Another tragedy like the death of teenager Natalie Finn could happen unless Iowa’s child-protection workers are given the resources and support they need, the State Ombudsman announced today in a report on how the Iowa Department of Human Services handled child-abuse reports.
The 16-year-old girl was emaciated when emergency responders were called to her adoptive family’s West Des Moines home in October 2016. She died a few hours later at a local hospital.
Ladies and Gentleman of the Senate,
on the opening day of the Legislative Session, I said,
“Iowans shouldn’t have to worry that their human and civil rights are on
the line when the Legislature is in session.”
But here we are…
Today, Senate Republicans, under the leadership of Senator Schneider and
Senator Whitver, are pushing a Constitutional Amendment designed to strip away
the freedom of Iowa women, girls and their families.
President Schneider and Leader Whitver – this debate calendar for today is one
for the history books – one you will both be remembered for.
First, you celebrate the 100th anniversary of women’s right to vote.
Then, on the same debate calendar, the only other piece of legislation you put
forth is a Constitutional Amendment to strip women and girls of their basic
human rights.
You’ve chosen today to push an extreme agenda with the ultimate goal of an
all-out abortion ban in Iowa –with no exceptions granted under any
circumstances, instead of focusing on real problems facing young Iowa families
in our state.
Iowa women and girls need MORE access to safe health care close to home, NOT
LESS.
But that doesn’t seem to faze you.
Never mind that Iowa is facing a maternal health crisis facing our state.
Never mind that Iowa’s maternal mortality rate has more than doubled in the
past three years.
Never mind that 66 Iowa counties don’t even have a single OB/GYN.
Livestock in our state has better access to doctors than Iowa women and girls,
but I guess that doesn’t matter to you.
Never mind that Iowans are losing labor & delivery departments and safe
places to go for decent reproductive health care at a dangerous and deadly
pace.
¬
Iowa families represented by Senator Sinclair have lost three labor &
delivery departments in Chariton, Knoxville and Leon.
The families Senator Miller-Meeks represents have lost three labor &
delivery departments in Bloomfield, Keosauqua, and Fairfield.
Moms-to-be in Senator Rozenboom’s district lost their labor & delivery
department in Centerville.
Young families who are represented by Senator Segebart lost access to three
labor & delivery departments in Audubon, Manning, and Sac City.
Senator Waylon Brown – young families in your district had already lost labor
& delivery services in Osage. Now you can add New Hampton to the list of
places that won’t serve moms-to-be in your district anymore.
Moms-to-be represented by Senator Johnson no longer have a labor & delivery
department to deliver their babies in Oelwein and Independence.
Senator Johnson was assigned the Healthy Moms and Babies Act to help address
the maternal health crisis facing Iowa. But Senator Johnson hasn’t scheduled a
subcommittee on the bill yet.
Senator Edler: you promised the families in your district more access to health
care. But Marshalltown because the Iowa community to lose a Level 2 labor and
delivery department.
Iowa parents-to-be that Senator Costello represents no longer have labor &
delivery departments in Clarinda and Hamburg.
Families Senator Sweeney represents lost labor & delivery departments in
Iowa Falls and Eldora.
Families Senator Whiting represents lost labor & delivery departments in
Sibley and Rock Rapids.
Parents-to-be and families living in Anamosa, Corning, Dyersville, Estherville,
Guttenberg, Hampton, Humboldt, Ida Grove, Jefferson, Keokuk, Maquoketa,
Washington, Webster City – all lost labor and delivery departments.
Mount Pleasant is soon to shutter its labor and delivery program. And NONE of
these hospitals that closed their labor and delivery departments are required
to make sure other communities can take on the additional patient load, or that
women have safe transportation to get to distant hospitals.
So, even if your senate district hasn’t lost a labor and delivery department,
your constituents health care is compromised as well. Access to a labor and
delivery room matters.
And the problem is getting worse.
We know we’re likely to see an additional 10 labor & deliveries close down
in the near future. A significant number of OB/gyns and family practitioners
are planning to retire soon. And, we are starting to lose family practice
residency programs in the state.
These, my friends are real issues.
BUT instead of making Iowa a safer place to have a baby, or help women get
health care to regulate problematic periods, and address period health care
issues that impact their ability to go to school and work, or improving access
to family planning services so parents can choose when to have kids, and safely
space their pregnancies, or choose not to have kids.
Instead government is intruding on their lives.
You have chosen to take away freedoms from Iowans.
Instead of dealing with real problems that can truly be life or death problems
for women and girls in our state, you have chosen to ram your power into
women’s bodies once again.
Wasn’t it enough, when you banned thousands of Iowa women from getting their
reproductive health care from Planned Parenthood, Unity Point and the
University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics…while you still enjoyed your
taxpayer funded health insurance that allowed you, your spouses and your kids
to access those providers and even get the same services you denied to the
women you represent?
Women are getting tired of you making your political statements with our
uteruses.
It’s time to quit punching women and girls in the uterus with your policies,
and pretending it’s for our own good.
This Constitutional Amendment steals the rights away from Iowa women and girls
by taking away our ability to make personal decisions about what is best for
our bodies, our future, our families, and our pregnancies.
I can’t think of a single body part that is regulated more than the UTERUS.
Not a big toe.
Not eyes.
Not even the penis, which is responsible for 99% of all rapes and 100% of all
unintended pregnancies in our country, according to facts and science.
To my Senate Republican colleagues – it is time for you to quit treating Iowa
women and girls as second-class citizens whose rights and opportunities are
inferior to your own.
I don’t like to be mansplained on what human rights are.
This constitutional amendment is written with the sole purpose of banning
access to safe abortion care in Iowa.
Don’t let the misleading language in this amendment confuse you.
This amendment is not designed to protect women.
The intent of this constitutional amendment, and the politicians behind it, is
to make sure Iowa can ban abortion without exception.
When you take away access to safe, legal abortion care, and maternal health
care, you do not protect women and girls – you put their lives at risk.
That’s why the American Medical Association and the American College of
Obstetricians and Gynecologists oppose efforts to ban abortion.
Iowans – not politicians – should be in charge of our own personal medical
decisions.
Make no mistake about it – this Constitutional Amendment is part of an extreme
abortion ban agenda pushed by Republican politicians here in Iowa and across
the country – designed to do one thing. End access to safe abortion care, no
matter what the cost to the lives of women, girls and families living in our
country.
President Schneider, you chose to use the power of the Senate Presidency to
have the Iowa Senate celebrate women’s right to vote today. And then in the
very same day, you allowed a debate on an ultra-extreme Constitutional
Amendment that strips women and girls of their basic human rights.
Isn’t it ironic, don’t you think!
President Schneider, I am glad you don’t have the power to take away women’s
RIGHT TO VOTE that our grandmas and great grandmas fought for more than 100
years ago because I know WOMEN intend to use that right.
On Wednesday, a bipartisan group of senators filed a bill to protect Iowans who own manufactured homes. Senate File 2238 garnered 30 Senate cosponsors—15 Republicans and 15 Democrats.
The House filed a “companion” bill (i.e., the same bill). The first public hearing on House File 2351 will be 1 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 17 in room 19.
The legislation would update Iowa Code Chapter 562B to be fairer and curb predatory practices with four changes to Iowa law:
1. Eviction: Require “good cause” for eviction.
2. Rent increases: Mandate 180-days’ notice of rent
increases, limit increases to once per year and require an explanation if the increase
is more than the rate of inflation.
3. Enforcement: Give the Iowa Attorney General authority to
enforce the mobile home park laws under the Consumer Fraud Act.
4. Equity: Provide mobile homeowners the same protections
afforded apartment renters.
Plan by Gov. Reynolds and Farm Bureau jeopardizes Iowa’s mental health system
By State Sen. Joe Bolkcom, Iowa City (Senate District 43)
I have been working for the last three weeks to draw attention to Governor Reynolds’ proposal to undermine stable, core funding of our local mental health system.
I understand that every major business organization will support this deal, but I was shocked this week to learn that NAMI Iowa has endorsed Governor Reynolds’ destructive proposal. Why is NAMI Iowa joining Governor Reynolds and the Iowa Farm Bureau to hurt our mental health care providers and people that need their services? I don’t understand.
State Sen. Joe Bolkcom is interviewed Feb. 12 on the Governor’s plan to shift the tax burden onto seniors and low-income Iowans, while undermining stable funding for Iowa’s adult mental health system.
Here are some details about the Governor’s plan.
While the main thrust of Governor Reynolds’ tax shift proposal is to give another massive tax cut to wealthy Iowans that will drain hundreds of millions from state priorities, she also proposes to do great damage to our mental health system.
The Governor’s plan is a disaster. It cuts $80 million in stable, predictable local funding from our mental health system, and replaces it with unpredictable and insufficient state appropriations.
The strength of our adult system is that it was created and is financially supported by local elected officials, families and mental health providers. It is the backbone of our mental health system. The reason it exists today is that it has NOT had to rely on annually begging the Legislature for resources over the past 50 years. It is successful because local elected officials are accountable for making it work.
More state control of the system will result in less stable funding, less local accountability for results and more broken promises. Why would the Governor, who says she cares about mental health, propose to take away much of its most secure financial support?
Because the Iowa Farm Bureau told her too. It has been a Farm Bureau priority for 30 years. Why should Farm Bureau members have to pay for mental health services? “What do social services like mental health have to do with farm fields,” they ask.
I investigated who pays the dedicated county mental health property tax levy that funds our local providers. Implied in Farm Bureau’s complaint is that they are paying more than their fair share for local mental health services. For the record, agricultural property accounts for 18 percent of the total statewide contribution for our local mental health services. Apparently, they want to pay zero.
So the Governor and the Farm Bureau want to destroy the most reliable source of funding for our mental health system because Farm Bureau does not want to pay their fair share for mental health services. I don’t understand why NAMI Iowa agrees?
I wish I had more faith in Iowa state government to keep its word. I don’t aim to be mean, but just look at the GOP’s major health care initiatives over the past five years to see how Republican control of our health care has been amazingly ineffective.
Everyone but Governor Reynolds and legislative Republicans still agree that privatizing Medicaid has been a costly disaster. Governor Reynolds’ and Republican’s closure of two state mental health facilities (Clarinda and Mt. Pleasant) resulted in premature death for several vulnerable Iowans and significantly reduced much needed mental health beds.
The GOP gutted Iowa’s successful family planning programs that have led to a documented maternal mortality crisis and dangerous outcomes for pregnant moms and their babies.
The GOP’s medical cannabis program is the worst, most bureaucratic, unworkable program in the nation.
And now the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating the Reynolds’ Administration for its operation of two state resource centers (Glenwood and Woodward) for our most vulnerable intellectually disabled and mental health patients, following an unusual number of recent deaths and serious violations of federal law.
More state control over Iowa’s local mental health system will lead to serious decline. Please speak up NOW if you care about maintaining and improving Iowa’s mental health system.
By Senate Intern Kylie Spies, University of Iowa MSW student
Richie Gibbs, Erica Altemeier and Madelynn Rhodes are nursing students at Des Moines Area Community College.
Students from DMACC’s RN training program were on hand for
Career and Technical Education Day at the Capitol. They shared with legislators
how their program is helping prepare Iowans for high-demand jobs.
Iowa is experiencing shortages in OB-GYNs, mental health
providers, nurses and other health professions. In 2018, U.S. News ranked Iowa
36th in the nation in overall
health care, and 46th in hospital quality.
State-of-the-art training can help turn things around. The Healthcare
Simulation Lab, located on DMACC’s Capitol Center campus, offers high-tech
learning opportunities for future nurses and other health care professionals.
While at the State Capitol, nursing students demonstrated
surgical technology, hospital newborn care equipment and a child-sized dummy
with a pulse. They take pride in the skills they’re gaining, but are well aware
of the challenges facing Iowa’s health care system.
Take Medicaid, for example.
Richie Gibbs, Erica Altemeier and Madelynn Rhodes are all in the last semester of their Registered Nurse program. Even before entering the field, the three have witnessed how privatized Medicaid is squeezing providers.
“We are close to the bottom in pay here in Iowa,” Gibbs said.
As of 2017, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics ranked Iowa
48th in the nation in average nursing
salary—$57,930, or $27.85 per hour. That includes many nurses with decades of
experience.
In addition to the usual college courses, nursing students
must take clinicals. Clinicals involve shadowing a practicing nurse to get
hands-on experience in the field. DMACC nursing students have seen overworked,
underpaid hospital staff that cannot keep up with the demand for care.
For many nursing students, the first career step is as a Patient
Care Technician. PCTs are entry-level health care workers who do hard physical labor,
like feeding, dressing and bathing patients. Most make only about $13 per hour.
Rhodes, who works as a PCT in a facility for seniors with
dementia, says patients pay more than $100,000 per year at the facility, and
that her pay is higher than many of her classmates.
Altemeier received a grant from Central Iowa HealthWorks to help
pay for tuition, books and gas to get to her classes and clinicals. Iowa HealthWorks is
a United Way program that helps adult learners reach their health care career
goals. Altemeier is grateful for the assistance, and says she wishes more money
was available to help Iowans get into the profession. Some of her classmates
come from other states to take advantage of DMACC’s program, but always intend
to return home where they’ll make more money.
Altemeier wants to see the state invest in people who are
interested in becoming nurses or Patient Care Technicians, as well as competitive
salaries that will keep talented nurses here in Iowa.
Iowa cannot provide adequate health care services to those
most in need without a bigger investment. Let’s not continue this race to the
bottom.
By State Sen. Liz Mathis, Hiawatha (Senate District 34)
There are few things more important than the future of our
children. As legislators, I believe we need to reflect that in our work at the
State Capitol.
This year I have introduced several bills about children’s
needs. After working on the children’s mental health system design and sitting
on the Children’s Behavioral Health System State Board, I have learned from educators
and mental health providers about immediate needs and long-term goals for
alleviating the crisis and anxiety that kids are experiencing in their lives.
The bills include creating a grant program using $15 million
in Instructional Support Levy dollars to develop and improve mental health
services in the schools (SF2042
and SF2071),
creating mental health days with follow-up from school mental health staff (SF2067)
and making certain the Your Life Iowa crisis line is on school IDs (SF2027).
Since passing the children’s mental health system bill last
year, we are working together on next steps: organizing core services needed at
local levels and funding the system. Hard work is ahead to ensure the system is
developed and supported.
Other bills I’ve introduced include expanding pre-school
programs and using vacant schools to house pre-schools and daycare centers in
urban and rural areas and other legislation to help more pregnant women and new
moms for a longer period of time.
I’ve signed up as a sponsor to lower the cost of day care
for families (SF2110)
and to allow for supports for our direct-care workforce (SF2098).
This week I joined three other legislators, two across the aisle, to mandate
that health insurance includes treatment for a pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric
syndrome (PANS).
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:
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.
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
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.
