A bill must have passed a committee in one chamber to remain alive for the remainder of the legislative session. This does not apply to bills that are in the Ways and Means or Appropriations Committee. Listed below is the most current information IASB has regarding the status of bills we were involved with during the first funnel deadline.
HF 6 - School Employee Conduct by Judiciary: This bill expands the definition of a school employee to any individual hired by a school district, either full-time, part-time, substitute, or contract employee or volunteer when dealing with a sexual exploitation case. IASB is registered in support of this bill which has passed out of the House Judiciary Committee and is on the House debate calendar.
HF 74 / HF 118 - SAVE Extension: These bills would extend the sunset date on the state penny for school infrastructure through 2040. IASB is registered in support of both bills which are before the House Ways and Means Committee.
HF 122 (Formerly HF 5) - Operational Sharing by House Education: This bill adds principals to the list of eligible positions to receive operational sharing incentives. IASB is registered in support of this bill which is on the House debate calendar.
HF 156 (Formerly HSB 38) - Preschool Flexibility by House Education: This bill is a repeat of a bill that passed the House unanimously last year. It would provide additional flexibility to school districts and preschool partners in the use of preschool funds. The flexibility includes adding the ability to transport preschoolers and use preschool funds on infrastructure. IASB is registered in support of this bill, which passed the House and is in the Senate Education Committee.
HF 194 - Statute of Repose by Judiciary: The law currently states that a case arising out of the unsafe or defective condition of an improvement to real property, whether residential or nonresidential construction is subject to a 15 year statute of repose. This bill reduces that time period for nonresidential construction from 15 years to 10 years. IASB is registered opposed to this bill, which is on the House debate calendar.
HF 204 - Open Enrollment for Online Education by House Education: This bill pertains to open enrollment for online learning programs. The bill carves out an exception to the internet-based education enrollment cap. It would allow siblings of students already enrolled in online programs, to likewise be eligible to open enroll in those same schools. It also exempts students who are emotionally or physically fragile from the enrollment cap. The bill mandates processes for the online schools to monitor and verify enrollment, timely completion of graduation requirements, student progress, performance, and administering of state mandated assessments. IASB is registered undecided on the bill, which passed the House and is in the Senate Education Committee.
HF 346 - At Risk and Drop-Out Prevention Flexibility by House Education: This bill merges eligible expenditures for the at-risk program (additional weighting comprised of state aid and property taxes) with those expenditures allowed under the dropout prevention program (property taxes). Funds from both sources could be used for either at-risk or dropout prevention. IASB is registered in support of this bill, which passed the House Education Committee and is on the House debate calendar.
HF 347 - School Child Care Centers by House Education: This states that the Department of Human Services will now be the only state agency responsible for handing licenses of child care programs. IASB is tracking this bill, which passed the House Education Committee. It is now on the House debate calendar.
HF 450 - Contract Bidding Process by State Government: This bill originally brought the Board of Regents under the purview of Chapter 26 bidding requirements. In addition, the bill makes it more difficult for all public bodies to bid projects in incremental pieces. The bill was amended in committee to also add the Department of Transportation to Chapter 26. IASB is registered opposed to the bill which passed the State Government Committee and is on the House debate calendar.
HF 490 - Bullying Bill by Education: This bill attempts to strengthen efforts to combat bullying and harassment in schools. It would ensure each school district would be provided adequate training on conducting investigations and would establish a student mentoring pilot program in two middle schools and two high schools to explore how student leadership can prevent bullying. The bill also provides school officials with authority to investigate and impose school discipline or take action in cases of alleged incidents of harassment or bullying that occur outside of school, off school grounds or away from school sponsored events. IASB is registered in support of this bill which passed the House Education Committee and is on the House debate calendar.
HF 505 - Public Access to Data Software by State Government: This bill requires a government body to make an electronic public record available to the public upon request and in a format that is commonly available to data processing or data management software. IASB is registered in support of this bill which passed out of the House State Government Committee and is on the House debate calendar.
HF 509 - Government Accountability by State Government: This bill changes certain information in a confidential personal file be considered a public record. IASB is opposed to the bill which passed the House State Government Committee and is on the House debate calendar.
HF 515 - Management Levy by House Education: This bill authorizes a school district to use revenue from the district management levy to pay for costs of mediation and arbitration, such as legal fees associated with mediation or arbitration. IASB is registered in support of this bill which passed out of the House Education Committee and was referred to House Ways and Means.
HSB 16 - Funds for Teaching Mentoring and Induction Program by Education: This bill states that school districts are ineligible to receive money for starting a teaching mentoring and induction program plan if that school district is receiving teacher leadership compensation (TLC) money. IASB is registered opposed to this bill which was passed out of the House Education Committee and is on the House debate calendar.
HSB 35 - Protection from Liability by Judiciary: The original bill provided an exemption from liability regarding a municipality's negligent design, construction, or reconstruction of a public facility designed for tubing or sledding. The bill was amended in committee to strike that language and to create liability protection for municipalities, including school districts, for activities that take place on their property. IASB is registered in support of this legislation that passed out of the House Judiciary Committee as amended and is on the House debate calendar.
HSB 104 - Broadband Expansion by Commerce: This bill's goal is to provide broadband internet access to citizens, farms, businesses, and communities throughout the state of Iowa. It authorizes the use of SAVE funds for the cost of bringing broadband infrastructure to a school building. IASB is registered in support of this bill which passed out of the House Commerce Committee as amended and was referred to House Ways and Means.
HSB 135 - Public Officials Contact Information by State Government: This bill requires that school board members make available their contact information on the district's website. The bill was amended in committee to include the general assembly, county supervisors and city council members and to exclude the requirement that a home address be published. In addition, the bill was amended to allow for an exemption of a public body did not have a website. IASB is registered as undecided on the bill which passed the House State Government Committee and is on the House debate calendar.
HSB 156 - Reading Corps by Education: This bill allows the Department of Education to establish the Iowa reading corps. This reading corps would help AmeriCorps participants with a data-based, problem solving model of literacy instruction to use in tutoring students. IASB is registered as undecided on this bill which has passed out of the House Education Committee and has been placed on the debate calendar.
HSB 172 - Statewide Assessment by Jorgensen (Sioux City): This bill states the intent of the legislature to address the issue of a statewide assessment of student progress regarding the core academic indicators during the 2015 legislative session. IASB is registered in support of this bill, which passed the House Education Committee.
HSB 173 - Core Content Standards by Education: This bill makes technical changes to remove the reference to common core in Iowa core content standards. IASB is registered undecided on the bill which passed out of the House Education Committee and is on the House debate calendar.
HSB 178 - Radon Testing by Local Government: This bill requires schools to provide short-term testing and retesting for radon gas at each school. It authorizes the use of PPEL and SAVE funds to pay for the cost of testing. IASB is registered opposed to this bill because it is an unfunded mandate. The bill passed out of the House Local Government committee as amended and is on the House debate calendar.
HSB 206 - Liabilities During Reorganization by Education: This bill would ensure that liabilities incurred by school districts with the issuance of SAVE bonds are considered during a reorganization or dissolution process. IASB is registered in support of this bill which passed the House Education Committee and is on the House debate calendar.
SF 82 - Access to Closed Session Transcripts by State Government: This bill would allow the ombudsman's office to receive copies of closed session transcripts without a court order. IASB is registered opposed to the bill which passed Senate State Government and is on the Senate debate calendar.
SF 131 - Licensure Renewal by Education Committee: This bill relates to the information that the Board of Educational Examiners can review for licensure renewal. This bill would require that a background check be conducted by the Department of Criminal Investigations on all initial applicants for licensure. The board will also require applicants to submit a complete fingerprint packet. IASB is registered in support of this bill which has passed the Senate and is on the House debate calendar.
SF 204 - PPEL Flexibility by Senate Education: This bill allows repairs to technology, transportation, or recreational equipment purchased using PPEL funds. IASB is registered in support of the bill, which passed the Senate Education Committee and is on the Senate debate calendar.
SF 245 (Formerly SF 77) - ELL Weighting by Education: This bill increases the English Language Learning weighting to 0.30 per student and extends the time period by which a student may qualify to receive that weighting to seven years. IASB is registered in support of the bill which passed the Senate Education Committee and is on the Senate debate calendar.
SF 246 (Formerly SSB 1101) - Preschool Expansion by Education: This bill creates incentive payments for districts to expand the number of children in the state-sponsored preschool program. It also provides additional flexibility to districts to utilize preschool funds for transportation and increases the amount of funds for administrative expenses to 10%. The bill makes outreach activities and rent eligible expenditures. IASB is registered in support of this bill which has passed the Senate Education Committee and is on the Senate debate calendar.
SF 247 (Formerly SSB 1099) - Low Income Pupil Supplement by Education: This bill creates a low-income pupil supplement equal to the number of students on free or reduced lunch times .04 of the regular per pupil program cost. It also requires that the additional funds be used for programming to support these students. IASB is registered in support of the bill. It passed the Senate Education Committee and is now on the Senate debate calendar.
SF 259 (Formerly SF 69) - School Board Vacancies by Education: This piece of legislation requires school boards to fill a vacancy by election, rather than appointment, if petitioned by at least 30 percent of those who voted in the last school board election. The bill was amended to prevent a special election, if there was an election scheduled in the next six months. The fiscal note attached to this bill projects increased costs to school districts to range from $50,000 to $200,000. IASB is registered opposed to the bill which passed the Senate Education Committee and is on the Senate debate calendar.
SF 281 - AEA Mental Health Pilots by Education: This bill authorizes $2.5 million for pilot projects in each AEA to provide mental health services to school districts. IASB is registered in support of this bill which passed the Senate Education Committee and was referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee.
SF 294 - Education Costs in PMICs by Senate Education: This bill ensures that the payment of education services for children residing in psychiatric hospitals is based on the tuition rate for students residing within another school district, instead of the district of residence’s cost per pupil. The bill was amended to include voluntary child placement. IASB is registered undecided on the bill which passed the Senate Education Committee and is on the Senate debate calendar.
SF 295 - ELL Weighting in Preschool by Education Committee: This bill deals with providing additional weighting for eligible students identified as limited English proficient who are enrolled in statewide preschool programs for four year old children. The Senate File was amended to make weighting 1/2 of English Language Learners weighted enrollment. IASB is registered in support of this bill, which passed out of the Senate Education committee and is on the Senate debate calendar.
SF 345 (Formerly SSB 1044) - Anti-Bullying by Education: This bill attempts to strengthen efforts to combat bullying and harassment in schools. It would ensure each school district was provided adequate training on conducting investigations. It would also establish a student mentoring pilot program in two middle schools and two high schools to explore how student leadership can prevent bullying. The bill also provides school officials with authority to investigate and impose school discipline or take action in cases of alleged incidents of harassment or bullying that occur outside of school, off school grounds, or away from school sponsored events. IASB is registered in support of the bill which passed the Senate Education Committee and is on the Senate debate calendar.
SF 375 - Adoption Leave by State Government: This bill grants parents adopting a child the same benefit of sick leave or temporary disability as a parent biologically having a child. IASB is monitoring this bill. The bill passed out of the Senate State Government Committee and has been placed on the Senate debate calendar.
SSB 1048 - Child Care Center Licensure by Education: This bill makes the Department of Human Services (DHS) the only state agency in charge of the licensure for child care programs. Current law stipulates that DHS and the Department of Education are responsible for licensure. IASB is registered undecided on the bill which passed out of the Senate Education Committee as amended and has been placed on the Senate debate calendar.
SSB 1073 - Open Meetings by State Government: This bill amends the requirements of the open meetings law. The bill was amended in committee to strike the requirement that any group or committee created by a superintendent is an advisory body and thus subject to the open meetings and open records requirements. The bill also clarifies that the 24-hour notice requirement excludes weekends and holidays. The bill was amended in committee to clarify that the holiday exclusion does not apply if the governmental body offices are open. In addition, IASB has been assured that amendments to meeting agendas may be made with less than 24 hours notice. IASB is currently registered opposed to the bill which passed out of the Senate State Government Committee and has been placed on the Senate debate calendar. IASB will review its registration once the amended bill is released.
SSB 1234 - Core Curriculum by Education: This bill adds music, visual arts, drama and theatre to the core curriculum. This bill also requires the Department of Education to employ a consultant to oversee the development of the fine arts curriculum. IASB is registered opposed to this bill that passed out of the Senate Education Committee as amended and is on the Senate debate calendar.
SSB 1239 - Statewide Assessment by Education: This bill states that the smarter balance assessment will be administered to all students in grades 3-11 during the last quarter of the year. The bill was amended in committee to strike that language and to eliminate the DE's authority to determine the appropriate assessment to be administered. IASB was registered in favor of the original bill but will revisit that position once the amended version is introduced. The bill passed out of the Senate Education committee as amended and is on the Senate debate calendar.
SSB 1247 - Protection from Liability by Judiciary: This bill creates a liability protection for municipalities, including school districts, for activities that take place on their property. IASB is registered in support of this bill which passed the Senate Judiciary Committee and is on the Senate debate calendar.
SSB 1255 - Public Officials Contact Information by State Government: This bill would require elected officials to be provided an email address by the public body that they represent and that this information including home address and all possible electronic contact information, be published on a governmental body's website. The bill was amended to clarify that this requirement only applies to the general assembly, county supervisors, city council members and school board members. IASB is registered undecided on the bill which passed the Senate State Government Committee and is on the Senate debate calendar.
Bills Signed by the Governor
