Reichman’s Remarks

Week 9 focus was on floor debate and sending important bills to the House to be considered for discussion.

One bill of significance was Senate File 478. This bill would bar the state auditor from having access to an individual’s information that would reasonably be expected to be kept private. During Iowa Supreme Court testimony, the State Auditor said the only limit to his discovery is “time and resources.” We have all seen the issues caused by overreaching government. Iowans deserve to have a reasonable expectation of privacy, especially from their government.

Also debated this week was Senate File 507. This bill tackles the issue of state investing based on Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) performance. There is a current concern of financial institutions boycotting and refusing to do business with certain industries based on ideological grounds and not on legitimatize business purposes. The common target of these boycotts are firearm manufacturers, production agriculture, and fossil-fuels. Senate File 507 would restrict public funds from entering into contracts with businesses who engage in these boycotts, and ensuring the market is not run by the ESG ratings and instead focuses on the best investment returns.

Working Toward Smaller, Smarter Government

Senate File 514 represents the first comprehensive review of government and how the governor’s office manages its own departments in almost 40 years. It also brings us more in line with other states and looks at ways we can improve services, modernize government, and bring departments with similar objectives together.

All of the states in the Midwest have fewer cabinet departments than Iowa and spend less per capita on state government than Iowa. A lot has changed in our state and in the world over the last 40 years. Huge strides in technology have been made, the needs of Iowans have changed, and the service government provides should change too.

Protections for Iowa Children Passes Senate

This week the Iowa Senate and House passed SF 538. This bill made it illegal to perform transgender surgeries or sex changes on children in Iowa. Issues of gender identity and gender reassignment are complicated and often have intense emotions surrounding them.

The state has a responsibility to protect its citizens. Surgeries and massive amounts of cross-sex hormones have substantial and permanent consequences to children. It is becoming more common to hear stories of adults who received these treatments and are now emotionally and physically scarred for life.

Some studies were promoted by people supporting these procedures to point to an improvement in the experience of children who have undergone a gender transition procedure. Those were all short-term studies only over a 12-month period. However, in 2016 the Obama Administration’s Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services declined to implement a national coverage for gender transition procedures under Medicare. It cited an internationally recognized 30-year study from Sweden, which showed individuals who had a cross-sex surgical procedure had a suicide rate 19 times higher than the general population. It also led to significantly higher rates of substance abuse, depression, and psychiatric hospitalizations.

These medical procedures are not FDA approved. In fact, during the legislative process one of the doctors who testified during the subcommittee was asked if they are FDA approved. She said, “the FDA doesn’t do clinical trials on children.”

State law prohibits children from getting a tattoo, buying alcohol, gambling, or entering into a contract because they are not equipped to appropriately understand the risks associated with those behaviors. For the same reason, gender reassignment surgeries and hormone therapies should not be available to Iowa children.

Providing Clarity and Common Sense for K-12 Schools

This week the Iowa Senate passed another common-sense bill to provide clarity for Iowa schools regarding bathroom access. It simply says boys will use the boys’ bathroom and girls will use the girls’ bathroom. For generations this policy was not controversial and there is no reason it should be controversial now.

This policy protects children. It also implements a clear, common-sense solution for Iowa schools on this issue. SF 482 provides that clarity by simply stating children in Iowa school will use the bathroom, locker room, or changing room of their biological sex.

Some stories were shared during the process on this bill about girls showering in bathing suits at school, not using the bathroom all day, or feeling uncomfortable changing in front of students of the opposite sex.

This policy protects children. It also implements a clear, common-sense solution for Iowa schools on this issue.

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