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DES MOINES, Iowa — The 91st General Assembly will convene on Monday, ready to propose new laws in many different areas including schools, elections and court cases.
51 bills have already been prefiled, coming from various state agencies and government departments.
In order for bills to become law, they first must be approved in a subcommittee. After that, bills must gain approval from a committee, then both chambers of the Iowa Legislature before getting a sign off from the governor.
A bill from the Department of Public Safety would ban open containers of THC drinks in moving vehicles, similar to current state laws surrounding open containers of alcohol. Passengers or drivers found in violation would receive a simple misdemeanor.
A different bill from the Department of Public Safety would create multidisciplinary threat assessment teams.
These teams would coordinate efforts and resources to intervene when “a student displays behaviors that may threaten school safety.” Teams would be made up of school officials, law enforcement officers, mental health professionals, social workers and juvenile court workers.
The Department of Education filed a bill to change the state’s definition of grooming in schools. Under the bill, grooming would be defined as “the process of building trust and emotional connections with a student with the intent to exploit such student.”
A bill from Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate would ban ranked choice voting where political candidates are ranked first to last.
In order to win their election, the candidate must receive a majority of first place votes. If no candidate receives a majority, the candidate with the least amount of votes is eliminated.
Those who picked that candidate as their top choice will have their votes redistributed to their second choice. This continues until a candidate receives a majority of votes.
Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird filed a constitutional amendment to allow kids and people with disabilities to testify through closed circuit television. This measure would need approval from two sessions of the legislature before going up for a vote on a general election ballot.
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