rights from eminent domain abuse by CO2 pipeline projects. We are not against pipelines, but for protecting landowner rights from being abused for private gain. HF 943 intends to prohibit the taking of agricultural land for a pipeline transporting liquified carbon dioxide. This passed with a bipartisan vote of 82-12. HF 639 intends to ensure hazardous pipelines have enough insurance covered for any potential damages, including injury and property value reduction, and deals with other safeguards. It also passed with a bipartisan vote of 85-10.

Also passed on Wednesday was SF 22, otherwise known as Distracted Driving or Hands-Free bill. Almost 85% of Iowans surveyed in a poll last year (https://dps.iowa.gov/press-release/2024-08-29/iowans-express-concern-over-distracted-driving ) approved of this bill, and it passed with a bipartisan vote of 84-11. It now goes to Governor Kim Reynolds for her consideration.

We passed many other very good pieces of legislation, and if you'd like to know more about them, please email me at Thomas.gerhold@legis.iowa.gov. Visitors from District 84 to the Capitol were Pastor Joshua Graber and his son Ethan of Vinton on Tuesday. It's always a pleasure when they come!

I hope you have a safe and healthy week and support our local businesses. Let's hope for timely spring rains this week!