Minute with Mike, Week Six

From My Desk

The first funnel date of the 2020 session has passed. Feb. 21 is the official funnel date, but because committees did not meet on Friday, Thursday was the final funnel day. The funnel date acts as a deadline for passing bills out of committee and keeps the legislative process moving efficiently (well as efficient as state government can be) here at the Capitol.

In order for a bill to stay alive, it must make it out of the standing committees that it has been assigned to, in either the House or the Senate. If a bill fails to pass out of its standing committee, this means it is "dead" or ineligible for floor debate for this session and will have to wait until next year.

So, you have a situation where legislators are working very hard to get bills out of committee and on the other side you have legislators that are working very hard to keep bills from passing out of committee. As you can imagine with long hours and the stress of the job, emotions run higher than usual during funnel week, which can lead to a few confrontations, not only between the two parties, but even among members of the same party.

Because its funnel week this week I've been working hard to get bills passed out of committees. I am also working hard to keep bad policy bills that do not represent my constituents from advancing in the legislative process.

Below are just a few examples of the bad, harmful, and in some cases outright unconstitutional proposals that have been proposed during this session. It is incumbent for committee chairs and leadership to go through the thousands of bills submitted to make sure that we do not allow these destructive proposals to move forward.

Here are just a few of the issues:

Undermining Second Amendment Virtues - (Numerous bills)

House Democrats have long been hostile towards Iowan's freely exercising their rights to Keep and Bear Arms. This year is no exception, and Democrats have multiple proposals that would arbitrarily restrict your fundamental, individual rights.

Many of the bills introduced by House Democrats would ban the sale or possession of commonly-owned firearms like shotguns, hunting rifles and pistols that are used for self-defense. Additionally, they have introduced legislation that would confiscate firearms from law-abiding Iowans without due process. (Red Flag Law)

Socialist Health Care - (House File 96)

Not to be outdone by socialist Presidential candidate's Medicare for All proposals, the Iowa House Democrats have filed their own legislation to turn Iowa's health care system into a government-run, socialist-style health care system.

This dangerous legislation would make employer-provided or union-negotiated private health insurance illegal, kill thousands of jobs across the state, and bankrupt the state budget, costing taxpayers billions of dollars in higher taxes.

Burdens on Family Farms and Agriculture - (Numerous bills)

Agriculture is a major part of Iowa's rural communities and critical to the health of our economy. With a rich history of family farming, one would think that Iowa Democrats would support our farmers and Ag community.

Instead, they are siding with the radical left and attempting to force their own version of the Green New Deal on Iowans. House Democrats have introduced several bills that will harm family farms and make it more difficult for Iowans to get started, or continue on in agriculture.

These poorly thought out proposals could end farming as we know it with overly burdensome regulations, increased costs for production, and higher taxes on family farms.

These are just a few examples of bills that I will fight against until my dying breath in order to keep them from becoming law in the state of Iowa.

Daylight Savings Time

We passed my Daylight Savings Time bill out of State Government this past Wednesday! This means that it made it through the funnel period and will be eligible for debate on the House floor. There was a lot of concern from members that Iowa would become an island in the Midwest that would have a different time than the surrounding states.

To alleviate those concerns, I added an amendment that stated the change would not go into effect until Minnesota and Missouri made the same time change. Then there was an amendment to my amendment that added Illinois and Nebraska to the list of states.

I expected that amendment to get the bill passed out of committee. To my amazement, the bill passed on a party line vote, which means all of the Republicans voted for it and all of the Democrats voted against it.

Their only comment was that this is something the federal government should be doing. I completely agree!

However, until enough states try to pass this bill or a bill similar to it, the federal government will not be in a hurry to do anything. As a matter of fact, there are 89 bills across the United States at the state level that deal with our clock system in some way.

If you will be visiting the Capitol at any point this session, please contact my clerk, Andrea, at my legislative email listed below, and she will set up a time to meet with you

Pass It On

If you have family, friends, or co-works that you think would also enjoy MWM please forward this to them so they can read it and decide to be on our mailing list. If you are reading this and would like to subscribe to our newsletter, "Minute with Mike," please send us an email letting us know.

We have created a Facebook page that I will be using to add comments about what is going on in the Capitol and the House floor. This page will also be used to make comments as bills are being debated on the floor.

Please go to https://www.facebook.com/citizensforsexton or search for State Representative Mike Sexton on Facebook and like it so you can stay informed about legislation we are working on.

While we are in session, please remember that I will be on the Devine Intervention Radio Show with Mike Devine on KVFD 1400 every other Friday afternoon from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. This is a call in show so use this opportunity to talk to both of us and let us know your feelings on the current issues facing Iowa citizens.

Please let me know what you are thinking! Feel free to contact me at my legislative email at mike.sexton@legis.iowa.gov.