The week in a recap:
To be completely honest, the majority of my week was spent working on the Gender Identity bill. This is a critical piece of legislation to protect women and children in our great state. I spent a significant time thinking, researching, and praying before I took my vote.
Monday:
Monday morning I traveled to Des Moines and Gaveled in at 1PM. I had no committee meetings on Monday so I caught up on emails, prepped for the week, and met with groups visiting the capitol! I received well over 3,000 emails this week alone!
Tuesday:
Tuesday morning I attended a subcommittee meeting on MY County Engineer Bill; HF 479. This bill passed through the subcommittee unanimously and later in the day passed through the Local Government Committee Unanimously. I am hopeful that this vital bill will cross the governors desk this year! This bill stemmed from my work with the Monona County Board of Supervisors. The bill eliminates the requirement of each county in Iowa having their own Engineer.
After the subcommittee I met with Hailey Phelps - a UNI Athletic Training Student from Onawa!
After my early morning meetings I had my Labor and workforce Committee Meeting. We passed HSB 68 with and Amendment (68.335) out of committee.
Tuesday Afternoon the Republicans caucused all afternoon into the evening.
Tuesday night I attended the Community Bankers of Iowa Legislative reception.
Wednesday:
Wednesday morning I met with the Cattlemen Association group and had a great time showing Moville Natives Cody Griffen and his son Colton around the house chamber. I also met with Erika Fuentes, with the Crittenton Center, Annette Koster with Buena Vista Crawford, & Sac Early Childhood Iowa Organization, and their lobbyists. We discussed child care in our area and what we can do to improve funding.
Most days, groups and organizations spend time in the Rotunda advocating for what they believe. I spent time on Wednesday meeting with multiple groups in the Rotunda.
Most of my free time on Wednesday was spent working on the Gender Identity Bill.
Wednesday night I attended the Iowa Sheriff and Deputies Association legislative reception as well as the Iowa Wine and Cheese networking event.
Thursday:
Thursday we had a Republican Caucus and Debated on SF 418 ( Initially HF 262 and then renamed HF 583). We caucused as a Republican party for over 4 hours total and debated for 3.5 hours on the house floor before taking a vote. Please see below for more details around this bill. There were nearly 2500 protestors at the capitol Thursday. I want to personally thank The Iowa State Patrol and the Department of Public Safety for keeping us all safe! I drove home Thursday night.
Friday:
This morning I spent time with friends and fellow Kingsley citizens at breakfast at Jo Jo’s Cafe! A great spot in town! This afternoon I had a round table discussion in Onawa with Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig. Secretary Naig was in town to meet with the Western Iowa Power Cooperative and the Iowa Area Development Group. Look for us on the KTIV news tonight!
Where will I be this Weekend:
I will be in Onawa at the Library at 10AM Saturday 3/1 for a legislative forum hosted by the American Legion Auxiliary.
Looking Ahead:
Next week is funnel week!
Caucus Priority: Improving Our Foster Care System
One of the caucus priorities we entered session with was to ensure Iowa laws are protecting our youth and setting them up for success in life.
We must make sure that we are supporting kids born in to tough situations.
This week, the House Health and Human Services Committee passed multiple bills to support children in foster care and to help foster parents support children in their care.
House File 374 allows for DHHS and foster parents to consent to routine medical care for a child placed in their care. This will help ensure kids have access to the health care they need.
Every child in Iowa deserves the opportunity for a bright future. We are taking a comprehensive look at improving our foster care system to get more kids born into tough situations more support.
House File 583: Return to Common Sense – Removing Gender Identity as a Protected Class
Thursday, the Iowa House and Senate passed bills to return to common sense by removing gender identity as a protected class in the Iowa civil rights code.
The bill also returns Iowa code to biological truth by using scientific definitions for male, female, and sex and by requiring birth certificates designate sex at birth and cannot be changed.
This bill does not take basic rights away from transgender individuals. Current code actually results in the infringement of many other Iowans’ rights, particularly women.
o In the name of gender identity, women have lost their right to privacy, to play their own sports, and their right to female-only spaces.
o Current code infringes on the free speech rights of anyone who questions or disagrees with this gender identity theory.
The hyperbolic, hypothetical argument that taking this step will cause discrimination does not hold up to scrutiny.
o The federal civil rights code does not include gender identity. The most transgender-friendly president in history - President Biden– did not see deem it necessary to add this protection.
o 28 other states do not have Gender Identity as a protected class, including three states with the highest population of transgender individuals: Florida, Texas and North Carolina.
Why Is This Necessary?
Every Iowan deserves to have their human rights protected, and to be treated with dignity and respect. Current Iowa Code, with Gender Identity as a protected class, does not accomplish this.
It results in the infringement of the rights of other Iowans. And, it stands in the way of Iowans being able to implement commonsense policies.
o When a biological female walked around the Pella Aquatic Center topless, exposing her breasts, the City of Pella responded to concerned citizens by saying that after receiving legal advice, they would not take further action, citing gender identity in the civil rights code.
o When a female culinary student at Des Moines Community College expressed discomfort upon discovering a biological male in the women’s showers, she was told that nothing could be done because gender identity is a protected class.
o After outrage from its members for letting biological males use the female bathroom, the Forest City YMCA has resorted to closing all of its men’s, women’s, girls’, and boys’ locker rooms and made all locker rooms and restrooms single use.
Over the past few years, the Iowa Legislature has taken action to pass common sense protections that Iowans have begged us for.
Whether it be our bill to protect our daughters’ bathrooms and locker rooms, our bill to keep biological men out of women’s sports, or our bill to prohibit gender affirming care on minors –Iowans have spoken loud and clear that they support these pieces of legislation.
Unfortunately, all of these policies are at risk so long as gender identity remains a specified protected class in Iowa code.
Most Iowans believe that taxpayers should not be on the hook to pay for someone else’s so-called gender affirming care. However, that is exactly what is happening as a direct result of gender identity being in our civil rights code.
o In a 2019 Supreme Court Ruling, the courts said that taxpayers must fund sex reassignment surgeries for Iowans on Medicaid because our civil rights law includes gender identity.
So long as gender identity remains in Iowa Code, the other common-sense policies we have passed on this issue are at risk of suffering the same fate in court.
Another court decision is imminent, as a lawsuit was filed in Johnson County against the school bathroom policy we passed in 2023 just last week.
Verse of the Week: Genesis 1:27
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them.
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