DES MOINES – Judgment week in the Iowa Legislature left a number of hoped-for bills in ashes on Wednesday. House subcommittees opened the day by pulling the plug on measures that would have created a crime for failing to report a missing child, mandated that employers grant up to 200 hours of unpaid leave...
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DES MOINES – A district judge “got it right” when he ruled as invalid Gov. Terry Branstad’s veto that effectively closed 36 workforce centers last year and the Iowa Supreme Court should not allow the governor to succeed in reversing that order, an attorney representing a group of Democratic legislators and a labor union...
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DES MOINES – A wide-ranging government efficiency bill got its first look Tuesday but is nowhere near its final form if it’s to meet its framers’ goal of finding bipartisan ways to save taxpayers’ money, key lawmakers said. House Study Bill 645 opened to mixed reviews at a House subcommittee meeting where representatives of...
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A roundup of legislative and Capitol news items of interest for Tuesday, Feb. 21: SOLICITING MURDER: A Senate subcommittee Tuesday approved a change sought by the Iowa County Attorneys Association to create a criminal offense relating to the solicitation to commit murder. Under current law, the offense is included with other criminal solicitations that...
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DES MOINES – A Senate subcommittee on Monday approved a bill designed to legalize online poker in Iowa and bring it under state regulation despite warnings from opponents that computer-based gaming is highly addictive and likely would usher in full-blown online gambling that will be available at Iowans’ finger tips via a myriad of...
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DES MOINES – Iowa’s minimum wage workers probably don’t have a raise in their future – not from the Iowa Legislature this session anyway. A three-member Senate subcommittee approved a bill Thursday that sought to increase the state’s hourly minimum from the current $7.25 level to $8.75 an hour next July 1 and then...
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A roundup of legislative and Capitol news items of interest for Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012: ANIMAL PROTECTION: An animal protection organization called Compassion Over Killing released undercover video footage Wednesday depicting what they called animal abuse and suffering inside a Leland pig-breeding farm. Group leaders say the video was filmed by one of their...
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DES MOINES – Three Republicans joined eight Democrats on the Senate Transportation Committee Wednesday in approving a state gas tax increase. Senate Study Bill 3141 would raise the state’s excise tax on motor vehicle fuels by five cents a gallon on Jan. 1, 2013, and another five cents a gallon on Jan. 1, 2014,...
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DES MOINES – Iowa lawmakers are being asked to consider expanding the state’s “safe haven” law but advocates worry that a proposal to allow parents up to a year to give up a child without facing prosecution for abandonment may be too much. “I’m concerned that we need to offer more opportunities to people...
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A roundup of legislative and Capitol news items of interest for Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2012: WELCOME TO IOWA: Gov. Terry Branstad welcomed a Chinese delegation to the Iowa Capitol Tuesday by emphasizing the “proud history” and “strong sister state relationship” between the state and Hebei province as well the potential to expand that relationship....
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