Legislative update from Rep. Sharon Steckman

From Rep. Sharon Steckman of Mason City –

As promised, this week was long and hectic.  Funnel week always is as legislators try to make sure that their sponsored bills are passed out of committee and become eligible for House debate.  The Education committee worked until  9:30 p.m. on Monday and still met two more times this week, including a meeting on Thursday afternoon that promised to stretch into evening.  On Tuesday night, we adjourned the State government committee close to midnight as the minority party fought to stop a voter suppression bill (HSB 93) from passing out of committee.  The bill was amended and is now a photo ID bill that includes many roadblocks along the way.

These three public hearings are scheduled for Monday, March 6, and the links are included for signing up to participate:

•    10-11 AM –Room 103 – HF 316 – Creates a regional water authority that will assume the powers, duties, assets and liabilities of certain water utilities…namely, the Des Moines Water Works and those of surrounding suburbs.  This will effectively end the lawsuit that the Water Works has filed against certain upriver entities.  https://www.legis.iowa.gov/committees/publicHearings?meetingID=25070&action=viewOnlineSignup

•    5-6:30 PM-Room 103 – HF 295 – A pre-emption bill that basically states that no county or municipal entity can set a minimum wage or environmental standards that are higher than the ones set by the state.  There are four counties that have set a higher minimum wage than the state.  Effectively it will lower the wages of 65,000 workers in those entities. Sign Up here: https://www.legis.iowa.gov/committees/publicHearings?meetingID=25097&action=viewOnlineSignup

•    7-8:30 PM-Room 103 – HSB 93 – It is not called the Voter Suppression bill, but that is clearly what it is.  Among other things, it will close the polls one hour earlier; cut the voting window from 40 to 29 days, eliminate straight party voting which will lengthen the lines and waiting time for voters; force voters without driver’s licenses to jump through several hoops in order to vote.  May I remind you that there was one case of voter fraud found in the state in 2016 and that was a woman who purposely voted twice to prove that she could.  She found out very quickly that she could not.   She was arrested hours later.   Iowa is currently ranked #2 in the nation in voter integrity. Sign Up Here: https://www.legis.iowa.gov/committees/publicHearings?meetingID=25098&action=viewOnlineSignup

Thankfully, the Governor’s bill that discontinued licensing for several  types of technicians and therapists did not make it through the subcommittee  process.  I received many, many emails  from people who were very opposed to it.  I think we will only be passing about a dozen of the more than eighty bills that found their way to the Education committee.  I will give you a more complete report next week about several other bills about which I have received a great deal of correspondence.

Please note the forum information below and, as always, I look forward to hearing from you about your concerns and your issues.

                                                         Listening Post Forum
                                                          Saturday, March 11
                                                          Mason City Library
                                                             10:00 to 11:30