All I can say is that I am glad Funnel Week is over. There are 3 grueling weeks every session: the first funnel week, the second funnel week, and the final week. In my opinion, the first funnel is always the most difficult, so I’m certainly glad that week has passed! Between lengthy committee meetings, last second subcommittees, and some “spirited” conversation, I am ready for the weekend.

This week also saw more groups find their way to the Capitol. Some of these groups were the Mt. Pleasant iJAG. The iJAG program (Iowa Jobs for America’s Graduates) is an awesome program that is optional for schools to participate in and for those that do, the state provides funding. This is something I encourage all schools to look into! It provides our youth a lot of different learning options focused on careers and in ways that differ than traditional education formats. In a short summary, it exposes students to a vast array of careers that most of them may have never known to exist.

Indian Hills Community College, Southwest Iowa Community College, and even a group of international guests from Ukraine visited me as well. I had a wonderful time visiting with these groups and valued the conversations that arose. Taking time to speak with these groups was definitely a needed distraction from this busy week, and I want to thank each of these groups for their time.

I am sure many of you saw the untruthful attack ads that were taken out on me last week – full-page color ads in my local papers. Have you heard the term “dirty politics”? Well that ad was it. A group of trial attorneys paid for the ads that were untruthful and hypocritical! The legislation they referred to was NOT a self-interest bill. It did deal with an issue I am very passionate about (and campaigned on) and that is TORT reform! Greedy attorneys are bogging down our legal system. For every illegitimate lawsuit they file, a legitimate one gets pushed back. It is because of these ambulance-chasing attorneys (they are the ones with the billboards up, the ones who have commercials on 2 AM tv, etc.) as to why WE NEED TORT REFORM in Iowa. It is NOT about trucking companies avoiding responsibility. It is simply slowing down the crazy number of lawsuits that have NO merit to them.

Their attacks suggested that I should not have voted on the bill however they did not tell the Representatives and Senators who are also attorneys (I’m guessing there are 20 of them) to do the same thing. Attorneys in this state had more to lose financially with tort reform than what anyone else has to gain! When have we demanded that every farmer that serves in the Capitol remove themselves from voting on legislation that concerns farming, like the ethanol bill? We don’t. This argument holds true with every industry.

One realistically would ask, “Why would these attorneys file these lawsuits if the trucking company was not at fault?” and it is a fair question. However the reason is, because it costs attorneys a few hundred dollars in legal fees to file the lawsuit and it costs the plaintiff NOTHING to file or to “sign on” with an attorney. However, it costs the trucking companies $200,000 – $300,000 or more in legal fees, expert testimony, accident recreation, attorney fees, etc. to defend these bogus cases and even after spending that, there is a risk the trucking companies could lose. There is a HUGE trend where juries in very litigious counties are awarding BIG verdicts even when the trucking company is NOT at fault. So when a trucking company is looking at the risk and the cost to defend, it often makes more “business sense” to settle for $200,000 than to incur the cost to defend yourself and still have the risk of losing. These attorneys are making a lottery out of our legal system!

Slowing down this craziness was the basis of this litigation. Regardless of what the attack ads states, this was NOT a personal bill by me. There are 9,306 trucking companies in Iowa. Additionally, nearly every farmer today is a trucking company if they have even a single grain truck and any small business that uses anything from a pickup truck to a semi would is also affected by this legislation. 1 out of 11 paychecks in this GREAT state are tied to the trucking industry. That is a lot of companies and A LOT of lives that would be POSITIVELY impacted with this legislation. The tort reform issue and legislation trying to address the issue has been in the Capitol years before I ever got elected.

The last piece of legislation I want to highlight is SF 167. This is a bill that I ran through the Workforce Committee, and I look forward to taking it to the Senate floor. This bill focuses on providing opportunities for teenagers to work, ONLY if they choose to. Federal regulations greatly limit the number of hours and days that 14-18 year olds may work. These same individuals are free to attend extracurricular activities, sporting events, etc. with little to no regulation. This bill simply allows greater opportunity for youth to work at a job if they choose. They may want to save money for a new car, take a date to the movies, or simply save money for college. This bill also PROHIBITS youth under 18 years of age to work in/with a variety of dangerous environments, such as explosives, saw-mills, mining, and on the floor of a meat packing plant. All in all, this bill helps to PROTECT Iowa’s youth, while also providing them with greater opportunity to engage in work activities. The news outlets and various Democrats have painted this bill to be a “youth slave labor” bill, and protested that “our kids are not for sale.” This is not only a great disrespect to those throughout history who were enslaved, but a downright lie. I am proud to have brought this bill to the Senate Workforce Committee, and appreciate the support of those who backed this great bill.

This week brought some amazing legislation out of committee, and leaves me with a great feeling. Funnel week again has proved to be as crazy as expected, but it feels great that it is now done. As always, thank you for the support and for reaching out.

Iowa’s public universities excel when they are focused on their mission to promote the search for truth and knowledge while maintaining academic freedom and integrity, without being transformed into factories of ideological conformity.

House Study Bill 218, which I serve as the floor manager of, is the first step towards dismantling the divisive diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) bureaucracies which operate as ideological enforcement divisions on our college campuses. Taxpayer funded political activists are housed within these bureaucracies under the DEI umbrella. In reality, they are not inclusive, and are working to persuade, teach, and enforce ideological conformity. In fact, these offices are constantly bombarding faculty, staff, and students with a constant stream of ideological emails, trainings, and programming.

The intent of this legislation is easily understood if one imagines what the reaction would be if the opposite was happening. What if the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa all built internal bureaucracies funded with taxpayer dollars to teach conservative political values, enforce conservative political litmus tests for hiring and publicly shamed students and faculty who violate conservative principles?

The fundamental question to ask is do Iowans support administratively enforced political coercion at their universities?

This week the education committee approved a bill aimed at empowering teachers to retake control of their classrooms. House Republicans have heard from many teachers across the state about the struggles they face in the classroom regarding behavioral issues with students, a lack of support from administrators, and trainings that take time away from their basic teaching responsibilities. House Study Bill 206 was put together to help address those problems. The bill is just the start of giving classroom control and personal safeguards to teachers. The bill is not in it’s final form and changes should be expected before any debate in the House, but the conversation will continue as funnel week ends. The bill includes:

• The ability of the state ombudsman to investigate complaints received by licensed practitioners related to violence in the classroom.
• The district must provide the legal authority that requires the employee to participate in the professional development programs.
• The district must provide notice of teacher immunity in regards to coming in physical contact with at student.
• Teacher must notify the parent / guardian within 24 hours if they witness student injury.
• Teacher whistleblower protection.
• Lays out a 3 strike system for student discipline:
  • First offense, meet with school counselor and one day of in-school suspension.
  • Second offense, meet with school counselor and 5 days of in-school suspension.
  • Third offense, expel student from that class and if in high school, not receive credit for that class.

Again, this bill came from teachers coming to House Republicans and asking for help. Stay tuned as the bill moves through the process.

This week, the House Commerce committee passed reasonable updates to Iowa’s youth employment laws. This bill was developed with Iowa Workforce Development along with businesses, including grocery stores and restaurants, which hire many individuals under 18. Many of the changes adopted in committee also came from suggestions from labor unions and the Iowa State Bar Association.

This bill strikes a balance to ensure parental consent and safety, while also enabling young Iowans to build independence, work ethic and life skills as they begin down the path to figuring out their future. Iowa does have many workforce challenges, and this bill allows for youth to work in areas that are reasonable for them to work.

House Study Bill 134 makes the following changes for work activities for those under 18 years of age:

• Adds work activities for 14-year-olds, including using a microwave, loading and unloading vehicles, using kitchen cleaning products, and laundering.
• Adds minimal work activities for 15-year-olds.
• Extends the timeframe for persons under 16 to work to 9 p.m. or 11 p.m. depending on the time of year.
• Makes changes to the work prohibitions for 16 and 17-year-olds, by adding performance of light assembly work not near machines, allowing driving a vehicle, office work and loading balers.
• Makes changes to work-based learning programs.
• Allows the labor commissioner to waive or reduce a civil penalty based on the evidence, and may allow for a 15-day grace period before imposing a civil penalty.
• Clarifies liability of students in work-based learning programs driving to and from work.
• Allows a retail alcohol licensee to employ a 16 or 17-year-old to sell and serve alcoholic beverages for on-site consumption if the licensee has on file written permission from the parent.
• Allows a minor licensee to drive their vehicle between 5am and 10pm, during work hours, over the most direct and accessible route between the minor’s residence, school, and employment, as long as it is below 50 miles.

In light of the Oversight Committee meeting last month, the Judiciary Committee submitted House Study Bill 214 to prohibit the use of hormone therapy and puberty blockers while also ending irreversible genital surgeries on children (minors under the age of 18) in our state.

Even in politically ‘progressive’ Europe, several countries are hitting the brakes on medicalizing gender incongruence in children. Sweden, Finland, and the United Kingdom are no longer allowing so-called gender affirming care on minors and Ireland and Italy are moving in that direction as well.

Puberty blockers do have FDA approved uses for children facing puberty at too young of an age. However, doctors are now prescribing puberty blockers off label to stop children from developing at a normal rate and allowing their bodies to stay prepubescent for an undetermined amount of time so they can decide if they want gender altering medicines or surgery. Long term side effects of using puberty blockers can include weight gain, hot flashes, headaches, fertility issues, weaker bones, and other growth and development issues.

Along with puberty blockers, other drugs are being prescribed to boys and girls that will cause them to have significant physical and physiological changes. HSB 214 also bans these hormone therapies from being given to children in order to alter their looks and bodies. Multiple medical facilities in Iowa are currently providing boys with the female hormone estrogen. Girls are also being prescribed testosterone to make them look more like boys. Hormone therapies are sometimes considered partially reversable drugs for individuals who identify as transgender, but they are still high risk, especially for kids.

The University of Iowa LGBTQ+ clinic has performed a small number of mastectomies on young girls to change the look of their body and not for other medical reasons. While no place in Iowa is currently conducting bottom surgery for children who believe they are transgendered, this type of surgery will also be banned for those under 18.

It is important to remember this bill does not stop the use of puberty blockers, hormone therapy, or surgery for children with medical conditions that absolutely require it.

This week, the House Veterans Affairs committee passed House Study Bill 205 to provide veterans injured in military service certain discounts on hunting licenses and allow the use of a crossbow while hunting with a tag during archery season.

The bill creates a fund within the Iowa Department of Veterans Affairs to be used for grants to purchase archery season deer hunting licenses and tags for eligible veterans. Those veterans can use a crossbow during the archery season.

By adding a definition of “permanent disability” as a person that was injured due to their military service, it expands the veterans eligible to purchase a hunting or fur harvester license without paying the wildlife habitat fee, and those eligible for a free annual fishing or a combined hunting license if they meet certain income limits.

This weekend on Saturday, March 4th, I’ll be attending two forums – the first one at 9AM at Muscatine Community College, and the second one being at 11AM at Wapello City Hall. I’d encourage anyone in the area to attend!

Sincerely,

Rep. Taylor Collins
Iowa House District 95