0800 - 1645.
The Iowa Disaster Medical Team led the pledge today. A fellow page's father was in the Team, so that was neat to see. After the pledge, a group of traditionally-dressed Dutch people (sound familiar?) were milling around in the back - it was the Pella Tulip Days court. They introduced the court, and then asked Rep. Baudler to come down front ... they gathered in a circle around him and sang 'Happy Birthday' to him - in Dutch. Speaker Murphy remarked that he had never before seen Rep. Baudler blush. Anyways, the girls distribed Dutch letters and cookies, and Rep. Baudler had brought brownies. Later, the Iowa Finance Commission (?) passed out funnel cakes on Frisbees to reps, and served more up downstairs. No free lunch ... funnel cakes were good though. I did get a Frisbee later.
Legistlation: entirely non-cons. The House adjourned at 2:30 for committee, but we discussed a reserve police officer training bill [S.F. 110], a horse-racing regulation bill [S.F. 129], mortgage release certificates [S.F. 400], and unannounced drug/alcohol testing for employees [S.F. 284]. There was little discussion on any of these items ... Rep. Bailey rose for a Point of Personal Privilege concerning the flag amendment of the previous day, and how he felt it avoided the proper process. There was some debate on both sides of the aisle regarding this issue, which was generally considered non-partisan.
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Day 14
0800 - 1930.
This morning, there were three units of the Iowa National Guard standing on the west side of the chamber, which was quite a surprise! Later, they read House Resolutions honoring those units for their service. The biggest lobbist event of the day was "Nonpublic School Day," which ended up being mostly Catholic schools. I saw the Governor (of Boys State) as well as students and parents from St. James Elementary, which is in my town. Each of the nonpublic schools brought a group of students to do a performance - everything from puppets, to a classical choir, to orchestras showed up. Plus they brought cookies, of which I had 15-25. That was lunch. Representative Bukta brought apples to celebrate her birthday ... nice of her to add nutrition. The Friends of Clear Lake Water brought bottled water, and there was plently left over for us after we distributed to the desks.
Legislatively, not a lot. During a veterans' affairs bill [H.F. 817], someone sneezed extremely loudly right after Speaker Murphy asked for a "second" to approve a motion. That was funny. On the same bill, Rep. Bailey added a amendment [H-1554] to this bill that wasn't really related, but was good to have. It concerned creating a section in the Iowa code that defined abuse of the flag, in response to the judicial overturn of Iowa's current stance as unconstitutional. Other bills discussed (but not really debated) were a judicial "house cleaning" bill [H.F. 777], a pollutant discharce system bill [S.F. 405], and S.F. 131 concerned "publication of property assessment equalization orders," whatever that means.
This morning, there were three units of the Iowa National Guard standing on the west side of the chamber, which was quite a surprise! Later, they read House Resolutions honoring those units for their service. The biggest lobbist event of the day was "Nonpublic School Day," which ended up being mostly Catholic schools. I saw the Governor (of Boys State) as well as students and parents from St. James Elementary, which is in my town. Each of the nonpublic schools brought a group of students to do a performance - everything from puppets, to a classical choir, to orchestras showed up. Plus they brought cookies, of which I had 15-25. That was lunch. Representative Bukta brought apples to celebrate her birthday ... nice of her to add nutrition. The Friends of Clear Lake Water brought bottled water, and there was plently left over for us after we distributed to the desks.
Legislatively, not a lot. During a veterans' affairs bill [H.F. 817], someone sneezed extremely loudly right after Speaker Murphy asked for a "second" to approve a motion. That was funny. On the same bill, Rep. Bailey added a amendment [H-1554] to this bill that wasn't really related, but was good to have. It concerned creating a section in the Iowa code that defined abuse of the flag, in response to the judicial overturn of Iowa's current stance as unconstitutional. Other bills discussed (but not really debated) were a judicial "house cleaning" bill [H.F. 777], a pollutant discharce system bill [S.F. 405], and S.F. 131 concerned "publication of property assessment equalization orders," whatever that means.
Monday, April 2, 2007
Day 13
1100 - 1930.
Nothing happened today. Nothing, I swear. OK, one thing. The Orange City Tulip Festival queen and her court said the Pledge. They were wearing period costumes, so I can understand why they left in a hurry.
The only bill in which I summoned the remotest interest was H.F. 718, a bill to reduce the dangers of cigarettes in starting house fires. It passed, of course (97-0), but the opening statement described the applicable technique as "speed bumps" to reduce smoldering. I found this oddly amusing. The House passed three other bills, overwhelmingly, yet we still had a late night as a result of committee meetings throughout the day and debate starting at 6 PM.
Since this post is exceptionally short, a Google quote follows:
Man is the only animal that laughs and has a state legislature.
- Samuel Butler
Nothing happened today. Nothing, I swear. OK, one thing. The Orange City Tulip Festival queen and her court said the Pledge. They were wearing period costumes, so I can understand why they left in a hurry.
The only bill in which I summoned the remotest interest was H.F. 718, a bill to reduce the dangers of cigarettes in starting house fires. It passed, of course (97-0), but the opening statement described the applicable technique as "speed bumps" to reduce smoldering. I found this oddly amusing. The House passed three other bills, overwhelmingly, yet we still had a late night as a result of committee meetings throughout the day and debate starting at 6 PM.
Since this post is exceptionally short, a Google quote follows:
Man is the only animal that laughs and has a state legislature.
- Samuel Butler
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Day 12
0745 - 2230.
Another breakfast - this time by the American Lung Association. I ran into more people who knew where Washington was - a perennial surprise. The Iowa White Water Association was set up in the rotunda - they are attempting to limit the dangers of so-called wall dams, which are nearly impossible to see at high stages of the river. If sucked into the current caused by such a dam, one is typically killed. These dams also greatly limit the ecosystem of the area. I had an interesting discussion with them. Also, the Boys and Girls Clubs were congregating throughout the Capitol - made it hard to find a place to sit for lunch.
Since I don't have the House Journal with me for Thursday, I will discuss the principal events of the evening. We discussed two very controversial bills - the first was a supplemental spending bill. It was pork. However, it was pork in the same vein that had been issued by Republican representatives in previous years. My only opposition to this true statement is that Senate, House, and Governor all pledged to cut earmarks and pork spending. This bill stands in stark contradiction to that pledge. The bill did pass. The other major issue was a Health Education bill [H.F. 611]. Now this bill was incredibly sneaky. It changes the content of sexual education and other health classes taught by public schools. At this point, you can opt to keep your child out of said classes, but you must file with the "appropriate principal." The sneaky part is that all the curriculum will be "age-appropriate (nothing new here) and research-based." Research-based, in this case, means research as defined by certain "compromise" organizations within the bill, but also "information that is free of racial, ethnic, sexual orientation, and gender biases." Therefore, any curriculum that contains said "biases" is inappropriate for Iowa education for "school districts and accredited nonpublic schools." This information will be provided to the schools as a "supplement," and they can chose to do with it as they will. However, the "bias" part of the bill was never discussed on the floor, never mentioned to the public. That is the stealth and beauty of it all. The bill passed on to the Senate. Much of my faith in the goodwill of this Legislature has been tarnished today.
UPDATE: I did remember an interesting debate during the day - IMNION reminded me of it. One of the first bills considered during the day would ban deer anti-contraceptives for civilian use [H.F. 740]. Apparently, it is currently classified as a "pesticide," and could be abused by civvies. The funny part is that my rep, Representative Greiner, stated she would vote 'no' on this bill because it "amused" her. I found this immensely funny, and my good humor was only deepened by the fact that I was walking behind Majority Leader McCarthy when he shrugged his shoulders and voted 'no' "because he felt like it." The bill passed, 84-13, but the "opposition" was quite varied and rather amusing.
Another breakfast - this time by the American Lung Association. I ran into more people who knew where Washington was - a perennial surprise. The Iowa White Water Association was set up in the rotunda - they are attempting to limit the dangers of so-called wall dams, which are nearly impossible to see at high stages of the river. If sucked into the current caused by such a dam, one is typically killed. These dams also greatly limit the ecosystem of the area. I had an interesting discussion with them. Also, the Boys and Girls Clubs were congregating throughout the Capitol - made it hard to find a place to sit for lunch.
Since I don't have the House Journal with me for Thursday, I will discuss the principal events of the evening. We discussed two very controversial bills - the first was a supplemental spending bill. It was pork. However, it was pork in the same vein that had been issued by Republican representatives in previous years. My only opposition to this true statement is that Senate, House, and Governor all pledged to cut earmarks and pork spending. This bill stands in stark contradiction to that pledge. The bill did pass. The other major issue was a Health Education bill [H.F. 611]. Now this bill was incredibly sneaky. It changes the content of sexual education and other health classes taught by public schools. At this point, you can opt to keep your child out of said classes, but you must file with the "appropriate principal." The sneaky part is that all the curriculum will be "age-appropriate (nothing new here) and research-based." Research-based, in this case, means research as defined by certain "compromise" organizations within the bill, but also "information that is free of racial, ethnic, sexual orientation, and gender biases." Therefore, any curriculum that contains said "biases" is inappropriate for Iowa education for "school districts and accredited nonpublic schools." This information will be provided to the schools as a "supplement," and they can chose to do with it as they will. However, the "bias" part of the bill was never discussed on the floor, never mentioned to the public. That is the stealth and beauty of it all. The bill passed on to the Senate. Much of my faith in the goodwill of this Legislature has been tarnished today.
UPDATE: I did remember an interesting debate during the day - IMNION reminded me of it. One of the first bills considered during the day would ban deer anti-contraceptives for civilian use [H.F. 740]. Apparently, it is currently classified as a "pesticide," and could be abused by civvies. The funny part is that my rep, Representative Greiner, stated she would vote 'no' on this bill because it "amused" her. I found this immensely funny, and my good humor was only deepened by the fact that I was walking behind Majority Leader McCarthy when he shrugged his shoulders and voted 'no' "because he felt like it." The bill passed, 84-13, but the "opposition" was quite varied and rather amusing.
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