Latest news with #Rozenboom
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bill changing Iowa election recount process heads to governor's desk
Voters cast their ballots in the 2024 general election at Plymouth United Church of Christ polling location in Des Moines on Election Day, Nov. 5, 2024. (Photo by Robin Opsahl/Iowa Capital Dispatch) The Iowa Senate sent legislation to the governor Monday making changes to Iowa's election recount process. House File 928, passed 31-14, would change who can request a recount for an election in Iowa. In races for local offices and the Iowa Legislature, there would need to be difference of 1% or 50 votes between the candidates — whichever is less — for a candidate to request a recount. For statewide and federal races, the bill would require a 0.15% difference. Election recount boards would change from their current make-up of a person designated by each candidate, alongside one other individual agreed upon by both candidates. The new system would have county auditors lead the board with their staff and hired election workers, with a requirement that boards must have equal numbers of workers from each political party. Candidates could also be able to choose up to five people to observe the recount in each county. Sen. Ken Rozenboom, R-Oskaloosa, said these changes put Iowa's recount process in line with other states, and addresses existing problems with potential conflicts of interest that exist in allowing campaigns to oversee the recount process. 'There's no uniformity, no reliability or enforcement,' Rozenboom said. 'That creates distrust the system.' However, Sen. Cindy Winckler, D-Davenport, said the proposed changes to the recount system — allowing auditors to oversee election recounts — could create conflicts of interest if they are the incumbent party involved in an election recount. Rozenboom countered that county auditors would still be bound by the law to fairly administer recounts. 'I understand the nature of your question, but in the unlikely event that that happens, there's still their responsibility to do that,' Rozenboom said. 'And please note that there will be observers to watch that process.' But Winckler said the current recount process serves Iowa well, without bringing up potential conflicts of interest posed by the county auditor — who is a partisan elected official — and their staff overseeing the process. Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott, D-West Des Moines, said in the recount elections she has been involved in, 'balance' in the process was not an issue as both candidates got to appoint a member of the recount board, and saying that candidates 'come out with much greater respect for the process' for ensuring fair election results. 'What we will have if we shift through this new model is candidates feeling very suspicious, very uncertain and not knowing if they can trust what they're hearing as part of this process — and not feeling represented in it,' Trone Garriott said. 'Just because someone is a member of the same political party does not ensure that that person has that candidate's best interest at heart, or is qualified to be the representative, or is qualified to be part of this process.' Rozenboom argued that these criticisms do not acknowledge that partisan county auditors are already overseeing elections. 'If we trust them to conduct the election in the first place, it seems reasonable to me that we would trust them to conduct a recount,' Rozenboom said. The bill would also implement an earlier deadline for requesting a recount, requiring requests be submitted by the end of the day of the second Wednesday after an election. The current deadline is the second Friday after an election. Recounts would be requested through the Secretary of State's office for legislative, statewide and federal races, a change from the current system where campaigns make requests to each county auditor. Another portion of the bill requires recounts to be conducted using vote tabulators, whereas current law allows hand-counting in some areas. Rozenboom said the measure will bring 'consistency, reliability, fairness, uniformity and enforcement' to the state's election recounts. 'Election law is maybe the most important legislation that we can pass in this state, because election law, fair elections, are the absolute bedrock of our system of government,' Rozenboom said. 'This legislation will correct flaws in our current system.' The bill, approved by the House in late March, now goes to Gov. Kim Reynolds.
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Deadline double standard: Newton superintendent frustrated by stalled SSA funding
Apr. 8—Newton Superintendent Tom Messinger confronted state lawmakers for being unable to meet the school funding deadlines, which is not a luxury public school districts are afforded when they have to now provide residents with notices of the public hearings for the proposed property tax rate. It's frustrating, he said. "Schools have to send their information to the courthouse by March 7 this year, before March 15 when documents are going out to people. We're asked to share our tax rate for next year at a point where that deadline is not flexible," he said. "School funding has been set on time once in the past 10 years." Rep. Jon Dunwell and Sen. Ken Rozenboom told Newton school board members during their March 24 meeting that over 1,500 bills had been filed this year. And although Messinger sympathized with lawmakers for having such a busy session, he argued many of the other education bills introduced are not as pressing. State Supplemental Aid (SSA) for public schools has been stalled for some time, and it is in large part due to disagreements between the Senate and House. The Senate approved a 2 percent SSA rate, but the House has passed a 2.25 percent funding package. The school district has formed a budget with 2 percent in mind. Typically, legislators have until 30 days after the governor's budget is released to set an SSA rate for public schools. The deadline has long since passed. The superintendent of Newton schools said there is no room for the district to break the law and not submit its budget documents to the courthouse. "But yet we're in essence hurting the perception of transparency because we know that what we give the courthouse could be off," Messinger said of the school district's proposed levy rates, which were published and sent to residents. "How do we work around that? What can be done to address that with schools?" Rozenboom felt Messinger was asking fair questions but he was skeptical the Iowa Legislature only met its deadline once in the past decade. But neither knew for sure. Rozenboom couldn't confirm, and Messinger said there could be a chance his information is wrong but from what he could find it was one for 10. "We're very aware of what the statutory requirement is for us, and we're very aware that we've failed to do that this year," Rozenboom said, who admitted lawmakers dropped the ball. "I guess I think our track record is a little better than that. But that not withstanding it's a perennial question to a perennial problem." Education is always the most important aspect of the budget, Rozenboom added, and he wishes it was easy to figure out how to spend the state's budget of $9 billion. But the state senator understands lawmakers have put a burden on public schools by not getting their work done on time. Dunwell noted the House and Senate have passed school funding bills, it's just that the two bills do not agree with each other. In the end, three different parties — the House, the Senate and the governor — need to come to an agreement on what that SSA rate will be. Negotiations are still ongoing. "That's where we're at as an impasse," Dunwell said. "So we, as a House strategy, have talked a little bit to leadership like you and knowing 2 percent was kind of the bottom and that we were going to hold out a little bit more and see if we could twist the arm of the Senate a little bit and find some additional dollars."
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Iowa Senate subcommittee passes bill to bar DEI offices at state entities, private colleges
A bill that would bar state entities and private universities from having DEI offices or officers passed out of subcommittee Tuesday. (Photo by Robin Opsahl/Iowa Capital Dispatch) An Iowa Senate subcommittee advanced legislation Tuesday to ban DEI offices and officers in certain public and private entities while noting there are proposed changes in the bill still to come. House File 856 would bar state entities, including universities and community colleges as well as private universities, from spending any funds, public or private, on diversity, equity and inclusion offices or officers, with some exceptions. If found to be noncompliant with the law, private universities would become ineligible for the Iowa Tuition Grant program until they make changes — meaning students who receive Iowa Tuition Grant dollars would not be able to spend them at the offending universities. The section of the bill pertaining to private universities was the main topic of discussion for members of the public, both in opposition and support. It was also the section that subcommittee chairman Sen. Ken Rozenboom, R-Oskaloosa, told those gathered he would be submitting an amendment to remove. In the Iowa Tuition Grant's more than 50-year history, Rozenboom said the Legislature has never added conditions to the program, and if it starts now, more conditions will added later. 'I'm very uncomfortable, personally … with dipping our toe into conditioning the Iowa Tuition Grant,' Rozenboom said. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX He and Sen. Tim Kraayenbrink, R-Fort Dodge, signed off on the legislation, with Sen. Herman Quirmbach, D-Ames, abstaining. Patty Alexander, who identified herself as a 'concerned mom,' was joined by other parents and lobbyists in support of the legislation. Inspired Life lobbyist Amber Williams said the bill will stop division sowed by DEI policies and activities and protects students from being judged by their demographics rather than their efforts and merit. 'I support this bill because it will hold higher learning institutions accountable and allow them to make corrections, and will ensure that the unhealthy and misguided pursuit of power, which DEI supports, will not be tolerated,' Alexander said. Interfaith Alliance of Iowa lobbyist and Executive Director Connie Ryan opposed the bill and said DEI is about both acknowledging past disparities between different groups and their effects, and also about setting up every Iowan for support and success in the future. The concepts of DEI are key to ensuring members of Iowa's institutions, educational or not, are provided opportunities without erecting barriers, she said. 'That's the goal of diversity, equity and inclusion. It should be the goal of Iowa's elected officials,' Ryan said. 'We are grateful that you took out private institutions. We hope that you would take out the rest of the language as well.' Iowa Board of Regents State Relations Officer Jillian Carlson said the board is registered as 'undecided' on the bill, but it is 'generally supportive' of moving away from DEI, as is happening on the federal level. With other legislation targeting DEI moving through the Statehouse, Carlson said the board would appreciate lawmakers aligning the varying definitions of DEI included in different bills, which Quirmbach and Rozenboom acknowledged. Quirmbach said he was happy to hear of Rozenboom's intentions to remove private universities from the bill, but said he wished community colleges and public universities were also included in the proposed amendment. Echoing comments he made during debate of Senate File 507, which would bar local governments from utilizing DEI practices, Quirmbach said the ideas making up DEI are an asset to organizations wanting to ensure they have the best people and training for the job. 'In general, looking for people of high merit, you want to have the broadest possible pool of candidates,' Quirmbach said. 'The bigger the pool, the more likely you're going to find somebody who is absolutely, spectacularly wonderful. But there are certain groups that aren't typically recruited.' One acronym brought up by supporters of the bill was MEI — or merit, excellence and intelligence. Rozenboom said the tenets of MEI have been replaced over the years with DEI, with negative consequences. Both he and Kraayenbrink said the public signaled its wish to do away with DEI in the last election, and this legislation will help clean up the mess. 'MEI resonates with me a lot more than DEI does, and I hope that's the direction we can head from now on,' Rozenboom said. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
25-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Jasper County legislators say there are way too many bills filed this session
Mar. 25—Editor's note: This is the third in a series of articles covering the topics discussed at legislative gatherings hosted by the League of Women Voters of Jasper County. Sen. Ken Rozenboom said there have been way too many bills filed this session, and hardly any of them are good ideas. "There are over 900 House Files, nearly 1,000," Rozenboom said during a recent legislative gathering hosted at the Newton Public Library by the League of Women Voters of Jasper County. "There are over 600 Senate Files. And then there are study bills. And there aren't that many good ideas, let me to you." He said this again when he and his fellow lawmakers, Rep. Barb Kniff McCulla and Rep. Jon Dunwell, were questioned about a bill letting homeschools charge tuition and possibly be eligible for education savings accounts. He said it once more when they were asked about a bill penalizing use of genetic-based vaccine. Rozenboom admitted at the time he did not know much about House File 888, which would loosen restrictions on homeschooling and let parents teach other children and even charge tuition. Kim Didier, of Newton, suggested this bill could allow homeschools to eventually apply for ESAs. In order to apply and participate in the ESA program, students must be enrolled in an accredited nonpublic schools. But homeschools do not need accreditation. "I'll harken back to what I said a few moments ago: I don't think there are that many good ideas, and this may be one of them," Rozenboom said. "A lot of bills get filed for different reasons. Not all of them are for good reasons. Some of them are making a statement. Some of them are, whatever, somebody's pet project." However, he said, that is the purpose of the House and the Senate, as well as the first funnel week — which concluded March 7 — to vet all kinds of bills. Even though Dunwell agrees there are too many bills filed this session, he clarified that House File 888 has nothing to do with ESAs. In a follow up after the gathering, Dunwell even suggested the bill has a greater chance of not making it to the House floor for debate and a vote. It may not be ready for primetime. Dunwell also added there is no movement in the Iowa House to ever give, at this point, a homeschool student an ESA. He told the audience at the legislative gathering that homeschool parents "would absolutely cry murder" if the Iowa Legislature tried to give them ESAs. Dunwell said they don't want it. "They don't want it because they want to have some of their freedom," Dunwell said. "What that bill does is sometimes homeschool parents want to have a little bit better education, say, on some topics for their kids; so they're going to bring a teacher in to endorse that, to teach them more complicated topics." The bill would allow them to do what is already being done, Dunwell said. There is no law against it, but there is not a law for it. But he stressed there is not a movement in that bill to give ESAs to homeschools. Dunwell said it would be too complicated to track accountability; whereas private schools have accreditation. "Accreditation means something," Dunwell said. "It's about governance. It's about finances. It's about audits. It's about all those things beyond education that are there, and that would be a lot of responsibility to place upon a parent. We're trying to find out is that a legitimate expense or not a legitimate expense." Stacy Simbro, a member of the Newton City Council, raised the issues surrounding Senate File 360, the bill that would fine healthcare workers for administering genetic-based vaccines, including COVID-19 vaccines. Dunwell, Kniff McCulla and Rozenboom were very quick to point out that bill had died. "That's gone," Rozenboom said. "That's going nowhere. That was one of those bills that, frankly, should never have been filed, in my opinion. It had come out of subcommittee. It never got a hearing in full committee ... And I had a talk with the person that filed it. I won't tell you what that conversation was." Dunwell added the House killed it. Simbro was happy to hear the bill had died and hoped it would never come up again. In a followup with Newton News, Dunwell said everything is a greater vetting process. Ideas can develop with a subcommittee of around three or so people then move on to a larger committee of 20 or more. Even if a bill makes it through committee, Dunwell said there may be additional work that can be done. Lawmakers may also meet in caucuses to discuss topics and concerns. Dunwell said these meetings, too, are an extension of the review process. "Everything goes through multiple vetting processes, and what happens is some make their way through and some don't, some get adapted and changed," he said. "The final position that even a legislator has on a bill, even ones you author, isn't until you actually vote on the House floor."
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Senate Republicans want to ban ranked-choice voting. It's not used in any Iowa elections
Senate Republicans are seeking to ban ranked-choice voting in Iowa, although no federal, state or local elections currently use the voting method. Senators voted 34-13 along party lines on Wednesday to pass Senate File 459, sending it to the Iowa House for consideration. The legislation says any statewide or local government could not conduct elections using ranked-choice voting, sometimes known as instant runoff voting, which involves ranking each candidate in order of preference and reallocating votes to a voter's second choice if their first choice fails to win a majority. "In my view, ranked-choice voting makes it harder to vote," said Sen. Ken Rozenboom, R-Pella. "It makes the votes harder to count and it's much harder to ensure a transparent and accountable democratic process. And in 2025 with the heightened expectations and concerns about the voting process, I think this is an excellent proposal." Rozenboom said the Iowa Secretary of State's Office, which sponsored the bill, says Iowa's current tabulators are not equipped to tally votes cast using a ranked-choice method. Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott, D-West Des Moines, said Iowa's current winner-take-all election system "breeds division and only fuels partisanship and political attacks." She tried unsuccessfully to amend the bill to allow ranked-choice voting in local elections. "Ranked-choice voting gives the people what they want: more choices," she said. "It is possible to have multiple candidates, and no one is a spoiler. Instead, we see increased voter participation and much higher voter satisfaction because all candidates are considered and all the votes count. The winner who comes out on top actually represents the will of the people." Some states, including Alaska and Maine, use ranked-choice voting for all their state and federal elections. Several other states allow the city and county governments to use the voting method in local elections. Eleven states, all led by Republicans, already ban ranked-choice voting, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. State Auditor Rob Sand, a Democrat, has called for Iowa to implement ranked-choice voting, saying it would help lessen divisiveness and partisanship in politics. "I'm sick of having two choices, and I think most other people are too," Sand said last year on an episode of "Iowa Press" on Iowa PBS. "I'm sick of the meanness, the anger, the exaggeration of people's political positions, the denigration of people." Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@ or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on X at @sgrubermiller. This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa Senate Republicans move to ban ranked-choice voting in elections
