The Daily Dome

New Daily Dome host Josh Cook talks to State Rep. Lindsey James about the first few weeks of the session and the bizarre priorities that have come out of GOP leadership.

Links

Today we discuss Governor Kim Reynolds's Condition of the State address, and play a clip from a conversation with Iowa Senate Minority Leader Zach Wahls of Iowa City.

Senator Wahls spoke to us about the insurrection in Washington last week, how the legislature is adjusting to the ongoing pandemic, and the Democratic caucus’s agenda for this session, specifically surrounding COVID recovery.

Links:

We're back for the Iowa's Legislature's 89th General Assembly and our third season. Today the leaders of Iowa's legislative branch outline their goals for the year and try not sigh too deeply because... pandemic. Still.

Links:

Outside of the Iowa Department of Public Health there may be no one who's more closely tracked the number of cases of COVID-19 than State Senator Rob Hogg (D-Cedar Rapids). He talks to Paige about the numbers he's seeing and

Since the Iowa Legislature adjourned on Sunday this will be the last episode of Daily Dome for this season. Thank you for listening and we'll see you back in January!

Links:

Georgia journalist Rahul Bali from the Oconee Radio Group joins Paige to talk about the election issues in his state this past week and how voting early can prevent it happening here. Unfortunately for Iowans, the Senate just passed a bill making it harder to get a mail-in ballot and harder to cast it once they do.

Links

Paige spoke with members of the Des Moines Black Lives Matter Creative Collective on the five demands the movement has for state legislators. Unfortunately, no members were available to meet with them.

Links:

Paige talks with Senate Democratic Leader Janet Petersen (D-Des Moines) about Democrats' legislative priorities before this weekend's second funnel.

Links

The Iowa legislature is back after a 3 month hiatus due to COVID-19 and we're right back with them. Paige talks to Rep. Ras Smith (D-Waterloo) about the protests in Waterloo over the death of George Floyd and police brutality and the legislation to reform police departments he'll be announcing on June 4th.

Links:

John Forbes is a pharmacist from Urbandale who supports allowing Iowans to use cannabis products for medicinal purposes. Lucky for those Iowans, he's also a State Representative.

The background:

Paige is joined by Rep. Tracy Ehlert of Cedar Rapids to talk about the bipartisan push for more affordable child care across our state.

Links:

Fresh off their Moral Monday speech, Lana Shope from Iowa Community Action Association and Mary Nelle Trefz from the Child and Family Policy Center talk with Paige about two bills working their way through the legislature that could make it harder for Iowans to receive assistance.

Links:

Paige sits down with reporter Josh Cook, who covered health care and rural issues for Iowa Starting Line to talk about Iowa Democratic Party Chair Mark Smith's rural health care tour and how Democrats could (and should) approach small town and rural Iowa and make sorely needed gains there.

Links:

Paige sits down with the new chair of the Iowa Democratic Party, Representative Mark Smith. Rep. Smith is embarking on a multi-city tour to talk about health care and the choice in November's US Senate election here in Iowa.

Links:

Rep. Chuck Isenhart (D-Dubuque) is the Ranking Member on the Agriculture and Natural Resources Appropriations Subcommittee. Paige talks to him about what that subcommittee does, what his priorities are this session, and how Iowans can help.

But first, a bit about our new host!

Daily Dome's new host Paige Godden sits down with Rep. Mary Wolfe to discuss the push to restore voting rights to those convicted of a felony since 2011 when then-Governor Terry Branstad rescinded his predecessors' executive order that automatically restored those rights.

According to the Brennan Center for Justice, "Iowa is the only state to impose permanent disenfranchisement for all people with felony convictions, unless the government approves individual rights restoration."

Links:

There have been a number of stories lately from around Iowa about mobile home owners and renters seeing huge hikes in rent for their home or the land on which it is parked. After hearing from stakeholders, the legislature has decided to take action.

When issues like these rent hikes arise, one place that ends up getting phone calls is the Iowa Attorney General's office. My 2008 Obama Campaign Buddy Nate Blake is Deputy Attorney General and gave me the run down on his office's involvement with this bill.

Links:

What in the blue blazes is "Funnel Week" and why is it going to keep our legislators up all night all week long? We talk to Rep. Liz Bennett of Cedar Rapids about what it is, how a bill survives it, and what issues she's fighting for (and against) this week.

Links:

On Wednesday morning, nine Republicans in the Iowa House introduced House File 2164, which would amend the Iowa Civil Rights Act to remove all mentions of gender identity. Literally erasing them from the law.

We spoke with Senator Rob Hogg, an attorney, and Damian Thompson of Iowa Safe Schools about their reactions and how a bill like this could affect our state.

Then, everything changed.

Links:

Senators Boulton and Zaun want student athletes to be able to be paid for the use of their name, image, or likeness rights and the Human Resources Committee approves a bill capping the price of insulin.

Links:

We're joined this morning by Senator Claire Celsi (D-21) to discuss last week's hearing on a constitutional amendment stating Iowans have no rights to seek an abortion and why that measure may not see a vote on the Senate floor.

Links:

The speeches are over and boy, are we off to the races already. Remember that constitutional amendment we talked about earlier this week from Gov Reynolds speech? No, not the good one on voting rights... the other one. Yeah, it's on the move.

We'll talk about that plus some bills that were introduced this week.

Links:

Iowa House Democratic Leader Todd Prichard is our guest for this entire episode as we discuss Acting Chief Justice Wiggins Condition of the Judiciary, Governor Reynolds's Condition of the State, and some of the priorities Democrats have for the upcoming legislative session.

Links:

Governor Kim Reynolds gave her third Condition of the State address before a joint session of the Iowa legislature. Her priorities included constitutional amendments banning abortion and restoring voting rights to those convicted of felonies, cutting income taxes but raising sales taxes, $20 million dollars for flood relief and more.

Links:

Welcome to the Daily Dome. Our goal is to get you up to speed on what's happening in the Iowa Legislature Monday through Friday in 15 minutes or less. We're going to talk about the bills being introduced, the debates on those bills, and talking with the key players in those debates

As it's only Day 1 of the 2020 session we have no bills to discuss so we're giving you a brief rundown of who's who in the House and Senate leadership this session.

Links:

Hi there! My name is Greg Hauenstein and I am the host of the Daily Dome podcast.

The Daily Dome covers the Iowa Legislature. In 15 minutes or less you'll get a rundown of the most important bills introduced in each chamber, how they could affect you, and the occasional chat with the lawmakers and key players behind those bills.