A roundup of legislative and Capitol news items of interest for Thursday, Feb. 16, 2012:

‘SUPERMAN’ PENNINGTON: A resolution honoring “Superman, Art Pennington, a baseball player from Cedar Rapids, and encouraging his induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame has been introduced in the Iowa Senate.

Art Pennington

In SR 106, Pennington was described a “one of America’s finest” baseball players. He played before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier and was known as “Superman” and as a star of the Negro baseball leagues. Because of the racial divides of the 1940s and 1950s when he played, Pennington did not receive the recognition he deserved, the senators said. After retiring in 1959, he was a civil rights activist.

EMPLOYEE-OWNERSHIP ADVANCES: The House voted 93-2 to approve HF 2284, a bill to provide an incentive through an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) aimed at keeping successful Iowa-based businesses from leaving the state after an ownership change.

The GOP majority said the bill, which now goes the Senate, will be a tool for allowing the owners of companies to share business equity with employees, while also helping them with their retirements.

However, Democrats, who allowed it might make Iowa more competitive and beneficial to rural Iowa, warned the $1 million earmarked for Gov. Terry Branstad’s priority could have a “catastrophic” impact on the economic development budget.

Floor manager Rep. Mark Lofgren, R-Muscatine, said the ESOP plan would allow employees to gain an ownership stake in the business, which is a valuable tool in retaining businesses in Iowa communities, and increase their job security and personal satisfaction.

FEWER DOLLARS, MORE SMOKERS: The American cancer Society warned legislators if funding for anti-smoking programs are not returned to previous levels more young Iowans will begin smoking and become addicted to tobacco.

The cost of cutting tobacco control spending from $7.8 million in fiscal 2011 to $3.3 million this year is likely to result in a 2.3 percent increase in youth smoking rates or approximately 2,980 more Iowa youth becoming addicted and 1,070 more Iowans dying prematurely costing the state $52 million in future health expenditures, Cathy Callaway, chairwoman of the Iowa Commission on Tobacco Use and Prevention said in prepared remarks for delivery to the Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee.

Based on Iowa’s needs and population, Callaway said the Centers for Disease Control recommends the state spend $37 million. Iowa currently spends less than 9 percent of that amount.

Tobacco companies, added Callaway, spend more than $102 million a year promoting their products in Iowa and 7.5 million packs of cigarettes are bought or smoked by Iowa youth.

ELECTRONIC TAIL: The House Judiciary Committee voted 15-5 to send a bill formalizing the process law enforcement must use to obtain a warrant to place a global positioning system device on a person’s vehicle or other property to track them.

Rep. Kim Pearson

However, committee members indicated there are changes they want to see in HF 2307 before it reaches the House floor.

Reps. Rick Olson, D-Des Moines, and Kim Pearson, D-Pleasant Hill, have reservations about the bill, but said an amendment the committee adopted addresses some of those concerns about the standards law enforcement must meet to get a warrant.

GPS devices are a “more efficient way to do police work rather than assigning a detective or a police officer to follow you around 24/7,” Olson said.

Pearson wants to make sure the requirements for the GPS warrant are the same as for a search warrant, including establishing the credibility of the confidential informant before a judge approves a warrant.

“This is not going to be carte blanche for them to put this GPS wherever they want it for as long as they want it there,” she said.

RECOGNIZING STILLBIRTH: A House panel heard emotional testimony from a southwest Iowa woman whose third daughter was stillborn last year. Mandy Ford of Clarinda is asking the Legislature to allow the issuance of a certificate of birth resulting in stillbirth to recognize the birth of the fetus. A death certificate must be filed in the case of a stillbirth, but Iowa law does not acknowledge a child was born, Ford told a House Judiciary subcommittee considering HF 2195.

“How can you die if you’ve never been born?” she asked.

About 200 stillbirths are reported in Iowa each year, according to the Department of Public Health. According to Iowa law, a fetus younger than 20 weeks of gestation or less than 350 grams is considered a miscarriage, not a stillbirth.

Prior to 139, the state issued both birth and death certificates in the case of stillbirths. For reasons, spokeswomen could not explain, that changed and not the DPH issues a certificate of fetal death. Ford is asking Iowa to join 32 other states in offering some form of a birth certificate.

The subcommittee expressed support, but wanted more information and to make sure, as Rep. Jeff Kaufmann, R-Wilton, said, maintain a “razor focus” on stillbirths and not have a debate on abortion.

100 PERCENT: A Senate panel approved a measure that will allow donors a 100 percent tax write-off if they donate to the Iowa Innovation Fund. The legislation changes current law which allowed only a 20 percent write-off. State Sen. Steve Sodders, D-State Center, said the change is necessary to spur donations to the fund. Officials at the Iowa Partnership for Economic Progress want to raise $20 million. “Other states have 100 percent for funds like this,” Sodders said. “Ours is low.” The legislation, SSB 3151, now goes to the full Senate for consideration.

LEARNING COUNCIL: Department of Education Director Jason Glass announced the 15 Iowa students who will serve on the state’s new Learning Council on Thursday. The advisory council will give advice to the administration regarding its efforts in education reform.

Members of the Learning Council are: Hannah Ritchey, eighth grade, Shenandoah Middle School; EmmaKate Wichman, eighth grade, Pleasant Valley Junior High School in LeClaire; Grant Gordon, ninth grade, Van Meter High School; Jack Hostager, 10th grade, Hempstead High School in Dubuque; Apple Jackson Amos, 10th grade, East High School in Des Moines; Sophia Babcock, 10th grade, PCM High School in Monroe; Geoffrey Bruder, 10th grade, Humboldt High School; Lillian Nellans, 11th grade, Roosevelt High School in Des Moines; Mohad Aziz Azmat Awan, 11th grade, Waukee High School; Tom Bowman, 11th grade, Dowling Catholic High School in West Des Moines; Tessa Horn, 11th grade, Manson Northwest Webster High School in Manson; Monica Figueroa, 12th grade, Storm Lake High School; Sara Gabriele, 12th grade, Cedar Falls High School; Andrew Patience, 12th grade, Thomas Jefferson High School in Cedar Rapids; and; Whitney Leming-Salisbury, 12th grade, Central High School in Davenport.

Quote of the Day: “While some might say we shouldn’t be engaged in that game, I think to unilaterally disarm when other states continue to do that, when 49 states have those kinds of programs, I think that is foolhardy.” – Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs, on the House Republican budget that eliminates $25 million for business incentives

–Compiled by the Des Moines Bureau