We have been moving through bills at a rapid pace. These bills were what we call non-cons which stands for non-controversial. Some of them are very simple bills, but there are some that are very complicated, but both the Republicans and the Democrats agree on the importance of the bill for the State of Iowa so there is very little debate if any.

But once we get through the low-hanging fruit, things get a lot tougher. With the non-cons out of the way, we move on to issues that are more controversial. On these bills, the two parties just do not agree. This leads to very contentious debates with high emotions.

Two of the busiest committees which met last week were the Ways & Means and the Appropriations committees. In the next few weeks, committees will get busy again as we deal with Senate bills that have come over to the House. You may recall, the first funnel kills any bills that did not pass out of committee in the chamber where they originated. So, House files had to be passed out of House standing committees and Senate files had to be passed out of Senate standing committees. The second funnel deadline is on week 10 which ends on Friday, March 15. This forces House files to be passed out of Senate committees and Senate files to be passed out of House committees. Bills that do not make it out of their respective committees will die in the second funnel.

The Ag Committee did not meet last week or this week. We have only had one bill come over to us from the Senate. I received SF 2391 Wednesday. This bill makes it illegal to label a product as meat if there is no meat in it. We are doing this so that Iowa consumers will not be misled by labeling when they think they are buying a meat product when it is really a plant-based product.

The most controversial bills which kept us here late last night were dealing with education.

House File 2545

This bill would require the Iowa Department of Education to conduct a comprehensive review of the high school graduation requirements and K-12 core curriculum. A comprehensive review has not been conducted since 2007. Scores in key subject areas have fallen since then. The review will include plans to regularly review and revise English language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies standards. The review of social studies will have an emphasis on American history, civics, and western civilization. Specifically, the review will identify the best ways to “equip high school graduates with sufficient knowledge of civics and United States history, including the principles reflected in the Constitution of the United States, so that high school graduates are capable of discharging the responsibilities associated with United States citizenship.”

House File 2544

Creates new history and civics standards, which includes a focus on American history, civics, geography, the American flag, the National Anthem, along with extended standards on western civilization from Athens, Jerusalem, and Rome to the present, to understand the nature of our ideals and institutions of liberty, how they came into existence, and what actions our forefathers took to preserve them.

The American history and civics standards will have an emphasis on the Constitution of the United States, with emphasis on the Bill of Rights, and the Constitution of Iowa and their original intent. The basic principles of the United States’ republican form of government. The historical development of the United States’ republican form of government. A comparison of the United States’ republican form of government with different forms of government including dictatorship, monarchy, oligarchy, theocracy, communism, and autocracy. The structure, function, and processes of government institutions at the federal, state, and local levels.

House File 2586

This bill deals with school safety, establishing grants to help schools fund school resource officers. Creates a special professional permit for people employed by schools. The special permit provides individuals and the district with qualified immunity if training is kept up to date. There are a lot of regulations and qualifications in this bill. I will give a more detailed review of this bill in a later newsletter.

State Rep. Mike Sexton, R-Rockwell City, represents Calhoun, Pocahontas and Sac counties, plus western Webster County.