Baxter and Guth's Legislative Updates

Terry Baxter

House Happenings, March 10th

We are racing to beat the second funnel on March 18th.  Bills must be passed off the floor of the House or Senate to stay alive.  A few of the bills I was working on will not make it to the floor.  It’s always a heartbreak.  A few of my bills are destined to the Governor’s desk.  One bill originated with a constituent in Hancock County.

HF2370 (SF 2334) is a bill that makes .410 and 28 gauge shotguns legal for Turkey hunting in Iowa thanks to new research and development.  These guns are inadequate with lead, steel or copper shot to ethically harvest Turkey’s.  But thanks to the introduction of tungsten shot, these are now very lethal weapons.  Tungsten is 57% heavier and more dense than lead.  That means smaller shot with tungsten can make a .410 as lethal as a 12 gauge with turkey loads, but without the kick.  A number of other states are already using these loads with great success. The downside is that tungsten is expensive.  I expect the game laws to reflect these changes for the 2023 hunting season.  Game laws are already printed for the 2022 season, so don’t sell your 12 gauge turkey gun yet. 

Let me highlight a few other bills that passed the House this week:

HF 2547 is a bill to create the licensure of midwifery as a health-related profession.  The bill creates a Board of Midwifery to oversee the licensure process.  This newly formed board would adopt administrative rules to establish the rules and requirements for licensure.  This will provide another option for quality maternity care especially in rural areas. 

HF2412 is a bill requiring radon testing in schools.  This legislation was written in honor of Gail Orcutt, a retired Iowa teacher who lost her battle with radon-induced lung cancer in 2020. An estimated 400 Iowans die each year due to radon-induced lung cancer and this bill takes a meaningful step to reduce that number.

HF2431 is a bill to clarify regulations on Home-Based Businesses.  It prohibits counties and cities from requiring a person to apply, register, or require a permit to operate a “no-impact” home business.  It also prevents counties or cities from requiring a property being used for a home-based business from being rezoned. 

Counties and cities can establish regulations based on the protection of public health, making sure the business is complying with residential use of the property and state and federal law.  It also prohibits the sale of alcoholic beverages, illegal drugs, pornography, nude or topless dancing, or other adult oriented businesses.

It also changes the Iowa Code from “home bakeries” to “home food processing establishments.” It raise the gross annual sales from $35,000 to $50,000 annually, but puts restrictions on some poultry and meat products making sure they come from inspected sources.  It also adds labeling requirements.  It is a great bill to encourage business startups with adequate guard rails for consumer safety.  I fully expect some of these home startups will grow into huge success stories. Our job is to help them start.

Our first State Budget Bills also cleared subcommittees this week.  The Judicial System, Transportation, Agriculture and Natural Resources budget bills were the first to clear these hurdles.  This shows both important and timely progress.  House Republicans take budgeting seriously.

The View From Here by Senator Dennis Guth

Week nine involved lots of floor debate as we move bills off the floor before our second deadline (funnel) on March 18. Here are some of the bills we voted on:

We passed SF 2357 which requires all school board members to vote yay or nay on a matter before their board. Some board members were refusing to vote once the outcome of a motion was clearly passed or rejected. This prevents the public from knowing their position. This bill ensures community members know where board members stand on every issue before the board.

There were two bills voted on relating to dairy. SF 2309 legalized the direct sale of fresh milk to consumers by small producers milking less than 10 animals. Fresh milk and the cheese made from it are growing in popularity. SF 2309 allows Iowa to join the other 44 states in which the sale of fresh milk is legal.

We also ran SF 2290 which creates a Dairy Processing and Milk Production Innovation and Revitalization program. Its goal is to establish more dairy processing that produces small amounts of traditional products.

In 2019, the Iowa Senate initiated a change in the way judges on the Iowa Supreme court are selected. We took the control of the committee recommending nominees to the governor away from the judiciary and the Bar Association. That change has worked well and SF 2132 extends those reforms to the district courts as well. This will improve the public accountability of the commission making nominations for the governor.

Peter Marshall was United States Chaplin following World War II. The opening line of his prayer was, “Give us clear vision that we may know where to stand and what to stand for—because unless we stand for something, we shall fall for anything.”

At that time, Mr. Marshall’s primary concern was communism. Today, we can add to that threat that of moral decay, of imploding as a nation, losing freedom, and of being enslaved by a corrupt view of the world.

Many of our traditional institutions have been under attack. Instead of protecting those, our own government has infringed upon our freedom of expression, actually discriminating against these who hold Judeo-Christian values.

These are times when we should all be asking ourselves, “What do I stand for? What am I willing to die for? What do I want to pass on to my children?”

One group of people who do make a stand is our military. Several years ago, I was able to board one of the jets used to refuel Air Force One in the air. After that memorable event I asked the Colonel, “How much did it cost taxpayers to give legislators this show?” His answer impressed me. He said, “Having you on the flight cost the taxpayers zero. We practice this maneuver every day. Today we just had passengers.”

That is real dedication and preparedness. We could emulate this attitude of preparedness as well. Our military is ready to defend us at a moment’s notice. Are we as ready to defend our beliefs and freedoms at a moment’s notice? We need to practice every day.

I Peter 3:15 tells us, “Always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you: yet do it with gentleness and respect.”