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DES MOINES, Iowa — This week marked one of the busiest at the statehouse this year, with multiple bills drawing protests, including a gender identity bill Gov. Kim Reynolds’ signed into law Friday.
The first funnel week of the 2025 legislative session is next week, meaning all bills in one chamber must pass through the committee level to stay alive for debate.
Here are a few bills currently seeing movement in the legislature ahead of the first funnel week.
Iowans may soon be able to shoot off fireworks on Election Day on even-numbered years, thanks to a bill that is now eligible for floor debate in the House.
Republicans also included a provision in the bill allowing fireworks to be sold from a “permanent structure” anytime in the year.
The House Higher Education Committee moved forward with legislation that would prohibit community colleges from establishing or maintaining DEI offices and engaging in activities related to DEI.
Republicans say it’s time to stop talking about the topic, while Rep. Monica Kurth, D-Scott, argued against that notion in a subcommittee meeting last week, saying in part, “The erasure of the words from diversity, equity and inclusion from our institutions is a mistake.”
That same committee also passed a bill that would prohibit DEI offices in private colleges. This expands on last session’s bill that enacted the same restrictions onto Iowa’s public universities.
Both of the bills are now eligible for debate on the house floor.
Gov. Kim Reynolds’ bill, which aims to improve childcare access in the state, is now eligible for floor debate in the House and Senate. Funds would be weighed to expand full-day preschool availability for 4-year-olds, and the state would establish a multi-million grant program for childcare centers.
The bill passed along party lines in both chambers with Republicans in favor and Democrats opposed. The bill also includes free daycare for childcare workers.
Another one of the governor’s bills making its way through the statehouse would restrict students’ phone use in classrooms across Iowa.
It also would require school boards to adopt policies that ban the use of smart watches, tablets and phones during class, like we’ve already seen at Hoover High School in Des Moines.
Both the House and Senate are now eligible to debate this bill.
