Iowa legislative Republicans rushed to complete committee work on their priority bills by the legislature’s deadline for initial action last week. A measure that will revamp Iowa’s worker’s compensation system survived. A bill to reinstated the death penalty in Iowa did not. It will no longer be eligible for consideration this year, just like the other policy-related bills that failed to pass a committee by Friday. Senate Democratic Leader Rob Hogg of Cedar Rapids says the agenda Republicans have pursued the past seven weeks is about creating “chaos.”

 

Bill Dix, the Republican leader in the Iowa Senate, hints the G-O-P may reveal a tax cutting plan in the coming weeks.

 

Governor  Terry Branstad says he’s pleased Republicans have advanced one of the policy priorities he outlined during his annual address to legislators in January. It’s a bill that would ban the use of hand-held electronic devices while driving. Committees in both the House and Senate have approved bills that make that move.