DES MOINES - Legislation seeking to reinstate a limited death penalty, repeal the state s bottle deposit law and require young moped riders to wear helmets fell by the wayside while Republicans voted Thursday to sanction high-tech companies for censoring social media free speech on a critical day for bills to win approval or languish for the 2021 session.
Reputation challenges: Controversial bills affecting Iowaâs image, hurting business and workforce recruitment, leaders say
BY MICHAEL CRUMB, Senior Staff Writer Friday, March 5, 2021 6:00 AM
Several bills circulating through the Legislature this year may be damaging Iowa’s brand and hindering the state’s goal of attracting and retaining top talent, some business leaders say.
In some cases, those bills have caused companies to cross Iowa off their list of places they were considering.
Bills such as those that would require transgender people to use restrooms of their assigned sex at birth in schools and those that would ban tenure at the state regents’ universities, are damaging Iowa’s reputation on the national and world stage, the leaders said.
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Republican lawmakers did not advance a proposal to ban racial profiling by law enforcement ahead of a key legislative deadline.
Republican lawmakers did not advance Gov. Kim Reynolds’ proposal to ban racial profiling by law enforcement ahead of a key legislative deadline Thursday, but they did advance bills that give more protections to police.
Reynolds’ “Back the Blue Act” combined the anti-racial profiling legislation with provisions including punishing cities that reduce police funding, raising penalties for protest-related crimes, and creating a new crime of “bias-motivated harassment” of a police officer.
A Senate committee approved some of those proposals this week, while a House committee advanced a different pro-police bill ahead of the first “funnel” deadline for bills to be voted out of committees.
Iowa school choice bill lacks House Republicans support amestrib.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from amestrib.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
After weeks of inaction, bills on school choice private scholarships, charter schools advance in Iowa House Stephen Gruber-Miller, Des Moines Register
In condition of the state, Reynolds calls for open enrollment in every school district
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Proposals to give taxpayer-funded scholarships to help some students attend private schools and to rewrite the rules for forming charter schools are advancing in the Iowa House after weeks of inaction.
The proposals are part of Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds broad education agenda this year, but House lawmakers are considering them as separate pieces of legislation. Both bills advanced through subcommittee hearings on Tuesday, making them eligible for consideration by the full House Education Committee.