For Immediate Release: March 11, 2021
Elected Officials, Community and Labor Organizations, Faith Leaders Join Effort to Memorialize Iowa COVID-19 Victims
Des Moines, Iowa – More than three dozen elected officials, community and grassroots organizations, labor unions, and more have joined an ongoing effort to memorialize Iowans who have lost their lives to COVID-19. Together, this coalition will recognize the more than 5,600 victims with a virtual wall on IowaCovidMemorial.org and memorial events surrounding the one year anniversary of the first Iowa COVID-19 death on March 24, 2021.
Iowa COVID-19 Memorial coalition partners include AFSCME Council 61, Iowa State Education Association, Interfaith Alliance of Iowa, Iowa Alliance for Retired Americans, and the Iowa Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO. The full list of partners can be found below.
Iowans will now decide whether to add a pro-gun rights amendment to the state constitution, following the legislature’s passage of an amendment for the second time this week.
Senate Joint Resolution 7 was approved in both the Senate and House Thursday on votes of 29-18 and 58-41, respectively. It will now be on the ballot next year for Iowans to weigh on the language which reads, “The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. The sovereign state of Iowa affirms and recognizes this right to be a fundamental individual right. Any and all restrictions of this right shall be subject to strict scrutiny”. District 42 Senator Jeff Reichman (R) comments on the language, which goes further than the U.S. Constitution’s 2nd Amendment, “Strict scrutiny is just a level of proof and it shouldn’t be anymore proof than it’s in our constitution that we are allowed unless we are a felon, a criminal, a domestic abuse situation, mental abnormalities, those things
IOWA CAPITAL DISPATCH
Iowa employers could face loss of their state licenses if they employ undocumented workers under a bill approved by a legislative subcommittee Monday.
Senate File 84 drew opposition from business organizations, advocates for immigrants and at least one immigration lawyer before the subcommittee sent the bill to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Republican Sens. Julian Garrett of Warren County and Jason Schultz of Schleswig voted in favor, while Democrat Kevin Kinney of Oxford opposed the measure.
The legislation would make it a crime to knowingly employ an undocumented worker, which the bill refers to as “unauthorized alien employee.” Law officers, county attorneys and members of the public could file a complaint with Iowa Workforce Development, which would consider action in district court.