Government : Hello, Iowa House District 84 from the State Capitol!

Debra Roberts of Walford visits the State Capitol on Feb. 14th on behalf of AARP to help prevent credit card scams.

V-S Superintendent Kyle Koeppen, Kelly Steffen (seated), and Le Cox visit the Capitol

Week six ended with a flurry of committee work to beat the Feb. 16th last day of the first funnel (I mistakenly said it was the 2nd funnel in last week's article submission) to be eligible for floor debate in either chamber.

There were three Education bills that were passed out of all their respective subcommittees on Thursday afternoon, Feb. 15th, and they are House Study Bill (HSB) 712, 713, and 714 in the Iowa House. HSB 712 is the Supplemental State Aid (SSA) and is proposed at 3%. HSB 713 passed out of subcommittee and addresses the AEA with goals of improving special education outcomes. HSB 714 passed out of subcommittee and focuses on raising the salaries of teachers. These bills are all very preliminary, very much subject to amendments, and will definitely have lengthy discussions. In my opinion, HSB 713 will have the most difficulty passing the House floor. Since they all just came out, they still must be debated in the full Education Committee, which is not known when they will be held at the time of this writing.

Also passing out of the Public Safety committee was HSB675. This bill intends to allow a school employee to carry a firearm at their school to protect against the heinous acts of school shootings. This is completely voluntary by the school employee. This person must complete a firearm safety training course, pass a background check, and complete a one-time in-person legal training to get this permit. Also, the person must have annual medical training, annual training on communication with local law enforcement, annual live scenario training, annual background checks, and quarterly live firearm training to maintain this permit. This could go a long way in preventing or reducing school shooting injuries and deaths.

This week, I passed HF 586 unanimously out the Transportation committee. This bill mandates that vehicles must yield to a pedestrian conveyance in crosswalks, which is any human powered device by which a pedestrian travels other than walking, such as bicycles, wheel chairs, skate boards, etc. Current law pertains to only yielding to pedestrians and does not include the others.

On Feb. 13th, it was AEA, IASB, and SAI Day on the Hill, and I had a very good visit with Vinton-Shellsburg School Superintendent Kyle Koeppen, V-S High School Social Studies teacher Kelly Steffen, and V-S school board member Le Cox, where we discussed the importance of AEAs, SSA, and teacher salaries among other things.

On Feb. 14th, it was AARP Day, and they were advocating to help stop gift card scams. According to the www.aarp.org website, 1 out of 3 adults said they or someone they know have been asked to purchase gift cards to pay a bill, fee, or debt obligation and these scammers have even threatened to cut off the victim's utilities. Please keep an eye out for these thieves, and never pay anyone with a gift card, unless you know them personally! Debra Roberts of Walford visited with me at the Capitol and informed me of this!

Have a safe week, be careful out there, and hope you had a good Valentine's Day!