Iowa Catholic Conference legislative update, bills to watch

By DAWN PROSSER
Director of Communications
 
The Iowa Catholic Conference (ICC), the public policy voice of the Catholic bishops of Iowa, has been following several pieces of legislation during this session at the Iowa statehouse. These items and their progress through the legislative system are shared by the ICC in weekly updates during the session. (The faithful can sign up for updates at www.iowacatholicconference.org and click on the Take Action button.)
 
Tom Chapman, ICC executive director, shared some of the items of interest currently discussed by Iowa state legislators:
 
WIC (Women, Infants and Children) HSB 668
Chapman pointed out that the ICC is opposed to House of Representatives bill as it would remove the undocumented, those not eligible to work due to their immigration status and those with DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) status from participating in WIC. According to the ICC website, “WIC helps provide essential nutrition to pregnant women and infants during their most vulnerable stages.”
 
It is one of the few programs that undocumented residents can qualify for and it is based upon income, he explained. This bill would take away their ability to access WIC.
 “We are trying to fight that. We talk about mothers and children and helping them thrive,” Chapman explained. “We see this in direct opposition to what we’re trying to accomplish.” 

A similar bill is working its way through the Senate, SSB 3140, he said, but it does not exclude undocumented residents from participating in WIC.
 
“It’s a bill that has about 10 different things in it that has to do with the safety net. They may pass with that in it and the two chambers will have to decide,” he said. “And then we may switch efforts to the Senate to encourage them not to include it.”
 
School choice omnibus bills
The SF 2175 and HSB 735 bills passed the Senate and House Education Committees in February. The bills include adding a registration period for parents to apply for an Education Savings Account (ESA) for the second semester of the academic year.
 
“Iowa has one of the ESA programs that doesn’t allow for a sign up for the second semester,” Chapman pointed out. “That’s really just to allow for people who have moved to the state perhaps in the summer or fall where they want to make a transfer at that point. There’s really no way for them to receive an ESA until the next go-around when the sign up period comes in April and May.”
 
He said the goal is to have a window of time from mid-October to mid-November to sign up for an ESA for the spring semester and attend the school of their choice.
 
“It’s part of a bigger omnibus bill which has some other things that we like in it,” Chapman explained. “I anticipate it will pass in some form and get to the governor. I don’t know exactly what’s going to be in it but I would tend to think the second sign-up period has a good chance.”
 
Also, in the omnibus bill there are several pieces of legislation affecting preschool and allowing quality community providers such as Catholic preschools to have better access to the state preschool program. The executive director said he’s not certain how Gov. Kim Reynolds views the issue.
 
Another school-related item in the education omnibus bill is establishing a state revolving loan fund for nonpublic schools to access lower-cost loans for infrastructure expenses.
 
HSB 668 affirmative action
Chapman said this bill, passed by the House Judiciary Committee, would eliminate affirmative action features including licensing for non-citizen professionals.
 
“It would eliminate affirmative action programs from Iowa law entirely and one part of that could be engineering or health care like nurses and it would just take that part out of the law. It would essentially mean if the state wanted to, they could discriminate based on citizenship. We’ve opposed that bill,” he explained.
 
The bishops have been supportive of affirmative action measures in the past “if they are well done.”
 
“I don’t think they are looking for quota systems, but at the same time if you’re trying to give people a hand up who may have been disadvantaged in the past, the bishops are okay with that. That’s why we’re opposing that bill,” Chapman said.
 
Black market abortion pills
The ICC has sent out an action alert to support HF 2563, for regulations on black market abortion pills as the pills are widely available online. The bill proposes information be distributed to women about the potential to reverse an attempted abortion, publishing information about reversal, drugs to be “dispensed in a health care setting to the woman prescribed the drug” and other items.
 
To learn more about action alerts on topics important to Catholics and how to communicate with your legislators, go to www.iowacatholicconference.org.

HOME