Greetings friends and neighbors! Our work in the Iowa Senate last week was focused on consideration of bills in the full chamber that have passed out of their respective committees. In between our debates and other meetings, though, I made time to meet with various groups visiting from our ...
Week 8 was marked by more intense floor debate as we work through some of the more impactful bills, particularly within the education arena. There are far too many to adequately discuss in this newsletter, but I’ll mention a few. House Republicans have been meeting with school ...
Greetings friends and neighbors! The full Senate began debate last week, with consideration of bills previously passed out of committees. Bills that passed the Senate last week now move over to the House for their consideration. What’s Alive and What’s Dead in the Iowa Senate Two weeks ...
A juniper titmouse was reported on the Tucson Audubon Rare Bird Alert in early January this year. It had never before been reported in the Patagonia Mountains of southern Arizona or anywhere in Santa Cruz County even though the area is arguably the best birding in the USA. On February 11, Matt ...
Last week in the Capitol was busier than most. It was funnel week, which is the first deadline of the legislative session to get bills passed through full committees to keep them “alive”, or up for consideration, until the next deadline. Funnel week means we have packed schedules full of ...
Last week was “Funnel Week”, wherein we must have all our individually filed bills through committee. Fortunately, I have been able to move the bills I need to through the process already, so my work this week was focused on the many other bills moving through the committees I sit on, which ...
In the early weeks of the legislative session we’ve seen lots of bills on a variety of divisive topics, many of which I disagree with outright or at the very least think should not be top priorities for the legislature. These bills do not offer more opportunity, freedom, or accountability ...
The legislature is quickly approaching the “funnel” date of February 16 where individually filed bills need to be through the committee process in order to be eligible for floor debate. This week I floor managed through a subcommittee meeting and the full committee meeting HSB 636, that ...
Significant snow, wind, and brutally cold temperatures impacted Nebraska and much of the Midwest in January. Given the frequency of extreme weather events experienced across the U.S. during the past several years, preparing for emergencies is an important consideration for utilities and ...
Last week, Iowa House Republicans held a subcommittee on the Governor’s AEA proposal. In the end, the subcommittee decided not to advance the bill to the full committee, citing the need for more conversations on the matter. After hearing from constituents, superintendents, teachers, school ...