Iowa Senate Democrats

Fighting for a Better Deal for Iowans.

  • Working together, we can help kids in need

    By State Sen. Nate Boulton, Des Moines (Senate District 16)

    Over the past year, I have had the chance to learn about a serious and heartbreaking illness that affects children who suffer from complications associated with strep infections. While most of us would not panic to hear our child has a diagnosis as common as strep throat, the unfortunate reality is that for some kids, that infection leads to a much more serious condition.

    PANDAS/PANS refers to several neuro-psychiatric conditions that can result from a simple streptococcal infection. Children affected suffer from a variety of problems, some as simple as headaches. Others, however, may become emotionally unstable and even suicidal. The National Institute of Mental Health Treatment describes the symptoms as usually dramatic, come on suddenly, and can include motor or vocal tics, obsessions and compulsions. Otherwise happy and healthy children can get a strep infection that one day causes a “trap door” to be triggered.

    While the condition alone is scary, parents face another frightening reality: treatment can be expensive and some health insurance companies refuse to cover it. To help ease the burden on these families facing a tough road ahead, I drafted legislation that requires coverage for treatment related to a PANDAS/PANS diagnosis.

    I was proud to see that as I spoke with other legislators about the issue, I was joined by Senators Tom Greene of Burlington (R), Liz Mathis of Hiawatha (D) and Mark Segebart of Vail (R) who signed on to co-sponsor the bill. We are making this a bipartisan effort to help families in need. SF 2084 has now been assigned to the Senate Human Resources Committee and awaits review by a Senate Subcommittee.

    Just as pediatric illnesses don’t afflict only Democratic or Republican children, our party labels should not prevent us from getting kids the health care they need when they need it.

    You can learn more about the issue in this short video with two Iowa moms:

  • UNI leads the way with business innovation

    By State Sen. Bill Dotzler, Waterloo (Senate District 31)

    Iowa’s state universities serve as engines for growth by educating our workforce, advancing research and development, and providing businesses with services that help them grow. Investments initiated by the Cedar Valley legislative delegation are helping UNI’s Additive Manufacturing Center to innovate Iowa’s manufacturing industry.

    The center, located at Waterloo’s TechWorks and recognized as a world leader in innovation, uses 3D printing and high-tech casting, as well as special materials and processes that are not commercially available, to provide molds and cores to companies.

    The center’s clients include more than 90 small and mid-sized manufacturers in Iowa and the region. They are developing and applying technologies that can be used in larger manufacturing businesses and smaller businesses in the supply chain.

    Due to the Additive Manufacturing Center’s work, Iowa has the highest concentration of 3D sand-mold printers in the U.S. and, because of their research, you can find these 3D printers throughout the state’s manufacturing businesses.

    The center has worked with all branches of the United States armed forces, including casting molds that have been used in aircraft for the United States Air Force. The center has also participated in a work group with the U.S. Defense Logistics Agency on enhancing the supply chain to better equip forces, especially the United States Navy, during long-term conflicts.

  • Fix Iowa’s “worst in the nation” child sex abuse laws

    Professor Marci Hamilton, CEO of CHILD USA, spoke at the Iowa Statehouse on January 27, 2020.  In her presentation, she described why Iowa ranks among the worst states in the nation when it comes to laws that protect children from child abuse.  

    She described how Iowa’s comparatively very narrow statute of limitations for criminal and civil child sexual abuse protects the criminals rather than the victims.  The end result is that Iowa child sexual abusers and Iowa institutions that look the other way are LESS LIKELY to be exposed and stopped.

    More information about CHILD USA can be found at childusa.org

  • Don’t hurt Iowans with another tax shift

    Iowans deserve a tax system that works for all of us. Unfortunately, many Iowans believe the current system is rigged against them. The proposed tax changes Governor Reynolds floated in her Condition of the State Address are a good example of why.

    The Governor’s plan is a tax shift that will have a big impact on the pocketbooks of Iowa families. Three in four Iowans likely will see a tax increase. Low-income Iowans and those on a fixed income will be hardest hit.

    Iowa’s current tax system already places a higher burden on lower-income Iowans than on the wealthiest. The Governor’s proposal makes the situation worse.

    Senate Democrats will assess any tax bill on four key principles:

    • Tax reform must be fair. According to the Iowa Policy Project, when all state and local taxes are accounted for, Iowa’s lowest income earners pay the largest portion of their income in taxes. Changes to Iowa’s tax system should address this situation, not make the problem worse.

    • Tax reform must simplify Iowa’s tax code to highlight our state’s true competitiveness. Iowa’s tax code is a confusing collection of credits, deductions and exemptions that do not accurately reflect the cost of living and doing business in Iowa. Our tax rates appear to be among the highest in the nation, but according to the Tax Foundation, taxes paid by Iowans rank our state in the middle of the pack.

    • Tax reform must fit our budget situation. Iowa, under Republican control, has not approved enough funding for state government to meet the needs of Iowans. Let’s not repeat the mistakes of states such as Kansas, which passed massive tax cuts that have resulted in an ongoing budget crisis and cuts to essential services.

    Tax reform must examine corporate tax credits. Under Republican control, the state has slashed funding for vital programs that serve some of our most vulnerable Iowans, while corporate tax credits have been exempt from cuts. We must determine if corporate tax credits offer a good return on investment and benefit Iowans, not just the few businesses that receive them.

  • Child abuse expert to speak with legislators

    Monday, January 27
    11:30 AM – Room 116, Iowa Statehouse

    Senate Democratic Leader Janet Petersen has arranged a briefing for Iowa Legislators and Legislative staff by Marci Hamilton, the CEO of CHILD USA, the country’s leading think tank working to end child abuse and neglect.  Iowa can do more to protect Iowa children from abuse and exploitation.  Professor Hamilton will outline how Iowa can dramatically improve protections for children.

    CHILD USA engages in high-level legal, social science, and medical research and analysis to derive the best public policies to end child abuse and neglect. CHILD USA produces evidence-based solutions and information needed by policymakers, organizations, media, and society as a whole to increase child protection and the common good. 

    Prof. Marci Hamilton, CEO of CHILD USA

    MARCI A. HAMILTON is the Robert A. Fox Leadership Program Professor of Practice, and Fox Family Pavilion Resident Senior Fellow in the Program for Research on Religion at the University of Pennsylvania. She is also the founder, CEO, and Academic Director of CHILD USA, www.childusa.org, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit academic think tank at the University of Pennsylvania dedicated to interdisciplinary, evidence-based research to prevent child abuse and neglect. Before moving to the University of Pennsylvania, Professor Hamilton was the Paul R. Verkuil Chair in Public Law at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University.

    Hamilton is the leading expert on child sex abuse statutes of limitations and has submitted testimony and advised legislators in every state where significant reform has occurred. She is the author of Justice Denied: What America Must Do to Protect Its Children(Cambridge University Press), which advocates for the elimination of child sex abuse statutes of limitations. She has filed countless pro bono amicus briefs for the protection of children at the United States Supreme Court and the state supreme courts. Her textbook, Children and the Law, co-authored with Martin Gardner, will be published Fall 2017 by Carolina Academic Press, formerly Lexis/Nexis.

    Hamilton has been a vocal and influential critic of extreme religious liberty, advocating for the vulnerable about overreaching.  Hamilton successfully challenged the constitutionality of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (“RFRA”) at the Supreme Court in Boerne v. Flores(1997), and defeated the RFRA claim brought by the Archdiocese of Milwaukee against hundreds of child sex abuse survivors in Committee of Unsecured Creditors v. Listecki(7thCir. 2015).  She has represented numerous cities dealing with church-state issues as well as claims brought under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (“RLUIPA). The author of God vs. the Gavel: The Perils of Extreme Religious Liberty(Cambridge University Press), which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, she is also a columnist for Verdict on Justia.com.  

    Hamilton has been honored with the 2018 Pennsylvania State University Department of Philosophy Distinguished Alumni Award, the 2017 University of Pennsylvania Law School Louis H. Pollak Public Service Award, the 2016 Voice Today, Voice of Gratitude Award; the 2015 Religious Liberty Award, American Humanist Association; the 2014 Freethought Heroine Award; the National Crime Victim Bar Association’s Frank Carrington Champion of Civil Justice Award, 2012; the E. Nathaniel Gates Award for outstanding public advocacy and scholarship, 2008; and selected as a Pennsylvania Woman of the Year Award, 2012, among others. She is also frequently quoted in the national media on child abuse and neglect, statute of limitations, constitutional, RFRA, RLUIPA, and First Amendment issues.

    Hamilton clerked for United States Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and Judge Edward R. Becker of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Professor Hamilton is a graduate of Vanderbilt University, B.A., summa cum laude; Pennsylvania State University, M.A. (English, fiction writing, High Honors); M.A. (Philosophy); and the University of Pennsylvania School of Law, J.D., magna cum laude, where she served as Editor-in-Chief of the University of PennsylvaniaLaw Review. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Order of the Coif. 

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  • Improving health for Iowa moms and babies

    Maternal health in Iowa is experiencing a crisis. Maternal mortality has increased at an alarming rate in recent years. Maternal deaths went from fewer than 15 in 2008 to almost 50 in 2019, according to Dr. Stephen Hunter, co-director for Perinatal Care at the Iowa Department of Public Health.

    A big part of the problem is Iowa’s shrinking health care options and workforce:

    • Iowa has seen 34 labor and delivery units close since 2000.
    • Our state has the lowest number of obstetricians per capita in the country; 64% of rural Level 1 hospitals have no obstetrician on staff.
    • Iowa has a high rate of cesarean births, as a result, which can lead to future health problems.

    About 40% of births in Iowa are covered by Medicaid, but privatized Medicaid doesn’t cover the costs for delivering babies if health care providers follow the recommended standard of care, so hospitals lose money by providing labor and delivery services.

    That’s why we are proposing the Healthy Moms and Babies Act (SF 2062), which will:

    • Adjust Medicaid rates so that hospitals are adequately reimbursed for the care they provide.
    • Ensure labor and delivery units use proven practices—known as “safety bundles”—that save lives during delivery.
    • Expand home visiting services for pregnant women, new moms and babies.

    Changes to reproductive health care have real consequences

    During a recent visit to the State Capitol, former State Senator Chris Brase of Muscatine shared his daughter’s devastating pregnancy experience during the summer of 2019.

    Sen. Brase’s daughter experienced a loss of amniotic fluid at around 24 weeks, meaning that her baby’s lungs and other vital organs would be harmed and her baby would not survive birth.

    Because of legislation approved by the Republican-controlled Legislature and signed by the Governor in 2017, she was forced to continue the pregnancy, risking her own health, while knowing that her baby would suffer after birth.

    She was only able to receive the medical care she needed when sepsis set in and her life was at risk.

  • Protect Iowans living in manufactured homes

    By State Sen. Zach Wahls, Coralville (Senate District 37)

                My top legislative priority in 2020 is affordable housing, starting by finishing the work begun last year to protect Iowans who live in manufactured homes. This is an issue that affects both rural Iowa and urban Iowa, as virtually every county in Iowa has at least one manufactured housing community, if not several.

                I’m intentional about using the phrase “manufactured homes,” but you may hear them referred to as “mobile homes” or “trailers.” However, most “mobile” homes are not in fact “mobile.” Moving the homes that can be moved typically costs $2,000 to $5,000. That’s a lot of money.

                Over the last year, you may have read news reports about out-of-state companies moving into Iowa, purchasing manufactured housing communities (or MHCs) and increasing the rent by as much as 70%. The problem of out-of-state companies coming into Iowa, purchasing trailer parks and jacking up the rent has been unusually pronounced in this senate district, and I hear about this concern at virtually every event I hold. Havenpark Capital—the Utah-based investment group that infamously raised the rent on multiple Iowa manufactured housing communities by more than 60% last year—has purchased parks in all three counties I represent in the past year.

                Last April, in response to this growing crisis, the Senate unanimously passed a bipartisan bill I helped craft to take the first steps in protecting Iowans who own manufactured homes. Unfortunately, that bill did not pass the House, because we were so short on time that we could not reach a compromise before adjournment.

                During the “interim” period from April 2019 to January 2020, a bipartisan group of Senators and Representatives has been meeting to discuss this issue. Both Representative Bobby Kaufmann and I are taking part in these negotiations. We are working to develop comprehensive legislation that will protect vulnerable Iowans from predatory landlords while also ensuring that local mom-and-pop owner-operators acting in good faith are not harmed. It is important that we protect all Iowans from predatory behavior while making sure we do not harm the ability of good actors to offer this affordable housing option.

                During our review of this issue over the interim period, I was shocked to learn that people who rent apartments actually have stronger protection under Iowa law than people who own manufactured homes! Common sense tells us that people who own their own homes should have at least as much protection as people who rent, if not more. But that is not the state of Iowa law today. And likely, that it why we are seeing so much interest from out-of-state landlords.

                Any meaningful legislation should be focused on two key areas. First, ensuring that we have equal protection (at least) under Iowa law for renters and for owners of manufactured homes. Second, we have to protect the property rights and due process rights of these home owners.

                I am cautiously optimistic that we will be able to accomplish meaningful reform in this area. Generally speaking, affordable housing is a very important topic, and it makes sense that you would start with the most “affordable” option and work your way up. I hope that by working to bring together Republicans and Democrats, landlords and residents, we can build agreement in Des Moines for common sense legislation. That is how our system is supposed to work!

  • Committee remarks on SJR 21

    Prepared opening remarks to the Senate State Government Committee on SJR 21 by State Sen. Claire Celsi, D-West Des Moines

    SJR 21, Constitutional Amendment: legis.iowa.gov/legislation/BillBook?ga=88&ba=SJR21

    Good morning and welcome to all Iowans who’ve traveled here today to witness this meeting and those who are listening online.

    For many Iowans, this proposed Constitutional Amendment by the Republicans may seem like its coming out of left field.

    Let me assure you. This Iowa bill is just a small part of a coordinated effort to overturn Roe vs. Wade at the national level – and if the Supreme Court kicks the decision back to the states – it’s an effort to weaken the protections of the Iowa Constitution.

    Republicans know that once the Iowa is weakened, if their plan succeeds – then they can go back to the bad bills they’ve tried to pass and get them all out of the trash heap of history and pass them without fear of the Iowa Supreme Court overturning their laws.

    Let’s review. They’ve passed telemedicine abortion bans, a 72-hour waiting period and a 6 week heartbeat bill. Each attempt to limit Iowans’ rights to a safe, legal abortion was more extreme, medically inaccurate and insulting than the one before.

    All of these extreme laws have been nixed by the courts. In the 72-hour waiting period case, the Iowa Supreme Court had enough and the majority opinion went into great detail as to all the ways that Iowans’ constitutional rights had been usurped.

    Republicans complain of activist, unelected judges making these decisions on behalf of Iowans. But what’s ironic is that Republicans in Iowa and nationally are working to stack the courts with judges that will rule in their favor on the issue of abortion.

    A Constitutional amendment is the most extreme action that can be taken a democratic political body. The Republicans are sick of the courts standing up for Iowans’ rights. They want to make sure they have the final say.

    Since this bill has been introduced, I’ve heard from women from all over Iowa. Women who have had life threatening conditions such as preeclampsia that have killed their baby and nearly killed them, too. I’ve heard from Iowans who had an aunt, mother or grandmother who had an illegal abortion and died. I’ve heard from retired nurses from Western Iowa who worked in rural hospitals that provided safe yet illegal abortions to women who had the means and access to the procedure.

    I’ve talked to women whose sisters went to college, tried to self abort their pregnancy in a bathroom, and never came home.

    I’ve talked to women who lost babies much wanted babies at 8 weeks, 12 weeks, 24 weeks for various reasons.

    Thanks to Iowa’s law that limits abortion after 20 weeks – “except for the life and health of the mother” some women have had to wait until they were septic before having a life-saving D&C.

    Some Republicans in the Iowa Senate are determined to weaponize our Constitution to eliminate rights that we currently have. Today, my Democratic colleagues and I are standing up against that overreaching concept.

    Instead of focusing on Iowa’s maternal health crisis, Republicans choose instead to ignore those problems and go the most extreme route possible.

    On behalf of my constituents and the millions of Iowans who support safe, accessible and legal reproductive healthcare – I take great offense to this completely unnecessary bill.

    Thank you Mr. Chair.

  • Iowa AG urges change to Iowa’s manufactured home laws

  • Honor MLK with service

    This year marks 25 years since Congress designated the MLK holiday as a National Day of Service. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. considered the willingness to serve others as one of the highest aspirations.

    While MLK Day is officially celebrated on Monday, January 20, we can honor his memory by improving our communities through volunteer service year around. Volunteer with a local non-profit, church group, school or community organization. Use the National Service search tool to find a volunteer opportunity near you.

    Learn more about MLK Day