Government : Week 9

Week nine has brought a lot of debate, as expected post-funnel. One of the bills debated and passed was SF 478. This legislation was created to prevent the State Auditor from accessing an individual's information that would reasonably be expected to be kept private. Examples of that private information would be medical and academic records, information not necessary for the State Auditor to conduct an audit. It's important Iowan's know that their private information is kept private. Another two bills that were passed were SF 482 and SF 538. SF 482 provides clarity to Iowa schools by requiring boys to use the boys' bathroom and girls to use the girls' bathroom in Iowa schools. It's a simple, common-sense policy to protect Iowa girls and ensure they can attend school and athletic competitions without fear or intimidation in the same way they did for generations. SF 583 protects Iowa children from undergoing irreversible, experimental gender reassignment or sex change operations and therapies. If Iowa youth are not permitted by state law from getting a tattoo, gambling, or buying cigarettes, it is a reasonable policy to prevent minors from being subjected to dangerous, untested, life-changing procedures. I was a yes vote on both of these bills because our district was (by majority), I personally supported the majority of both of these bills' content, and the Republican caucus supported these bills, including our Governor, who ran and won on these initiatives. On Tuesday the 7th, we also debated and passed the Governor's proposal to streamline state government, reorganize her team in the executive branch, and work to increase efficiency for Iowans. This legislation, SF 514, had eight hours of subcommittee and full committee review. Iowa currently has 37 department cabinets. This bill will reduce that number to 16 cabinets and eliminates 513 currently unfilled positions. This proposal will also bring us more in line with other states and looks at ways we can improve services, modernize government, and bring departments with similar objectives together. Iowa High School Voter Registration Day is coming up on Wednesday, March 22! I am joining Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate in encouraging every high school to participate. Joining the festivities takes only a few voter registration forms and students prepared with their driver's license, non-operator ID, or last four digits of their social security number. For more information on how to register to vote in Iowa or update your voter registration visit VoterReady.Iowa.gov/RegistertoVote. I encourage my constituents to contact me using my legislative email with any comments, questions, or concerns. I look forward to another great week of representing the people of District 42!