By Tom Chapman
For The Catholic Messenger
The second legislative “funnel” deadline is April 4. A bill is required to have passed one chamber and through a committee in the other chamber to remain eligible for further consideration. The deadline does not apply to appropriations or tax legislation.
The Iowa Catholic Conference (ICC) invites you to contact your state senator in opposition to House File (HF) 572. The bill is unnecessary as it is already against federal law to harbor immigrants without papers, and it is already against federal and state law to traffic in humans. The ICC is concerned the bill could be interpreted to criminalize providing basic charity to immigrants.
The ICC also has an action alert regarding HF 775, which would require abortion facilities to post information on the possibility of reversing the effects of a medication abortion. The bill further requires that a doctor cannot dispense the drug unless it is in a healthcare setting.
Last week at the State Capitol
The House passed HF 571, which allows a medical professional or healthcare institution to refuse to perform a medical service (not including emergencies) for conscience reasons. The ICC has been working in support of the legislation for several years but this is the first time it has passed a chamber. The bill goes to the Senate.
The Senate passed SF 473 and sent the bill to the House. The ICC supports the proposal that would stop the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from rejecting prospective foster care/adoptive parents based on their beliefs related to sexual orientation or identity. Placements must still be made in the best interests of the child.
A bill adding a requirement of 80 hours of work per month for the 180,000 people on the Iowa Health and Wellness Plan has passed both chambers. The plan offers health insurance coverage through Medicaid for adults who make less than 133% of the federal poverty level. While the Catholic Church values the dignity of work, these reporting requirements have shown clear evidence of creating barriers to health care while doing little to support people looking for work. The nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency projects that around 32,000 Iowans would lose benefits. Thanks to the many of you who contacted your legislators to oppose the bill.
It appears we have an uphill battle to pass HF 570 this year. The legislation offers discharge credits, educational credits and workforce credits that reduce an individual’s probation term. The bill, which would help offenders reintegrate into society sooner without undermining public safety, passed the House unanimously. However, we don’t think the Senate Judiciary Committee will take it up this week.
HF 970, which ties a $1 million appropriation for the “Double Up Food Bucks” program to a new list of food and beverage restrictions for SNAP (food stamps), passed the House by a vote of 56-40. Despite bipartisan opposition to the legislation, it now goes to the Senate. The ICC’s advice is to approve the “Double Up Food Bucks” money on its own rather than making it contingent on federal approval of a new food list. “Double Up Food Bucks” provides matching funds for purchase of fruits and vegetables by SNAP recipients.
HF 807, which passed the House 95-0, would require HHS to create a webpage listing the perinatal hospice services available in Iowa and nationally. We’ll be working to get the bill out of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee.
The House unanimously approved HF 926, which allows human trafficking victims to expunge their records of any crimes that they were forced to commit. The bill heads to the Senate.
Rep. Blaine Watkins of Lee County was sworn in as the new member of Iowa House District 100. He won a special election following the death of Martin Graber.
Uphold life and dignity
In a letter to members of Congress, Archbishop Timothy Broglio, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), urges members to “keep forefront in mind the sacredness of human life and the inherent, God-given dignity of every person.” He urged members to consider the following in their work:
- Support and strengthen families by providing meaningful support for pregnant mothers, parents and their children, so every family has the support to choose life for their baby. Enact protections for the preborn. Enhance the Child Tax Credit to help families flourish. Allow parents to choose the best education for their children.
- Protect poor and vulnerable people at home and abroad by maintaining safety net programs such as Medicaid and SNAP that provide life-changing and life-saving support for those in need. Ensure that tax reform makes poor families better off. Provide essential assistance to our most vulnerable brothers and sisters struggling in dire conditions around the world. Ensure good environmental stewardship.
- Support an immigration system that furthers the common good with targeted, proportionate and humane immigration enforcement. It should safeguard our borders and communities while providing legal pathways to immigrants, respect for due process, access to humanitarian protections such as refugee resettlement, compassion to people on the move and accommodations for family unity.
- Defend religious liberty by protecting faith communities around the world from discrimination and respecting the religious nature of faith-providers’ charitable and social service work.
Unfortunately, the federal administration has terminated 69 out of Catholic Relief Services’ 150 awards, affecting 20 million people. CRS is planning a “Week of Action” about international aid on April 6-12.
The ICC is co-sponsoring the Iowa Religious Freedom Day breakfast at the Capitol on April 10 and a presentation by David Cochran, a professor at Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa on the role of religious liberty in building peace in the world. That event takes place April 10 at noon in Maucker Union on the University of Northern Iowa campus in Cedar Falls. St. Stephen the Witness Catholic Student Center is hosting the event. Free pizza!
(Tom Chapman is executive director of the Iowa Catholic Conference, the public policy voice of Iowa’s bishops.)
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