IOWA CHRISTIAN ALLIANCE LEGISLATIVE REPORT -  January 8 - January 19, 2007 - Norm Pawlewski, Lobbyist

The first week of the Legislature was focused on “housekeeping” activity that occupies every Legislature.  New members bring their family to take pictures and show their children where Mom or Dad will be, at least four days a week for the next four or five months.  Each party in each chamber elects their leaders, assigns chamber seating and office space, and generally focuses on getting organized. 

The governor gave his farewell address, which sounded more like a campaign speech as opposed to a State of the State report.  The chief justice of the Supreme Court also gave a speech; ostensibly a report of the state of the judiciary and the need for more funds to improve the state of the judiciary. 

There were a couple of bills submitted during the first week.  Only HF-6, “An act relating to the compulsory school attendance age…” is of some interest to Values Voters.  Home school parents might find the compulsory age being raised from 16 to 18 troubling.  Home schoolers should contact their NICHE officers or Justin Lavan, their attorney, to get an assessment of the bill’s impact on home schooling. 

In week two, which started on Tuesday, January 16^th because of the Martin Luther King birthday holiday, the first muscle flexing by the liberal dominated House and Senate began with the following legislation:

House Study Bill (HSB-12) “….the establishment of state and school anti-harassment or anti-bullying policies…..act,” was introduced.  This is a “proposed Civil Rights Commission Bill,” which designates “sexual orientation, gender identity” as characteristic of individuals protected from being harassed or bullied.  We’ve reported on similar legislation introduced in the last two years.  Our position is that we support school policies that protect anyone with any identifiable characteristic from being harassed or bullied.  Listing the characteristic that is protected adds nothing to the policy and may, in fact, not protect everyone.

Senate Study Bill (SSB-1040) “An act relating to a victim of a hate crime….” This act adds, “actual or perceived, gender identity” to Section 729A.2 of the Iowa Code.

Senate Study Bill (SSB-1043) “An act repealing the Iowa English language reaffirmation act and rules of construction for English language laws.”  I wonder in how many languages this bill will be printed.

Senate Study Bill (SSB-1046) “An act prohibiting discrimination based upon a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity under the Civil Rights Act.”  This legislation would provide the same protection to a person who chooses the homosexual lifestyle as a person’s age, race, creed, color, sex, national origin, religion or disability.  It matters not that the United States Supreme Court has ruled that sexual orientation or gender identity do not meet legal tests to qualify as a protected class under civil rights statutes.

There was one positive piece of legislation introduced during week two.  Representative Jamie Van Fossen, Republican, Dist. 81, Scott County, introduced House Joint Resolution (HJR-1) “….proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the State of Iowa to require approval of a vote of the people before certain tax or fee increase take effect.”  This joint resolution would be the first step in the state constitutional amendment process that would provide a “People’s Right to Vote on Tax or Fee Increases.” 

If you want to read any of these proposed legislative pursuits, go to our web site, www.iowachristian.com, and use the link provided to get you to the Iowa Legislature web site.