Iowa House Archives » Lynda Waddington

01Apr 2019 by Lynda Waddington

Why state leaders needed to step back from work requirements

Gazette Column

State work requirements for Medicaid recipients appear to be scuttled, at least for this year. That’s a good thing because research and experience show the numbers don’t add up for participants or for taxpayers. The bill passed by the Iowa Senate, Senate File 538, required the Department of Human Services to petition the federal government for permission to implement Medicaid requirements beyond those already in place at the federal level. Those new stipulations centered on work requirements. Specifically, “able-bodied” recipients would need to work or volunteer a minimum of 20 hours each week, and government officials would need to make larger investments in software and staffing in order to track the changes with the increased veracity required by the bill. Sticks of chalk sit around a partially completed drawing of the…

03Mar 2019 by Lynda Waddington

Iowa bills target emergency insulin access gap

Gazette Column

Two bills making their way through the Iowa Legislature would help diabetics receive live-saving insulin in emergency situations. Senate File 291, sponsored by Sen. Carrie Koelker, R-Dyersville, and House File 447, sponsored by Reps. Andy McKean, R-Anamosa, and Lindsay James, D-Dubuque, are working their way through the human resources committees in their respective chambers. Their aim is fairly narrow in that they would allow Iowa pharmacists to dispense a 30-day supply of insulin to those with an expired prescription in an emergency circumstance, even when a physician's authorization cannot be obtained. Similar bills - known as Howdy's Law or Kevin's Law - have been passed in several other states following the advocacy of Dan and Judy Houdeshell of Ohio. Their son, Kevin 'Howdy” Houdeshell, ran out of insulin over the…

02Mar 2019 by Lynda Waddington

Female Genital Mutilation: Felony or misdemeanor?

Gazette Column

Committee work in the Iowa House and Senate has produced differing views on what should happen to those who engage in female genital mutilation. Legislation to prohibit the heinous practice of 'female cutting” is advancing in the Iowa Legislature, with bills now reported out of the judiciary committees in both chambers. That's the good news. The caveat is the bills have diverged, with the Senate bill continuing to call for felony prosecutions and the House bill reducing the offense to an aggravated misdemeanor. Both bills have continued language to protect only juveniles from such procedures. In addition, the Legislative Services Agency has filed fiscal reports in an attempt to show the state's cost in enacting such laws. Senate File 346 was reported out of committee on Feb. 21, with its…

06Feb 2019 by Lynda Waddington

#EndFGM — New Iowa bill for ‘Day of Zero Tolerance’

Gazette Column

Today is the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation. So it is appropriate that members of the Iowa House have begun work on a bipartisan bill that would ban the heinous cultural practice in the Hawkeye State. Iowa Rep. Steve Holt, R-Denison, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, introduced House Study Bill 115 this week and assigned it to an all-female subcommittee consisting of Megan Jones, R-Sioux Rapids, Ashley Hinson, R-Marion, and Liz Bennett, D-Cedar Rapids. The introductory language of this bill is nearly identical to House File 63, which had been introduced last month by seven Democrats. Currently, the offering makes non-medical female genital mutilation procedures as well as trafficking girls for such procedures Class D felonies. This is the lowest tier of felonies in Iowa,…

12Mar 2018 by Lynda Waddington

Iowa Republicans prefer to lie in private

Gazette Column

Iowa House Republicans are behaving like children who have something to hide. Because they do. Last week, the Iowa House Public Safety Committee took up House File 481, the misnamed “sanctuary city” bill. Not only did members choose one of the smallest rooms in the Statehouse for the meeting, but Chairman Clel Baudler, R-Greenfield, reserved nearly all the seats for GOP clerks. As Gazette political reporter James Q. Lynch noted in his article, such staffers do not typically attend committee meetings. Baudler said it was an attempt to maintain order as lawmakers again discussed the possibility of withholding untold swathes of state funding from local governments that do not go above and beyond what federal immigration law requires. Although GOP lawmakers want to frame this bill as a law-and-order measure…

10Mar 2018 by Lynda Waddington

Iowa House bars school lunch shaming

Gazette Column

Feeding kids linked to academic achievement, economic productivity Members of the Iowa House unanimously voted this week to protect Iowa school children from shaming — and give communities an economic edge. House File 2467 directs school districts to feed children, even those with meal accounts in the red, while continuing to pursue parents for payment. Alternate meals remain permissible, if the alternate is available to all students and not only those with negative meal account balances. It’s an effort to end what’s known as “shaming” of children whose parents and guardians don’t or can’t pay. Across the nation, and here in Iowa, students have had lunch trays taken from their hands and dumped into trash cans while other students watched. For some students in the Cedar Rapids area, this happened…

04Mar 2018 by Lynda Waddington

Iowa Legislature is ignoring red flags

Gazette Column

Debate on bill, amendments aimed at preventing gun violence denied Wary lawmakers in Iowa and around the nation insist ongoing debate about gun violence should center on mental illness, and not guns. So why is legislation aimed at temporarily removing guns from people in crisis being ignored? Iowa Rep. Art Staed, D-Cedar Rapids, made headlines this week for killing his own amendment, a red flag law he’d attached to a bill concerning mental health. The bill, which came out of the House Human Resources Committee, added provisions for involuntary commitments and hospitalizations and provided rules about how behavioral health information is disclosed to law enforcement agencies. Staed’s amendment would have allowed concerned family members and close friends to petition the court for a temporary weapons injunction against a person who…

11Feb 2018 by Lynda Waddington

Iowa Republicans are devaluing women – again

Gazette Column

Iowa Republicans are once again making clear that they value the potential of pregnancy more than they value women. Their latest missive is Senate Study Bill 3143: “An act relating to the prerequisites for and prohibition against an abortion related to the testing for, and following the detection of, a fetal heartbeat, providing for a repeal, and providing penalties.” A nearly identical bill, HF2163, was introduced in the Iowa House: “An act recognizing the rights and protections accorded each life from the moment of fetal heartbeat detection, prohibiting the performance of an abortion if a fetal heartbeat is detected, providing for licensee discipline, and providing a repeal.” Both bills basically state that, once a fetal heartbeat is detected by ultrasound, a pregnant woman cannot legally obtain an abortion. Doctors who defy the…

05Feb 2018 by Lynda Waddington

Lawmakers hope to buy votes with your tax dollars

Gazette Column

How will it cost taxpayers if the Iowa Legislature approves, and Gov. Kim Reynolds signs, a bill targeting so-called sanctuary communities? Let’s count the ways. The bill, Senate File 481, earned 32 votes and a nod of approval in the Iowa Senate last year. This week, it received a 2-1 vote in a House Public Safety subcommittee — despite law enforcement officials from across the state lobbying and speaking against it. The proposal must still advance through the full committee before it can be brought to the House floor. If approved by the Iowa House without any changes to what the Senate approved last year, it would be sent to the Governor’s Office where it could be signed into law. On Thursday night, the Reynolds-Gregg campaign used the bill as a fundraising plea, falsely…

04Dec 2017 by Lynda Waddington

Sexual harassment makes Iowa Capitol no place for teens

Featured, Gazette Column

Legislative page program should be paused until Statehouse culture changes Each year the Iowa Senate, House and Legislative Services Agency employ high school juniors and seniors as pages. Unless persistent and significant workplace culture questions are answered, 2018 should be an exception. It’s been nearly five months since an Iowa court found that Kirsten Anderson, a former Iowa Senate Republican caucus staff member, was wrongfully terminated hours after she reported sexual harassment. It’s been more than a month since the state settled the case without an appeal, agreeing to pay Anderson and her attorneys $1.75 million from the state’s coffers. To date, no one has been held accountable. [caption id="attachment_1419" align="alignleft" width="500"] A portion of the Iowa Senate GOP's internal investigation report atop a picture of the Iowa Statehouse.[/caption] Perhaps…