Government : Statehouse News 3/3/17

By State Representative, Dawn Pettengill

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

Hope all of you at home are doing great! What a funnel week here in Des Moines. Because my arms weren't long enough to get around them all, poor Phil had to carry my 6"� thick folders from meeting room to meeting room. He has been so great to work with. He's even in the "�circle of trust' to get in my purse for my debit card and get money. Don't worry, he won't get too far away with that card.

Funnel week reminds me of the fair. All the hopeful contestants go in with the animals and projects they've worked on all year and as each fair day goes by, you have less in the running until you only have placeholders left. That's the way it is here. People put in bills or are assigned bills and are working them and working them. As the week goes on, opportunity either knocks or slips away. 13 of the 18 bills I was assigned are still live rounds, with three of those are over to the Senate already. All in all, lots of work done in a couple months.

Here are some big ones that are left:

HSB135 - Water Quality - Provides for financing for water quality, waste water, and water supply infrastructure.

HSB156 - Mental Health Bed Tracking System and Study - Creates workgroup to make recommendations relating to the delivery of mental health, disability and substance abuse services

HSB163 - Recycling - Proposes to repurpose the bottle bill by repealing the bottle deposit and replace with enhance recycling and litter control.

HSB178 - School District Fund Flexibility - Provides new allowable uses for specific funding received by school districts.

HF26 - Home Rule for School Districts.

HF112 - Lyme Disease Treatment - Protects doctors from discipline for treatment of Lyme Disease.

HSB133 - Firearms - Permitting procedures, stand your ground, safety training, confidential permit records.

HF143 - Prohibits Indoor Tanning under age 17.

HF295 - Statewide Commerce and Local Government - Preemption on minimum wage and broadening protected classes beyond state and federal law. Public Hearing March 6, 5 - 6:30 p.m. Supreme Court Room

HF484 - Des Moines Water Works. Public Hearing March 6, 10 - 11 a.m. Supreme Court Room

HF515 - School District Security Plans

HF516 - Election Integrity - Voter Identification. Public Hearing March 6, 7 - 8:30 p.m. Supreme Court Room

HF518 - Workers' Compensation Reform - Makes changes to the state's workers' compensation laws. Public Hearing March 7, 6:00 - 7:30 p.m. Supreme Court Room

So many more, but I tried to pick ones you might be interested in. If you would like to make comments on or want to attend the public hearing, you can find everything you need at https://www.legis.iowa.gov/committees/publicHearings?ga=87. To finish out a great funnel week, I got to be Majority Leader for the day. There's always something new around here!

If you have any questions or concerns, you can reach me at 515-281-7487 or dawn.pettengill@legis.iowa.gov.