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The second legislative funnel is one week from today. You’ll recall that the legislative funnels are two procedural deadlines which most legislation must clear in order to remain eligible for consideration in its current form. By the first funnel (which was March 3), legislation had to clear a committee within the Chamber it was introduced. By the second funnel, legislation has to clear the committee but now in the opposite chamber - i.e., House bills out of Senate committee, Senate bills out of House committee.
So, much of the attention this week and next will be on the work happening at the committee level, and I’ll touch on some of the legislation that passed out of committee below. But, work isn’t slowing down on the floor, and some bills are even being sent to the Governor for signature. With that, here is an update on legislation that we are monitoring that moved this week:
Signed:
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Senate File 482: prohibiting persons from entering single and multiple occupancy restrooms or changing areas and other facilities in elementary and secondary schools that do not correspond with the person’s biological sex and including effective date provisions.
Floor:
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House File 253: authorizing students enrolled in charter schools to participate in extracurricular athletic activities provided by the student’s school district of residence. Passed the House by a vote of 93-1 and goes to the Senate.
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HF429: relating to school districts, including authorizing the parent or guardian of a student enrolled in a school district to enroll the student in another attendance center within the same school district in certain specified circumstances, requiring school district employees to provide notice to the parents or guardians of students enrolled in the school district if the employee witnesses the student being physically injured, harassed, or bullied, and including effective date provisions. Passed the House by a vote of 95-0 and goes to the Senate.
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HF602: relating to the inclusion of the telephone and text numbers for the your life Iowa program on public school student identification cards and including applicability provisions. Passed the House by a vote of 91-4 and goes to the Senate.
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HF604: relating to education, including authorizing the ombudsman to investigate complaints received by individuals who hold a license, certificate, authorization, or statement of recognition issued by the board of educational examiners, modifying the responsibilities of school districts and charter schools, and authorizing teachers employed by school districts or charter schools to remove disruptive students from the classroom. Passed the House by a vote of 89-6 and goes to the Senate.
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HF615: relating to private instruction, including the issuance of diplomas or credentials to students who complete private instruction and the authority of parents, guardians, and legal custodians to execute documents to verify student information, and including effective date and applicability provisions. Passed the House by a vote of 62-32 and goes to the Senate.
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SF250: relating to disbursements from the computer science professional development incentive fund and including applicability provisions. Passed the Senate by a vote of 50-0 and goes to the House.
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SF252: relating to students who are pregnant or who recently gave birth who attend state institutions of higher education governed by the board of regents and community colleges. Passed the Senate by a vote of 50-0 and goes to the House.
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SF484: relating to meetings of the school finance formula review committee. Passed the Senate by a vote of 50-0 and goes to the House.
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SF496: relating to children and students, including establishing a parent’s or guardian’s right to make decisions affecting the parent’s or guardian’s child, prohibiting instruction related to gender identity and sexual orientation in school districts, charter schools, and innovation zone schools in kindergarten through grade six, and modifying provisions related to student health screenings, school district library programs, the educational program provided to students enrolled in school districts, accredited nonpublic schools, and charter schools, other duties of school districts and the governing boards of charter schools and innovation zone schools, competent private instruction, and special education. Passed the Senate by a vote of 34-16 and goes to the House.
Senate Education Committee:
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HF256: relating to the minimum age of applicants for licenses from the board of educational examiners. Passed committee.
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HF614: relating to licenses issued by the board of educational examiners to applicants from other states or countries. Passed committee.
There is a short window of opportunity for bills to make it through subcommittee and committee before the next funnel. Both the House and Senate Education Committees are scheduled to meet toward the end of next week - the Senate on Wednesday, March 29 at 1:00PM and the House on Thursday, March 30 at 10:00AM. We’ll be watching for the agendas of both committees to be released, which will provide a clearer signal of which bills will likely make it past the deadline.
Lastly, I want to quickly note a new service that the Department has implemented, the Legislative Action Alert. The purpose of the Alert is to provide notice of important legislation that requires the immediate attention of the field, so, typically, these will be bills signed by the Governor that are effective upon enactment and have a broad impact on the education system. Alerts will be issued periodically throughout the session as legislation is signed. You all likely saw the first release yesterday (March 23) when a notice was sent out regarding SF482. We hope this new service will be valuable and welcome feedback on how to make them more effective going forward.
Make sure to refer to the bill tracker available on the Department’s website for the latest on legislation moving through the Chambers, and please let me know if you have any questions.
Eric St Clair
Legislative Liaison
Iowa Department of Education
Grimes State Office Building
515-326-0274
eric.stclair@iowa.gov
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