Capitol Update

February 2, 2023

Legislative In-Service at HLV

Last Thursday evening, some fellow legislators and I had a forum with the Superintendents and School Board members from our area schools. It was an engaging discussion and everyone went away enriched and more inspired to continue to work together to the benefit of Iowa students. Thank you to HLV Schools for hosting and for a great meal.

Tri-County and North Mahaska FFA at the Capitol

This past Tuesday was the state-wide FFA (Future Farmers of America) Legislative Symposium. I enjoyed the time I got to spend chatting with two FFA groups from my district. They are wonderful young people who are learning such great skills through the FFA program. Both programs have wonderful advisors as well! Thank you all for visiting the Capitol.

William Penn Students at the Capitol

On Wednesday, I got to visit with some Education students from William Penn University. They were here for the Iowa Association of Colleges for Teacher Education Day at the Capitol. They had great questions and I enjoyed talking with their group!

Fairfield Journal Article

I have published an article in the online Fairfield Journal about the Students First Act. I will be sending more articles to the Journal during the session, so be on the lookout! Read the first article here:

Fairfield Journal School Choice Article

One hot topic at the Capitol this week has been House File 9. Read a summary here:

This bill prohibits the following actions by an Iowa public school or charter school: 

1. Facilitating an accommodation meant to affirm a student’s gender identity if that identity does not match the sex listed on the student’s official birth certificate, without the written consent of the student’s parent or guardian. 
2. “Encouraging or coercing any student to withhold information from the student’s parent or guardian related to the student’s gender identity.”
3. Willfully withholding information from, or knowingly giving false or misleading information to  a parent or guardian about their child’s gender identity or intent to transition to a gender different than their sex listed at birth.
4. “Encouraging, pressuring, or coercing a student to undergo any medical procedure, treatment, or intervention that is designed to affirm the student’s gender identity if that gender identity is different than the sex listed on a student’s official birth certificate
5. “Encouraging, pressuring, or coercing a student’s parent or guardian to allow the student to undergo any medical procedure, treatment, or intervention that is designed to affirm the student’s gender identity if that gender identity is different than the sex listed on the student’s official birth certificate.” 

House File 9 has passed out of subcommittee and committee as of Tuesday, January 31st. I attended the committee meeting which included lengthy caucuses and lasted for over 6 hours. This is clearly a contentious issue and I intend to stand boldly on the side of parents. 

House File 89 creates protections for black bears in Iowa. There are currently no protections for this species in our state! The bill designates black bears as game animals and “prohibits a person from willfully disturbing, pursuing, shooting, killing, taking or attempting to take, or having in possession a black bear outside of an open season established by the natural resource commission. The commission may allow for the hunting of black bears subject to limitations the commission imposes.” 

The proposed penalty for anyone convicted of the above actions outside of the established open season is $2,500 in civil damages. In addition, the illegally harvested animal is subject to seizure by the Department of Natural Resources. 

The bill has passed subcommittee and committee with amendments. The amendment designates more responsibility to the Natural Resources Commission to regulate the open hunting season for black bears. 

The summary of these three bills are just a glimpse of all that has been happening here at the State Capitol! As always, feel free to contact me with questions, concerns, and comments. 

It may sound like all we are doing is talking about coon and bears at the capitol, but I assure you, there have been MANY other conversations regarding two of the greatest hot topics this session, the carbon pipeline and medical malpractice reform. A slew of bills has been proposed in both the senate and house in opposition to the pipeline. Because so many property owners are affected by the carbon pipeline, I am following it extremely close and want to assure you that I stand with property owners and their constitutional rights and oppose imminent domain for private companies. I will include more information on these topics in future newsletters.

I would love to see you if you come to visit the Capitol! Tuesdays and Wednesdays are the best days to see legislators, as we begin session at 1:00pm on Mondays and are typically wrapped up around 1:00pm on Thursdays.

The committee and subcommittee schedules will always be current on the Legislature website. You can also subscribe for committee/subcommittee notices by signing up for an account on the website. Go to the "Applications" link at the bottom of any page and sign up for an account, then go to "Committee Forms."

Committee meetings are open to the public to attend. In subcommittees, the public can attend and have an opportunity to speak on the issue at hand.

If you plan to come visit, please send me an email and my clerk or I will be able to set up a meeting time and a personalized tour if that is of interest to you. We can also take groups to the top of the dome!

Thank you for subscribing to Representative Hayes’ newsletter! If you would like to share it with someone you know, feel free to forward this email to them. Anyone can sign up for the newsletter by visiting helenaforhouse.com and submitting their email address at the bottom of the page. 

If you would like to receive a hard copy of the newsletter mailed to you, please email helena.hayes@legis.iowa.gov with your name and mailing address. 

You can also print this email to share with friends. 

As always, please do not hesitate to reach out with any questions, comments, or concerns you may have. I love to hear from you and want to represent you accurately! 

Website: https://www.helenaforhouse.com/

Email: helena.hayes@legis.iowa.gov

Phone: 515.281.3221

Donation Information: https://www.helenaforhouse.com/donate

Here are the dates for upcoming forums I will be at! I welcome all constituents to join me for these meetings. I want to hear what you have to say!

Eggs & Issues at Smokey Row Oskaloosa (109 S Market St. Oskaloosa, IA) will take place on these dates:

February 25 - 8:30-9:30am

March 25 - 8:30-9:30am

Fairfield Chamber of Commerce Legislative Forum at the Fairfield Arts and Convention Center (200 North Main St. Fairfield, IA)

will take place on these dates:

February 18- 7:30-9:00am

April 8 - 7:30-9:00am

If you have any questions about these events, don't hesitate to reach out to me. Forums and events will be posted on my Facebook page as well as here in the newsletter!