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Week 1 (but feels like week 3…) of the 2023 session of the 90th General Assembly is in the books. The first week of session largely consists of ceremonial and organization events - swearing in new members, speeches, picking seats, first committee meetings, etc., but both chambers also began introducing legislation and holding subcommittee meetings on bills.
On Tuesday evening, Governor Reynolds delivered the Condition of the State address to a joint session of the General Assembly. Education and education reform were featured prominently in her speech, in particular her proposal for Education Savings Accounts. Shortly after her speech, the Student First Scholarship Act was introduced in both the House (HSB1) and the Senate (SSB1022). Subcommittees are also assigned and scheduled, with the Senate holding their subcommittee yesterday (Thursday) afternoon and the House scheduled for next Tuesday evening at 5:00PM. Over the coming weeks as more bills are introduced we'll get a clearer picture of how the Governor intends to implement the full agenda that she outlined.
Republicans have held a majority in both Chambers for the past several years and strengthened that majority through the 2022 midterm elections. In the House, Republicans hold 64 of the 100 available seats; in the Senate, Republicans hold 34 of the 50 available seats. Republicans hold clear majorities in both Chambers, but it is interesting that these majorities fall short of those from previous sessions such the 10th General Assembly where Republicans held 87 of the 93 available seats in the House and 42 of the 46 available seats in the Senate (Pieces of Iowa’s Past, January 2023).
The legislative team at the Department closely monitors several legislative committees in both Chambers, but in particular watches the work of the House and Senate Education Committees. In the House, the committee is chaired by Rep. Skyler Wheeler (Vice-Chair, Rep. Craig Johnson; Ranking Member, Rep. Sharon Steckman). The Senate committee is chaired by Sen. Ken Rozenboom (Vice-Chair, Sen. Jeff Taylor; Ranking Member, Sen. Herman Quirmbach).
Also on our radar is the new House Education Reform Committee. Unlike the House Education Committee, which consists of 23 members, the House Education Reform Committee consists of 5 members - 3 Republicans, 2 Democrats. The committee is chaired by Speaker Pat Grassley, with Rep. Matt Windschitl serving as Vice-Chair and Rep. John Wills serving as the third Republican member. The Ranking Member is Minority Leader Jennifer Konfrst, and Rep. Sue Cahill is the second Democratic member. As the name implies, this committee will be focused on education reform issues such as the Governor’s Student First Scholarship Act (HSB1).
As alluded to above, the House and the Senate introduced numerous bills this week. For purposes of this newsletter, I will highlight bills that had some sort of formal action taken during the week - e.g., passed out of subcommittee, committee, or saw action on the floor of the Chamber. Along those lines, two bills were introduced and already moved through subcommittee:
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SSB1005 - relating to civil actions associated with permissible physical contact between certain specified school employees and volunteers and students.
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SSB1022 - relating to establishing an education savings accounting program.
Note that the Department maintains a legislative tracker that is updated daily to reflect new legislation and the current status of various bills impacting the Department and education more broadly. There are also many tracking tools and resources made available by the Legislative Services Agency which can be accessed on the Legislature’s website.
This will be my first “official” session that I will be covering as the Department’s legislative liaison (as a refresher, I was serving on an interim basis last session), and I look forward to serving our education system in this capacity. Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or comments.
Eric St Clair
Legislative Liaison
Iowa Department of Education
Grimes State Office Building
515-326-0274
eric.stclair@iowa.gov
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