Day 15

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.

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.

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