CHRISTIAN COALITION OF IOWA       

LEGISLATIVE REPORT

Norm Pawlewski – Lobbyist

April 11 – April 15, 2005

This legislative session has two weeks left to complete its work for the people of Iowa.  Of the fourteen appropriations bills that need to be enacted, only two have passed both Senate and House.  The Transportation Appropriation (HF 466) and Federal Block Grants (SF346) have been sent to the Governor.  That means in the next two weeks we will see a flurry of activity as both parties attempt to get their spending targets and the Governor’s spending targets into some kind of agreement on which they can all vote affirmatively.  It also means that the many “social issue” related bills will get little attention.  But what else is new?

So far this session none, I repeat, none, not one bill that CCI, IFPC, IRLC, or CWA supported has made it to the Governor’s desk.  At the beginning of the session we met with leadership in both Houses to discuss what our supporters wanted us to try to get passed during the first year of this two year legislative session.  The Senate leadership said that the 25 to 25 split, which gave neither party the power to push their agenda, would make it difficult to move any social issues through that body.  The House leadership said that the one vote majority in that body would make it difficult to get any social issues to floor debate.

So, the amendment (HJR1) to the Iowa constitution defining marriage as between one man and one woman went through the House but died in Senate sub-committee.  HF787, Minor Abortion Notice, was passed by an almost unanimous vote in the House.  However, it was so watered down that unless the Senate makes some significant changes, it is of little value in the battle over abortion reporting.  The fetal pain and the murder of a baby in the womb bills seem to be dead for this year.  Bills dealing with adult and child abuse, teenage drinking and tax incentives for parents to encourage them to raise and educate their own pre-school children, are probably not going to see the light of day this year.

However, a government approved, operated and funded pre-school program, modeled after one the Governor visited in France, will probably find its way to the Governor’s desk and into the Iowa Code.  We were told by one leader that the Governor always gets his top priority, regardless of the make-up of the legislature.  How about the people of Iowa, do they get their top priorities?  Does anybody know what they are?  I believe the marriage amendment would be one of them.  What did the Republicans in the Senate get for approving Ruth Harkin’s nomination to the Board of Regents?  I hear Mrs. Harkin is an intelligent, thoughtful, well-educated lady, but she hasn’t lived in Iowa for over thirty years.  There were legitimate reasons to turn down this nomination.  If the Republicans in the Senate got nothing in return for their support of an obviously political appointment, shame on them.  They could have at least bargained to get HJR1 on the calendar.  Since that horse has left the barn, I won’t dwell on it.

We still have two weeks.  We are not giving up on our priorities.  But we will need to do some serious “strategery” as Rush would say, during summer and fall of this year.  In the meantime, you might just contact your legislator and/or the leadership in both the House and Senate and politely voice your displeasure that the social issues that gave them your vote were given no priority during this session. 

Our most successful effort was the passage of HJR1 in the House.  Without moderate Democrat votes, it would have failed.  Although CCI is a non-partisan organization, the reality is that Republicans are more often supportive of our priorities.  If they let us down, we need to do something other than what we have been doing.  For now, that statement remains cryptic.    

Political Calendar| Amen | Christians in Politics?|