Gov. Kim Reynolds signed the final three bills from the 2022 legislative session into law Tuesday, including a measure removing Iowa’s school district enrollment deadline.
They were the final laws the governor planned to sign before the Friday deadline, her office confirmed. June 24 is the last day Reynolds can sign any legislation from this year’s session.
One of the laws signed, House File 2589, removed Iowa’s March 1 deadline for parents to decide to send their children to new school districts. The measure allows families to send their children to new districts at any time during the year given the district’s approval, and takes effect immediately.
Republicans said this piece of the budget bill gave parents more control over their children’s education, while Democrats argued it would cause problems for schools’ budget planning. It was the last piece of legislation passed in the 2022 session.
“This is a people provision – giving parents and students the choice, not the school district and it is not about money,” floor manager of the bill Rep. Gary Mohr, R-Bettendorf, said in May.
The measure came after House Republican leaders officially dropped one of the governor’s priority bills in the 2022 session. There was not enough Republican support for Reynolds’ scholarship proposal, which would have given 10,000 Iowa students publicly funded scholarships to attend private schools.
The budget bill also added new regulations into Iowa election law. Iowa’s secretary of state and county auditors are now barred from accepting non-public money for conducting an election. The change comes after Iowa Voter Alliance, a conservative group, went to court with Iowa counties for accepting grant money from a tech non-profit organization affiliated with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.
The other two laws Reynolds signed Tuesday, at Red Barn Meat Market in Lamoni, were agriculture-related.
House File 2470 adopted recommendations from the state’s artisanal butchery task force to ease meat locker workforce challenges. House File 2589 established the “Choose Iowa” program, which encourages customers to buy food, fuel and other agricultural products grown in Iowa. The promotional program is run by the state Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship.
Iowa Capital Dispatch is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Iowa Capital Dispatch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kathie Obradovich for questions: info@iowacapitaldispatch.com. Follow Iowa Capital Dispatch on Facebook and Twitter.
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