The Dickey Dispatch

(Feb. 21, 2025) Happy Freezing Friday District 44!

This week, my legislative week started a day early. I drove up to Des Moines Sunday morning to attend the American Legion’s High School Oratorical Scholarship Program, "A Constitutional Speech Contest.” It was inspiring to see so many young people care about the foundation of our government. While I was there, I was able to hear a speech by Karli Roth from Earlham titled, “The Forgotten History of our Constitution.” Karli won the competition and will compete in the national contest at Hillsdale College in May. All of the contestants were very impressive and I believe that every high schooler should know more about our GREAT nation and our Constitution. Fortunately I am not the only one with this thought. This week the Education Committee passed SSB 1030. The bill requires that, starting with the 2026-27 school year, each public and non-public school must require that all high school students pass a civics test (they can take it as many times as they need) in order to graduate.

In other exciting news I was able to help pass Senate Study Bill 1119 through subcommittee and committee. This bill would allow for a deduction against the individual income tax for educational expenses at institutions of higher education and apprenticeship programs. The deduction for instruction at institutions of higher education is for career-related programs that do not qualify for college credit. The deduction for apprenticeship programs is for programs registered with the Iowa Office of Apprenticeship. This will help more people gain education and work experience in fields that do not require college education by making it more cost effective. The bill now needs to pass through the full Senate and the House.

Wednesday was Community College Day on the Hill. I had the GREAT opportunity to meet with students from Indian Hills Community College. Some of the students present were nursing students, one of the flagship programs of IHCC. They brought a pediatric mannequin to the Capitol and showed how they were able to draw blood, start an IV, even talk with the mannequin to get real experience on treating a child. This mannequin was purchased through legislation passed in recent years. The U.S. needs more nurses and we are very fortunate to have quality community colleges in Iowa that are able to prepare our nursing students.

We are two weeks away from the first funnel deadline, and what that means is that there will be more activity in the Capitol in the next two weeks than what there has been in the past six!