Bills limiting discussion of gender and personal pronouns in schools that differ from a student’s biological gender listed on their birth certificate are advancing. A House proposal requires parents to be notified if public school staff hear a student is suggesting they are going to change their gender or pronoun. Supporters say parental notification should be mandatory but opponents have concerns this proposal will stop a student from having a safe space to talk about this potentially sensitive issue. Late last year it was quietly discovered property taxes would unintentionally rise higher due to an unforeseen result of various tax law changes. But that information only recently became widely known early this year as cities and counties are finishing their budgets. If a new Senate proposal becomes law, local governments will not have enough revenue to fill their new budgets.

A proposal allocating more public money to private schools has its day in both chambers. Gov. Kim Reynolds is placing a high priority on a bill that provides more state funding for students to attend private schools. Democrats say the plan has the potential to hurt public schools and that private schools can reject potential new students. But Republicans say public education is a one size fits all approach and families should have the option to have state funding to send their children to a private school.

Minnette Doderer began her three and a half decades of public service as a legislator in the mid 1960s. She also ran twice for lieutenant governor. In the 1970s and 1980s, she spoke with reporters in eastern Iowa. These rare recordings were recently found in Iowa Public Radio’s storage and used in the 2022 podcast series From the Archives. This Under the Golden Dome episode features an episode from that series. Doderer discusses many topics including public money funding private schools, abortion, and how women politicians in the 20th century were often unfairly treated.

A new Iowa General Assembly begins with more new members of the majority party in both chambers. In the Senate, there is now a Republican supermajority and a new Senate president, Sen. Amy Sinclair. Republican and Democratic leaders give their opening day speeches with the majority party supporting a proposal allocating public money to education savings accounts to pay for private school education. Gov. Kim Reynolds formally presents this spending proposal during her Condition of the State. She also boasts about Republican-controlled legislative achievements over the past six years.

The 2022 Iowa legislative session ends after many weeks of little to no activity in the House or Senate. During a busy two days, final budget bills are approved. Most come revised from the Senate including the education appropriation that funds the public universities. Also a number of policy bills are eligible for the governor to consider, including one changing Iowa’s four decade old can and bottle redemption law. One of the final bills, known as the “standings bill” includes a section that removes the open enrollment deadline for Iowa’s public schools.

Around this time, legislators who have announced they aren’t seeking re-election in the Iowa legislature are granted a “retirement” speech from the chamber floor. Between the House and Senate, around 35 legislators are not running for re-election. A few are seeking to run in the other chamber and there are some running for congressional seats. Some of these decisions are also due to redistricting. Also, many large budget bills have passed in the House, but so far the Senate has not taken them up. With the legislature near the end and moving at a slower pace, this podcast will pause until the session has gaveled out for the year.

Proposals about public schools pass in the Senate and House requiring online publishing of curriculums. Private schools are exempt from doing the same. Unlike the House version, the Senate’s includes millions of dollars in scholarships for students attending private schools. One Republican says this is necessary after accusing some public schools of promoting a “leftist agenda.” And the House passes a budget with no increase to the regents universities’ general fund. But the bill does propose appropriating $12 million for new scholarships.

A bill requiring teachers to post everything they use in a classroom online before a semester begins, advances. After a committee, it now has something that may let teachers update that information as they teach. Budgets are now starting to pass out of the House. Democrats say the $1 billion surplus should be used to provide more funds to state departments. And the longest debate so far this year is for a bill about unemployment benefits. It reduces the maximum number of weeks for unemployment. Republicans say it’s part of a solution for a workforce shortage, but Democrats strongly disagree.

The Department of Corrections director lays out the condition of the prisons to a committee that determines its annual budget. The House reduces one budget item, makes it up with money from a previous fiscal year, then allocates 7 million new dollars for fiscal year 2023. The House passes a bill allowing midwifery to be licensed in Iowa, but the bill is derailed in a Senate committee. And a bill changing how Iowa’s four decades old container redemption system operates advances from a subcommittee. It would collect millions of dollars in unclaimed deposits, but when coming to the full committee an entirely different version of the bill advances.

A bill removing Senate confirmation for some of the governor’s appointees advances. Confirmation for those exempt appointees is still possible if 26 senators want it, but the 18 Democrats in the Senate say it isn’t fair. A bill that would overturn an Iowa Supreme Court ruling about police searching garbage without a warrant passes in the Senate. As it comes to a House committee, the bill’s potential to become a law that stays on the books is in question. There’s a proposal that would require the state to send everyone a letter calculating how much or less their property taxes would be under local government budget proposals. And a bipartisan bill that would change Iowa to Daylight Saving Time year-round clears the House.