Iowa

Which Iowa bills made it through the “Funnel Week” deadline

Published

11 months ago

March 7, 2025

Which Iowa bills made it through the “Funnel Week” deadline

DES MOINES, Iowa (Gray Media Iowa Capitol Bureau) – Friday is the end of what’s called the “first funnel” of the Iowa legislative session. It’s the deadline for most bills to be passed out of committees if they’re going to continue this legislative session.

After a rush of meetings to get bills out of committee and ready for debate, the first funnel week is over.

Iowa House Speaker Pat Grassley said, “So I think at this point we’re continuing on pace. We know we have a lot of work left to do to get those things done.”

Senate Minority Leader Janice Weiner said, “The legislature’s been doing a lot this week but it hasn’t been doing anywhere near enough for Iowa’s workers.”

Some bills made it, others didn’t.

Two vaccine bills failed. One Senate bill that proposed a ban on mRNA vaccines like the covid-19 shot did not advance out of committee. Another bill in the House banning vaccines unless manufacturers waived legal protections also isn’t moving forward.

Rep. Steve Holt says he withdrew his bill requiring local police to do work for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

But – lawmakers could still vote on Holt’s bill that would jail and decertify police officers who don’t honor ICE requests to hold suspects.

Rep. Skyler Wheeler (R-Hull) said, “I wish we didn’t have this in front of us. It’s unfortunate that one individual wanted his five minutes of fame and made a absolutely ridiculous statement.”

A bill targeting obscenity protections for public libraries will continue this session.

Michelle Warren, a supporter of the bill said, “The children’s and young adults’ sections of the library should serve as spaces for learning and growth, not repositories for sexualized content that confuses and distress young minds.”

Berry Stevens, who opposes the bill, has concerns the bill could impact what sex ed materials are available for minors.

“Don’t take away appropriate materials for educational purposes. Iowa’s youth deserve the knowledge and wellness,” she said.

There’s still ways for bills that “died” to be brought back up for votes.

House Speaker Pat Grassley says now that the first funnel is over, his members are turning their attention to various tax cuts, such as property tax reform.

—

Conner Hendricks covers state government and politics for Gray Media-owned stations in Iowa. Email him at conner.hendricks@gray.tv; and follow him on Facebook at Conner Hendricks TV on X/Twitter @ConnerReports, and on TikTok @ConnerReports.

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Iowa

Minnesota women beat No. 10 Iowa for 5th straight victory

Published

5 hours ago

February 5, 2026

Press Room

Minnesota women beat No. 10 Iowa for 5th straight victory

February 5, 2026 / 8:48 PM CST
/ AP

Grace Grocholski scored 21 points, Mara Braun added 16 and Minnesota beat No. 10 Iowa 91-85 on Thursday night for its fifth straight victory.

The Gophers (17-6, 8-4 Big Ten) have the program’s longest winning streak in Big Ten play since the 2018-19 season. The Hawkeyes (18-5, 9-3) lost their third consecutive game since they lost starting guard Taylor McCabe, the team’s leading 3-point shooter, to a season-ending knee injury.

Minnesota led for almost all of the final three quarters, shooting 51.6% for the game while going 10 of 14 in 3-pointers. The Gophers, whose biggest lead was 77-57 with 7:51 to play, had a 41-28 rebounding advantage.

It was Minnesota’s first road win over a top-10 team since 2005.

Tori McKinney added 15 points for Minnesota. Amaya Battle had 12 points and 14 rebounds, and Finau Tonga had 10 points.

Ava Heiden led Iowa with 24 points. Chazadi Wright had 20 points and a career-high 12 assists. Journey Houston had 15 points and Hannah Stuelke added 14.

The Hawkeyes were coming off a West Coast trip in which they went out in a tie for the Big Ten lead and then lost by a combined 35 points to USC and Big Ten leader UCLA. This game wasn’t much better.

Minnesota led 49-39 at halftime, taking advantage of a 13-3 run to open the second quarter. The Gophers shot 64.3% from the field in the quarter, making all four of their 3-point attempts while their defense shut down the Hawkeyes. Iowa made nine of its 12 shots in the first quarter, but made just 5 of 17 shots in the second quarter, getting outrebounded by the Gophers 13-6 in the quarter.

Iowa had its 11-game winning streak over the Gophers snapped.

Up next

Minnesota: At Rutgers on Sunday.

Iowa: Hosts Washington on Feb. 11.

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Iowa

Bill expanding Iowa’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law takes another step forward

Published

17 hours ago

February 5, 2026

Press Room

Bill expanding Iowa’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law takes another step forward

Iowa lawmakers are considering a bill to ban teaching about gender identity and sexual orientation in all K-12 public schools.
The proposal would expand a 2023 law that currently applies to students through the sixth grade. It is tied up in federal court.
Supporters argue the bill keeps schools focused on core academics, while opponents say it harms and isolates LGBTQ youth.

A bill prohibiting Iowa’s public K-12 schools from teaching students about LGBTQ-related topics at all grade levels is advancing in the House and Senate as GOP lawmakers consider expanding what critics call the state’s “Don’t Say Gay” law.

The measure would subject all of Iowa’s K-12 students to a law Gov. Kim Reynolds signed in 2023 that bans instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation through sixth grade. The wide-ranging education legislation also ordered schools to remove books that depict sex acts and remains tied up in court.

The House Education Committee voted 14-9, to advance House File 2121, which would extend the prohibition on LGBTQ-related teaching through high school. Two Republicans, Reps. Chad Ingels, R-Randalia, and Tom Moore, R-Griswold, joined Democrats in voting no.

It advanced out of subcommittee in a 2-1 vote earlier Wednesday morning.

Rep. Helena Hayes, R-New Sharon, said the measure pushes educators to stick to core curriculum such as language, English, math and history. She voted with Rep. Wendy Larson, R-Odebolt, to move it forward.

“This very narrow bill, it simply says teachers, please focus on educational topics,” Hayes said. “Please talk about academics, and that’s what we’re asking our educators to do, and that’s as simple as it is. Stay focused on the topic at hand, and that is we want to graduate intelligent, articulate, critical thinkers in this world.”

Rep. Elinor Levin, D-Iowa City, who opposed the bill, questioned why lawmakers would further legislate something that’s already tied up in court and how it helps Iowans afford their daily living costs.

“I am myself queer,” Levin said. “I have been since I was born. It is part of my existence. I experienced no great trauma or abuse growing up. In fact, I grew up in an incredibly healthy and happy family with no direct queer role models. … To pretend that queer people do not exist is neither remarkable nor wise in thinking about how we care for our kids.”

Republicans on a three-member Senate subcommittee advanced their proposal, Senate Study Bill 2003, on Jan. 21. Similar legislation has not advanced in past years, including in 2025 after a House proposal stalled once it passed out of subcommittee. There was no Senate companion bill in 2025.

The bill says that Iowa’s public school districts and charter schools cannot provide “any program, curriculum, test, survey, questionnaire, promotion or instruction relating to gender theory or sexual orientation” to K-12 students.

GOP lawmaker pushes to allow discussion of gender as a ‘theory’

Rep. Jeff Shipley, R-Birmingham, who serves on the House Education Committee, proposed amending the bill and said it may be “fairly appropriate” to discuss gender identity as a theory.

He said there are many legal questions or works of art pertaining to trans people that high school students would be mature enough to debate in a classroom setting.

“I think there’s a lot of things that could sink your teeth into if gender theory is just debated as a theory in the classroom,” Shipley said.

Hayes said the committee would consider amendments but this was already “narrowly tailored to instructional time.”

“A lot of those conversations still happen in other places and school grounds or outside of school grounds,” Hayes told reporters. “I mean, certainly people should have connections and networking beyond just their teaching and beyond just the classroom.”

Existing law still tied up in court

Iowa’s 2023 law, Senate File 496, is being challenged as unconstitutional in a federal lawsuit.

A federal judge initially granted an injunction blocking parts of the law, including the ban on teaching about gender orientation and sexual identity, while the lawsuit is decided.

But the U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed his decision, allowing the law to take effect. Attorneys argued the law’s constitutionality in federal court in January.

Iowa is one of several Republican-led states, including Florida, with similar prohibitions on classroom teaching about gender identity and sexual orientation.

Levin said it would be unwise to extend Iowa’s law while the state’s current court challenges are pending.

“I genuinely can’t think of a reason why we would move forward with this when the previous legislation is tied up in the courts,” she said.

Opponents say sexual orientation, gender identity are ‘immutable’ traits

Like in the Senate’s initial hearing, opponents of the bill outnumbered supporters as people warned lawmakers of the detrimental effects the legislation would have on LGBTQ youth.

Annie Craven, of Urbandale, said she is openly bisexual and was homeschooled and raised Catholic so she didn’t know people with her sexual orientation existed growing up. Craven is running for the Iowa House District 46 seat held by incumbent Republican Rep. Dan Gehlbach.

“That didn’t make me any less queer,” Craven said. “It did make me feel very alone and isolated and different. I resent that gender identity is being touted as political or something that we can debate or theorize. It’s immutable. It caused great harm to me as a person and as a kid growing up to not know that there were other people like me and to think that I was so different and I didn’t understand why.”

Drake University law student Karrecia Crawley said the bill imposes a “sweeping ideology that rushes to conclusions about what is taught.”

“They don’t see the foresight of what happens or what occurs when this bill is passed,” Crawley said. “I don’t believe Republicans will be in power for all that much longer if bills like this keep getting pushed and introduced into the (Legislature).”

Rev. Lizzie Gillman, an Episcopal priest in Des Moines and mother of a high school and sixth grade student, shared with lawmakers that her children’s friends feel they have no adults with whom they can discuss LGBTQ topics after recent law changes targeting LGBTQ rights.

“Jesus never said anything about gender or homosexuality,” Gillman said. “Jesus was all about love. And so what I want to know is that when we marginalize these students at a young age, they can pick it up. … I’d like you to understand whose dignity matters here.”

Supporters asks lawmakers to restore ‘focus’ on academics

Jeff Pitts, with the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition, supported the bill.

“Political indoctrination ought not to be done on the taxpayer dime at public institutions,” Pitts said.

Katherine Bogaards, with Protect My Innocence, supported the measure and said it “gives families confidence that schools will remain focused on academics and age appropriate research-based health education, not topics that confuse or overwhelm the students.”

“Supporting this bill is about preserving family values, respecting parental authority, and assuring minors are allowed to grow up without unnecessary pressure related to sexual orientation and gender identity,” Bogaards said.

Marissa Payne covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. Reach her by email at mjpayne@registermedia.com. Follow her on X at @marissajpayne.

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Iowa

Iowa High School State Dual Tournament Pairings Revealed

Published

1 day ago

February 4, 2026

Press Room

Iowa High School State Dual Tournament Pairings Revealed

The fields are set for the Iowa high school wrestling state dual tournament, which takes place this Saturday, February 7 from the Xtream Arena in Coralville, Iowa.

All three 2025 champions are back to defend titles this year including Southeast Polk in Class 3A. Algona qualified in 2A and Don Bosco seeks a seventh championship in 1A.

The Rams will open with Pleasant Valley, as either Dallas Center-Grimes or Dowling Catholic awaits in th semifinals. The other side of the 3A bracket features Indianola vs. Linn-Mar and Waukee Northwest vs. Iowa City West.

Algona is the No. 7 seed and will face North Central Conference rival Clarion-Goldfield/Dows in the quarterfinals. Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont meets Alburnett on the other half.

Top-seed Decorah faces Glenwood and West Delaware wrestles Independene in the other 2A quarterfinals.

Don Bosco battles Logan-Magnolia, Woodbury Central faces Hinton, Jesup wrestles Nashua-Plainfield and Lake Mills takes on Riverside in the 1A duals.

Semifinals and finals will also take place on Saturday.

Here are the Iowa high school wrestling state dual tournament pairings.

Quarterfinals, 9 a.m.

Quarterfinals, 10:45 a.m.

Semifinals, 2:15 p.m.

Championship, 6 p.m.

Quarterfinals, 9 a.m.

Quarterfinals, 10:45 a.m.

Semifinals, 2:15 p.m.

Championship, 6 p.m.