Advocacy is Critical

As we roll into the final 6 weeks or so of the 2023 Legislative Session, YOUR voice and the voices of your co-workers, staff members, patrons, board members and supporters are absolutely critical to the success of Iowa's libraries. The more people you can inspire to step to plate on behalf of libraries, the better! You never know which person you might tap that might already have a great relationship with their legislators, so reach out to as many as you can!

The ILA and IASL Boards put out a Joint Statement recently on Information Access and Intellectual Freedom. The document gives you all the background you should need in understanding the specific challenges we face at the Capitol this session. Please do whatever you can to generate calls and emails to legislators and to the Governor from as many advocates as you can find!

Thank You to the ILA members that joined us for ILA Capitol Day on March 7th!! It was the best turnout in memory. A lot of great advocacy happened, but more needs to be done!

Spring Break is Here!! Well,… unless you are an Iowa legislator, lobbyist or staff. For those involved with the Legislature, this is simply the start of Week 10. Monday, March 13th will mark Session Day 64 of the scheduled 110-day legislative session. 

Second Funnel Coming

We are two weeks away from the second funnel week, which occurs in legislative week 12, March 27-31. By the end of that week, any policy bill will need to have been passed out of committee in the other chamber in order to stay alive for the year. (For example, a House Education Committee bill will have to have been approved by the full House and the Senate Education Committee to stay alive.) Exceptions from the funnel deadlines exist for bills from three committees: Appropriations, Ways & Means, and Oversight. 

For the observer, what does this mean you’ll see at the Statehouse? This past week and this upcoming week, it means a lot of floor debate as the chambers try to move their priority bills over to the other chamber. As we get into Week 11 and 12, the focus will begin to shift away from floor debate and back to subcommittee and committee meetings as legislators try to move bills out of committee prior to the funnel deadline.

Revenues

In addition to the policy transition process, another part of the session that starts now is the budget process. The Revenue Estimating Conference (REC) met on Friday, March 10th to determine their updated revenue projections.  They increased their revenue projections for both the current fiscal year (FY2023 – up $135m) and the upcoming fiscal year (FY2024 – up $25m). 

Since the Legislature is required to build their budget using the lower of the December and March projections, legislative leadership will start assembling the FY2024 budgets based on the REC’s December numbers. They will have roughly $9.625 billion to work with as they determine their appropriation bills. This is about $100 million lower than FY 2023, a reduction that was expected in the wake of last year’s tax cut legislation.

Advocacy

A lot of the Governor and legislators’ main agenda items have been passed now – Education Savings Accounts, School Funding, Medical Malpractice, Residential Rollback Adjustments, and Gender Treatment Prohibitions for Minors. A number of other priorities – State Government Reorganization, Education Reform, and others – are pretty far along in the process.

For every other issue, the next 6 weeks or so are crunch time for advocacy. All budget, tax and policy decisions will be made in the next 40-50 days as the Legislature makes its way toward the April 28 target adjournment date. 

Now is the time to be weighing in on the issues you want to see taken up yet this session (or the issues you want to see permanently put on hold!).  Be contacting your legislators and the Governor’s Office to make sure your voice is heard AND reach out to family and friends and grow your advocacy network!   

Governor's Education Reform Passes

Despite our best efforts, the Iowa House gave approval this Thursday to SF391, one of the Governor's Education Reform bills. This legislation contains in Division II two major changes that will have detrimental effects to the teacher librarian profession.

First, it places into the Iowa Code language saying the Board of Educational Examiners (BOEE) "shall not require an applicant for a teacher librarian license to have a master's degree". Second, beginning July 1, 2023, it allows a school district to employ either a teacher librarian or "a person previously employed as a librarian by a public library."

During debate on SF 391, Rep. Cahill, a retired teacher librarian, offered two amendments that were unsuccessful. Though the Governor is unlikely to budge since this is her bill, please keep your calls and emails coming in regarding the damage that would be done by this change. We're not sure all legislators really understand how far-reaching this legislation is for the teacher librarian profession. In follow-up conversations with some legislators involved in passing this, it was clear that some legislators thought the public librarian provision would only be applicable if a school district was unable to find a teacher librarian to hire. However, there is no such qualification in the bill; instead, it reads EXACTLY as quoted in the previous paragraph. Further, the bill does NOT allow the BOEE any flexibility in implementing any further clarifications through the rules process.

House Passes "Age Appropriateness" Book Restrictions

This past Wednesday, the Iowa House voted 60-37 to pass HF 597, legislation to require that educational programs be taught from an "age appropriateness" approach. The bill would also determine that "age appropriate" does not include any material with descriptions or visual depictions of a sex act. Three House Republicans joined all House Democrats in voting against the bill.

HF 597 was sent to the Senate Education Committee for further consideration. The Senate Education Committee also has legislation that includes other approaches to the book removal issue, including the Governor's proposed Dept. of Education book list that would require written parental consent if a student wished to check out a book that had been removed by ANY school district in the State. The Governor's list is actually out of committee in the Senate and could be considered at any time.

ILA is monitoring this issue closely. The Legislature and Governor seem intent on passing legislation to address this issue, so we will be working with them to try to prevent some of the more unworkable and unconstitutional proposals from being the ones advanced this session.

It has definitely been a busy year at the Capitol for protesters. Here is a photo of one that occurred this past Wednesday in the Rotunda.

Bills that DIED in the First Funnel

These are bills that we were tracking for you that DIED in the First Funnel. You can access this list by choosing the “Inactive” dropdown box on your Bill Tracker. This list will get longer after the Second Funnel on March 31st.

Keep in mind that, while these bills are dead for the year, the language in any of these could be amended into other legislation. Also, since this is the first year of the two-year General Assembly, these bills all become alive again next session. Keep up your advocacy!

HF5: School Transparency

Requires schools to make available to parents/guardians certain class instruction and other materials.

HF489: Internet Age Verification

Prohibits commercial entities from publishing material on the internet that is harmful to minors.

HF563: Reading Proficiency Study

Establishes a working group to study the effectiveness of efforts to increase the reading proficiency of students enrolled in grades K-3.

HSB81: Administrative Rules

Makes provisions for the administrative rulemaking process for executive branch agencies. 

HSB112: Prohibited Curriculum Violations

Requires the department of education to notify school boards of any noncompliance regarding prohibited curriculum or training provided by school employees or contractors. 

HSB223: Internet Parental Consent

Requires social media and gaming sites to ensure that a child under age 16 has parental consent to access the site. 

SF50: Mobile Device Filters

Requires manufacturers of mobile devices to include filters that can limit displaying or accessing material that is harmful to minors.

SF81: Racism/Sexism Trainings

Prohibits contractors, teachers, and administrators from proving curriculum, training, or materials related to stereotyping and scapegoating.

SF159: Gender Identity/Sexual Orientation Education

Prohibits gender identity and sexual orientation education for grades K-8.

SF305: Obscene Materials in Schools

Prohibits obscene materials on school grounds.

SSB1143: Board Dissolution

Requires boards created by the legislature or government entities established by the governor to end within a certain time period.