The following is a legislative update from State Senator Amanda Ragan, representing Iowa Senate District 27 which includes portions of Cerro Gordo, Mitchell and Worth counties, as well as Rock Grove and Rockford townships in Floyd County:
March 23 marked the one-year anniversary of the murders of correctional officer Robert McFarland and nurse Lorena Schulte at the Anamosa State Penitentiary. We mourn their loss and continue to fight for better working conditions for the Iowans who do these jobs every day.
Iowa prisons are overcrowded, understaffed and dangerous. Violence in Iowa prisons has been on the rise for years, and is now a regular occurrence.
According to a system-wide security and safety review of the Iowa Department of Corrections, inadequate staffing levels and recruitment and retention problems are straining Iowa’s prison system—and those struggles persist, despite the Legislature approving a long-overdue increase to the corrections budget in 2021.
We can honor the sacrifices of Robert McFarland and Lorena Schulte by passing a pair of bipartisan proposals to:
· Define prison health care staff as public safety employees.
· Restore collective bargaining rights that give employees a stronger voice in their workplace.
· Provide health insurance for the surviving spouse and children when a worker is killed in the line of duty.
· Strengthen penalties for assault against public safety personnel.
· Increase funding for contraband and surveillance screening at correctional facilities.
HF2404 and HF2405 would better protect workers, prevent future tragedies and send the message that we value and respect our fellow citizens who take on some of the toughest jobs.
IMPROVING IOWA SCHOOLS, PREPARING WORKFORCE
The bills moving through the Iowa Legislature that get a lot of public attention are often the most controversial ones. The reality is that most initiatives we take up at the Statehouse have bipartisan support, and many win unanimous approval.
Here are five bipartisan bills that will have a positive impact on students, lives and our workforce—and they’re on their way to becoming law this year:
1. Helping students with intellectual disabilities achieve their full potential – HF 2495 sets up a scholarship program through the College Student Aid Commission to help young adults with intellectual disabilities transition to and pay for the college and career training that meets their needs.
2. Ensuring literacy for deaf and hard-of-hearing children – HF 604 establishes a program to assess, monitor and track language development for deaf and hard-of-hearing kids. The goal is to use American Sign Language and spoken-word communication to support students in hitting grade-level milestones.
3. Putting more good teachers in Iowa classrooms – HF 2081 eliminates certain standardized testing requirements that put up unnecessary barriers for many prospective teachers who are highly qualified to be in our classrooms. With Iowa’s ongoing workforce crisis and many teachers leaving the profession, this bill couldn’t come at a better time.
4. Saving lives with new asthma protocols – HF 771 allows schools to buy, stock and administer asthma medication so that students get quicker access to treatment when suffering respiratory distress. Short-acting bronchodilators are easy to administer, inexpensive and safe. The medication may be self-administered by asthmatic students or administered by trained school staff.
5. Maintaining healthier school buildings – Iowa has the highest average indoor radon concentration in the nation. Under HF 2412, school districts will be able to use infrastructure funding to test for and reduce dangerous levels of the deadly gas. In addition, all new school buildings will use radon-resistant construction techniques. Known as the “Gail Orcutt School Radon Safety Act,” the bill is named for an Iowa teacher who was exposed to radon while working on the lower level of a school building. Gail became a strong advocate for radon testing and mitigation. Unfortunately, she died in 2020 from radon-induced lung cancer.
Review Iowa Senate Democrats’ highlights list of what’s moving forward and what’s not, with just a few weeks left in the 2022 session.
Late Wednesday, the Iowa House and Senate approved HF 2355, which met with bipartisan opposition for its cruel and drastic changes to Iowa’s Unemployment Insurance Program.
The bill takes money out of the pockets of Iowans who earned unemployment benefits and who lost their job due to no fault of their own. Provisions include:
· Cutting the number of weeks Iowans can collect unemployment to 16. Most states offer 26 weeks of unemployment benefits.
· Cutting the number of weeks a worker can collect unemployment when their employer goes out of business.
· Lowering the pay unemployed workers must accept for “suitable work.”
The Senate made the House bill even worse by mandating a one-week waiting period before out-of-work Iowans can collect unemployment. An individual would receive that compensation as the last payment when their benefits are exhausted. Only 25% of claimants exhaust their benefits, so 75% of would never get that week of compensation they’re owed.
Because the Senate amended the bill, it has returned to the House for further consideration. Please contact your representative and ask them to oppose this unnecessary and heartless attack on Iowans who are already down on their luck. Find your representative in the Iowa House: legis.iowa.gov/legislators/
IOWANS SAY “NO” TO LOWERING CHILD CARE STANDARDS
I’m concerned about proposals to lower standards at Iowa child care centers. Child care is one of the most critical needs facing Iowa parents, and it’s worsening the Reynolds Workforce Crisis.
Working families have been struggling for years with Iowa’s limited child care options. Some can’t find child care they can afford; others can’t find child care at all.
The latest proposals from Republican politicians won’t fix the problem and will likely create new ones:
· Allowing 16-year-olds to care for school-aged children in a child care facility without supervision (HF 2198). Two in three Iowans agree it’s a bad idea that could risk the health and safety of our kids, according to the latest Iowa Poll.
· Increasing the number of little ones that each child care worker is responsible for:one worker to seven 2-year-olds, and one worker to ten 3-year-olds. I voted against this proposal earlier in the session (SF 2268), but now it’s resurfaced as an amendment to HF 2198. Packing more kids into a daycare won’t encourage more Iowans to enter the child care field, and it won’t assure parents that their children are in a safe, nurturing environment when they leave for work each day.
· Raising the price of child care for low-income families. HF 2127 allows child care providers to ask families who get Child Care Assistance to pay a higher rate than their assistance covers. This bill increases the financial burden for the poorest Iowans. Instead of getting more folks back to work, it’ll simply make child care more unaffordable.
If we want to fix the workforce crisis, we need to ensure families have access to safe, affordable child care in every Iowa community. That means investing in high-quality facilities; ensuring providers have the resources to keep the doors open; and helping parents with the high cost of care while they work or train for jobs.
NEWS YOU CAN USE
March 21-27 is National Agriculture Week. Because Iowa plays a key role in producing food, fiber and fuel for the U.S. and the world, the Senate commemorated the event and celebrated our farmers with Senate Resolution 108.
Here are some key facts about agriculture in Iowa:
· Iowa has 84,900 farms covering 30.5 million acres.
· More than 95% of Iowa farms are family owned.
· Iowa consistently ranks first nationally for production of corn, hogs and eggs; and is a leader in production of soybeans, turkey, milk and more.
· Iowa consistently ranks first in the production of ethanol and biodiesel fuel.
· In 2020, Iowa generated $26.2 billion in agricultural cash receipts.
Learn more about agriculture in Iowa through ISU Extension and Outreach.
