Week 2 finished today, after a late start with a Monday observance of Martin Luther King, Jr Day, and the Inauguration of Donald Trump as the 47th president of the United States. A number of legislators from both chambers traveled to DC, as well as our governor and other leadership - I was thrilled to remotely watch as Trump again took the oath of office and immediately got to work - charting a course towards restored freedom, renewal, state sovereignty – a revolution of common sense!
We are quickly getting busy advancing bills through subcommittees, and legislative staff that help turn concepts into bills are very busy getting more bills ready to move through the process. With the appointment of the new Lt Governor Cournoyer (previously a senator), we wait for candidate Katie Whittington, in District #35 (across the state in Clinton) to win her race to increase our super-majority in the Senate (if you want to help, see https://whittingtonforiowa.com/).
Some of the bills I chaired or helped advance through subcommittee include:
SF20 – a bill that provides protections for private sector “whistleblowers”, enabling them to disclose, to members of the general assembly (legislators), code or rule violations, or risks to public safety, and ensuring those communications are protected.
SSB1017 – Pharmacy Bill Manager Reverse Auction or “Iowa Competitive Pharmacy Benefits Manager Marketplace Act”, which has been used in other states to reduce drug costs for state health care plans, with the potential for millions of savings and future broader use (and savings) for public plans across the state.
SF4 – This bill adds restrictions on moving to/from a paid lobbyist job associated with state executives or board chairpersons, ensuring a 2 year delay – similar to restrictions for legislators having to wait 2 years before becoming a lobbyist at the capitol.
I continue work on my own bills, to include:
SSB 1028 – this bill adds an educational requirement to teach pregnancy and fetal development in school curriculums for grades 1-12, including the presentation of a high resolution ultrasound and a short animation of human development from fertilization to birth. I consider this a common sense application of technology in the education of our children helping them grasp the beauty and wonder of life from its beginning. This bill advanced through subcommittee.
SF112 – the Iowa Transactional Gold Currency Bill has 15 cosponsors in the senate and awaits assignment to a committee. This bill would create a gold currency in our state, which should eliminate capital gains on gold as money (instead of a commodity) and enable the state to protect the resources of Iowans by storing gold for participating citizens, while allowing the efficient exchange to/from dollars for a minimal fee. Texas and Florida and other states are considering similar legislation, which I believe complements Trump’s goal of restoring state control.
This week saw a number of groups in the capitol, including many veterans groups, hundreds of FFA students, and several Briar Cliff educator students met with Sen. Rocky De Witt, Rep. Bob Henderson and myself. Michael O’Mara, the teenager from Moville who last year got 2nd place in the National Civics Bee, was introduced at a chamber reception.
I am honored to serve each of you in Des Moines. I am always available via email – please forward your thoughts and ideas to kevin.alons@legis.iowa.gov.
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