Legislative Update for 04/15/2022

There is not much to report out this week on the legislative front. I imagine that many conversations and final negotiations are happening behind the scenes, but we did not see much in terms of subcommittee, committee or floor work on bills we are monitoring. 

It was mentioned that the goal was to finish the session prior to Easter weekend, but as I’m writing this - at 1:00 on Thursday afternoon - both the Senate and House have adjourned for the week and are scheduled to be back Monday afternoon. I don’t think it is too bold to state that the session will clearly go past the Easter weekend target date and likely past the 100th day of session (Tuesday, April 19) mark as well. 

We were, however, excited to see the Senate take action on several of the Governor’s appointments to the State Board of Education and the Executive Director of the Board of Educational Examiners:

State Board of Education 

• Rodney Bradley - confirmed 48-0
• Cindy Dietz - confirmed 48-0
• Cassandra Halls - confirmed 48-0

Board of Educational Examiners

• Michael Cavin, Executive Director - confirmed 48-0

More information on the new members will be made available on the State Board of Education’s website soon. 

I’ll be back next week - maybe with the final legislative update for the session… ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ we’ll see, folks, we’ll see. Please feel free to contact me with any questions, or refer to the Department’s legislative webpage for additional information and resources. 

Eric St Clair
Legislative Liaison
Iowa Department of Education
Grimes State Office Building
400 E 14th St
Des Moines, IA 50319-0146
Cell: 515-326-0274
eric.stclair@iowa.gov