Bob Eschliman
Editor
The first few days of any legislative session is a flurry of activity, both ceremonial and business. And, in the first year of a biennial General Assembly is always busiest.
But, during the first few days of any session, the bills filed are almost entirely ceremonial, such as those to canvass the gubernatorial election, to establish the rules of the House and Senate, or to appoint the secretaries and pages who will be working during the session. But, there has been some business already conducted in the legislature.
Here’s a summary of bills now on file:
House Study Bill 1 – a resolution establishing (in this case, continuing) the Rules of the House for the 86th General Assembly.
House Study Bill 2 – a concurrent resolution establishing (in this case, continuing) the Joint Rules of the House and Senate for the 86th General Assembly.
House Study Bill 3 – a resolution establishing (in this case, continuing) the Code of Ethics of the House for the 86th General Assembly.
House Study Bill 4 – a concurrent resolution establishing (in this case, continuing) the Joint Rules for Lobbyists of the House and Senate for the 86th General Assembly.
House Resolution 1 – a resolution selecting and appointing the secretaries and pages of the House for the 86th General Assembly.
House Resolution 2 – a resolution establishing that each business day in the House will open with a prayer during the 86th General Assembly.
House Concurrent Resolution 1 – a concurrent resolution establishing the date and time for a joint convention of the House and Senate to canvass the votes of the 2014 gubernatorial election, and establishing the date and time for a joint convention of the House and Senate to hear the Governor’s Condition of the State Address.
House Concurrent Resolution 2 – a concurrent resolution establishing a joint committee of the House and Senate to arrange for the inauguration of the Governor and Lieutenant Governor.
House Concurrent Resolution 3 – a concurrent resolution establishing the date and time for a joint convention of the House and Senate to hear Chief Justice Mark Cady’s Condition of the Judiciary Address.
House Concurrent Resolution 4 – a concurrent resolution establishing the date, time, and place for a joint convention of the House and Senate to observe the inauguration of the Governor and Lieutenant Governor.
House Concurrent Resolution 5 – a concurrent resolution establishing the date and time for a joint convention of the House and Senate to hear Maj. Gen. Timothy Orr’s Condition of the Iowa National Guard Address.
Senate Study Bill 1001 – a resolution to establish a taskforce to create a uniform curriculum for mental health care providers who deal with dementia patients.
Senate Study Bill 1002 – a resolution to amend state law, eliminating the requirement that a physician assistant’s determination of a serious mental impairment in a patient must be approved by a supervising physician before a local magistrate is contacted to initiate a committal process.
Senate Study Bill 1003 – a resolution to amend state law, allowing current and retired peace officers to serve as classroom driver education instructors.
Senate Study Bill 1004 – a resolution to amend state law, requiring employers to provide more transparency in payroll payments and associated fees that may be assessed when payments are made to debit cards or pay cards, and allowing employees to request direct deposit of payroll payments to a bank account of their choosing.
Senate Study Bill 1005 – a resolution to amend state law, reclassifying marijuana as a Schedule II controlled substance, allowing physicians to prescribe it for medical purposes as allowed by federal law.
Senate Study Bill 1006 – a resolution to enact a law making audio recordings of shorthand reporters confidential, unless their release is ordered by a court.
Senate Study Bill 1007 – a resolution to amend state law, exempting family members from the financial obligations of the poor as it relates to repayment for services rendered by a county on the poor’s behalf; compensation may only be sought when the poor person becomes able to pay again while they are living.
Senate Study Bill 1008 – a resolution to enact a law making it unlawful for a certified shorthand reporter, or his employer, to enter into a contract for services that requires original depositions to be surrendered before they have been certified by a court reporter and delivered to the custodial attorney.
Senate Study Bill 1009 – a resolution to amend state law, adding public transit drivers to the list of “protected occupations” (includes peace officers, health care providers, emergency workers, etc.) for which penalties are enhanced if they are the victim of an assault.
Senate Study Bill 1010 – a resolution to amend state law, requiring that all firearms and ammunition seized by law enforcement that is later deemed abandoned must be deposited with the Iowa Department of Public Safety, regardless of the fair market value.
Senate Study Bill 1011 – a resolution to amend state law, changing the definition of second-degree kidnapping to include any victim who is a minor child.
Senate Study Bill 1012 – a resolution to amend state law, repealing the requirement that the Iowa Lottery conduct a number of games each year to provide funding for veterans’ care, and replacing it with a requirement that the Iowa Lottery contribute $2.5 million of its revenues each year for the same purpose.
Senate File 1 – a resolution to amend state law, changing the state’s competitive bidding requirements to allow the lowest in-state bidder to be contacted and match the lowest bid of an out-of-state bidder, if the in-state bidder is within 5 percent or $10,000 (whichever is smaller) of the lowest bid.
Senate File 2 – a resolution to amend state law, expanding eligibility of veteran spouses who may be admitted to the Iowa Veterans Home, and establishing a maximum percentage of occupancy for non-veterans at the home.
Senate File 3 – a resolution to amend state law, requiring that driver education curricula approved by the Iowa Department of Transportation must include classroom instruction on the rights, privileges, and penalties associated with parking for people with disabilities.
Senate File 4 – a resolution to amend state law, repealing a sunset provision for open-enrollment online learning programs provided by the CAM (Anita) and Clayton Ridge (Guttenberg) community school districts.
Senate File 5 – a resolution to amend state law, directing the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners to waive, for no more than two years, a requirement that teachers must pass a state-mandated subject examination in order to teach.
Senate File 6 – a resolution to amend state law, modifying definitions and purposes for which dropout prevention funds may be used by school districts.
Senate File 7 – a resolution to amend state law, exempting the purchase of self-pay washers and dryers from state sales tax.
Senate File 8 – a resolution to amend state law, exempting the purchase of horses from state sales tax.
Senate File 9 – a resolution to amend state law, prohibiting the installation of automatic traffic law enforcement systems (red light and speed cameras) and requiring the removal of all existing systems.
Senate File 10 – a resolution to amend state law, requiring runoff elections in the cases of inconclusive primary elections (primaries in which the candidate with the largest number of votes fails to receive at least 35 percent of the vote).
Senate File 11 – a resolution to amend state law, requiring that only licensed physicians may provide abortifacient drugs, in person, and only at a clinic or hospital with the capacity to provide surgical intervention in the case of an incomplete abortion or severe bleeding.
Senate File 12 – a resolution to amend state law, revising the state’s informed consent laws to require a 72-hour waiting period prior to performing an abortion, and revising the information that must be provided to the woman before an abortion may be performed.
Senate File 13 – a resolution to amend state law, eliminating the statute of limitations for filing a charge of first-degree kidnapping.
Senate File 14 – a resolution to amend state law, redefining the crime of invasion of privacy as an aggravated misdemeanor.
Senate File 15 – a resolution to enact a law creating the crime of invasion of privacy by trespassing in cases where a person photographs another through a window or other opening of the other’s dwelling or property.
Senate File 16 – a resolution to amend state law, removing all education references to the Iowa Core standards and core content standards, while directing the Iowa Board of Education to adopt high school graduation requirements and assessment standards.
Senate File 17 – a resolution to amend state law, allowing additional supplemental weighting for school enrollments when districts share staff positions with area education agencies, and includes the position of principal to those for which supplemental weighting can be applied.
Senate File 18 – a resolution to enact a law requiring employers to provide reasonable accommodations for employees who are pregnant, so long as those accommodations do not create undue hardship on the employer.
Senate File 19 – a resolution to amend state law, using the most recent decennial Census as the basis for population-based requirements for cities to comply with state law, particularly with regard to the creation of civil service commissions.
Senate File 20 – a resolution to amend state law, allowing law enforcement, emergency communications, and any other facilities that receive E911 communications access to the Iowa Communications Network for the purpose of establishing a secure statewide network and more effective emergency responses.
Senate File 21 – a resolution to enact a law prevent felons who commit crimes against decedents in the six months prior to their deaths from receiving any benefits as a result of a bond, policy, or contract agreement, even if the felons are named beneficiaries.
Senate File 22 – a resolution to enact a law creating the crime of service dog abuse, and establishing penalties.
Senate File 23 – a resolution to amend state law, creating a penalty for violent habitual offenders.
Senate File 24 – a resolution to amend state law, creating a 10-year moratorium on the Iowa Racing Gaming Commission for the issuance of gaming permits, and to establish a new category of “promotional play” in which no money is exchanged. The bill will also amend how the wagering tax is assessed for gaming facilities, and doubles the amount of gaming receipts that must be deposited into the local county endowment.
Senate File 25 – a resolution to enact a law allowing cities and counties to offer 100-percent tax abatement for a period of 10 years for improvements made to any property that has been deemed a nuisance.
Senate File 26 – a resolution to amend state law, allowing citizens to petition their county governments for the movement, consolidation, or removal of a county seat, while also limiting a county to no more than two seats of government.
Senate File 27 – a resolution to amend state law, allowing the taking of catfish from state waters by hand.
Senate File 28 – a resolution to amend state law, allowing for property tax exemptions for land designated as native prairie or protected wetland by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.
Senate File 29 – a resolution to amend state law, directing the Iowa Building Commissioner to adopt rules specifying standards and requirements for threat detection and response for design and construction of public and nonpublic school buildings used for kindergarten through grade 12 instruction. The standards and requirements shall be incorporated into the state building code.
Senate File 30 – a resolution to amend state law, prohibiting the sale of ivory or rhinoceros horn, with certain exceptions, establishing penalties for violations, and establishing a permitting process for excepted articles.
Senate File 31 – a resolution to amend state law, prohibiting mental health professionals from engaging in sexual orientation change efforts with a patient who is a minor child, and establishing penalties for violations.
Senate File 32 – a resolution to appropriate an additional $1 million for the Safe Routes to School Program during Fiscal Year 2015.
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