It is funnel week - bills have only a few more days to be voted out of a House or Senate committee. Bills that don't make this cut by Friday (Feb. 18) are dead; they will not become law this year. However, this deadline does not apply to any bill that has a tax in it or spends money. They can be debated at any time.

We have an update from last week, when we reported that the Senate Education Committee passed a bill that creates a Special Education Task Force. This task force includes parents of children with disabilities. They are working on ways to better serve private school students needing special education services. This bill (Senate File 2197) moved fast! It passed the Senate 46-0! You can watch the recorded debate on this bill here. It's pretty fast.

What Does This Mean?

• Students have the right to special education. This will make sure kids can get special education wherever they choose to go to school.

• Parents will not have to go to court to get these services for their private school kids.

What Can You Do?

• Thank your Senator for voting for the bill, Senators Chris Cournoyer and Carrie Koelker for leading the charge, and your State Representative to make sure this keeps moving here. We've made it easy for you to email them all at once, but make sure you add your personal story about why this help you, your child, or others you know.

More Debate on Service/Assistance Animals

A House subcommittee passed House File 2068, a bill that would make it a crime to lie about an animal's status as a service, assistance, or support animal.

The bill also allows a landlord or owner of any residential housing to deny an accommodation for a service, assistance, or support animal if that animal may be dangerous to others or cause harm to the owner's property. The landlord could also require proof that the animal is vaccinated and its registrations are all up to date.

While this passed subcommittee, the House Judiciary Committee plans to change it to match a new Senate bill, Senate File 2093.

This bill is the same as the House bill, but also allows a landlord to ask for proof of a disability, require that the person's permission for a service animal be written by an Iowa-based health care provider within the last six months, and still allows refusal to accommodate if the landlord thinks it will be too expensive or too hard to make the accommodation.

The Senate subcommittee on SF 2093 will meet today - Monday, February 14 at 12:30 p.m. to discuss this bill.

• You can watch the subcommittee Monday (2/14) at 12:30 pm here.

• You will need a free Zoom account to do this (so make sure you log in and get one before the meeting starts).

• You can ask to speak on this bill during the subcommittee - you don't have to be a lobbyist! Just click the "raise your hand" button.

• You can also call in to listen: 1-312-626-6799; Meeting ID is 187732; Passcode is 187732.

Get a quick recap of the week from the Iowa DD Council's public policy manager Bill Kallestad and their public policy eyes and ears at the Capitol, Amy Campbell. Click here to watch..

Advocate Resources

Bill Tracker

Action Center

Calendar & Legislative Town Halls

Guide to the Iowa Legislature

Advocacy Toolkit

infoNET is a disability policy newsletter of the Iowa Developmental Disabilities Council and its network of Iowans with Disabilities in Action.



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This project was supported, in part by grant number 2101IASCDD, from the U.S. Administration for Community Living, Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, D.C. 20201. Grantees undertaking projects with government sponsorship are encouraged to express freely their findings and conclusions. Points of view or opinions do not, therefore, necessarily represent official ACL policy.