Heather Stancil
Earlham
The Iowa House of Representatives is considering SF 345, a bill that is touted as an anti-bullying bill, when in actuality it is an anti-parent bill. In the name of bully prevention, it removes parental rights and hands them over to the state and public school system. It also erodes private property rights, student and family privacy, allows warrantless searches, and gives public schools more authority than parents over their children, including those not even in their district or on school grounds. It also turns bullying into a reportable event to outside agencies and law enforcement, without parental notification or consent. (See full evaluation of the bill here.)
While many Iowa Representatives are wisely opposed to this bill, our Governor and certain organizations have now begun to bully our legislators to vote in favor of this bill. While I totally understand when government & their lobbyists register in favor of a bill that grants them more control over us, I am perplexed as to why businesses like Hy-Vee & the Principal Financial group would register in favor of a bill that is so anti-family and anti-parent. Did they not bother to read the bill? Or are they just not aware of what their lobbyists are doing?
Even the liberal ACLU and the conservative Family Leader are united in opposition to this bill.
Yeah, it’s really that bad.
Governor Branstad, the House legislators are opposed to this bill because they are actually listening to parents who read more than just the bill’s title. Why aren’t you?
The full text of the 5 1/4 page bill is here.
You can contact the Governor’s office here.
The full list of individual lobbyist declarations on the bill is here. Be sure to contact the organizations directly – not the named lobbyist – and ask why they are supporting this anti-parent bill.
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