Government : HELLO HOUSE DISTRICT 75 FROM THE STATE CAPITOL!

It was another busy week at the State Capitol, and we will be wrapping up this session in the next week or so with the focus on budgets.

This last week, a bill that passed with 96 voting aye, promotes the licensing of massage therapists and penalizes those that claim they are licensed but aren’t. This will protect both the clients and therapists. Also passed was a bill that if people who hold certain professional licenses and are convicted of certain felonies, they will lose their professional license.

A bill that had 95 representatives supporting it passed in the House and will promote efficiency and speed up the process of legal paperwork that requires a Notary Public. This bill, if signed into law, will allow electronic media such as Facetime or Skype, to provide notarial acts.

The ability for people on college campuses to be able to protect themselves from being attacked physically by allowing them to carry stun guns also passed the House with bipartisan support. These non-projectile Tasers will provide valuable self-defense when time is critical and law enforcement is not immediately available.

Also passing were the Agriculture and Natural Resources Appropriations by party-line vote, and the Iowa Dept. of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS) passed overwhelmingly.

A bill that I was House floor manager for passed unanimously and is to allow the sale of three varieties of wild golden oyster mushrooms at farmer’s markets. However, people who want to sell these are required to take a 3 hour course every three years to become certified, which is currently the same requirement for morel mushrooms.

Visitors to the Capitol from Benton County were 4th grade students from Central Lutheran School in Newhall, which were a lot of fun! Shellsburg Elementary School students also came, but I, unfortunately, was unable to meet with them. I’m sure they still had a lot of fun and a great learning experience!

Hope everyone had a great Easter weekend, and please let me know if you have any comments or questions, I’ll get to them as soon as possible. Please be safe out there!