Representative Dan Huseman

This is most likely the last week of the current legislative session. The state budget has passed, and awaits the Governor’s approval or veto. This is also the time of year when a few major policy bills are finalized. That has been the case this week. On Monday the House passed Senate File 489, which…

Voter ID Voter ID laws differ from state to state, and are classified into two groups: strict and non-strict. Iowa’s current Voter ID laws are considered non-strict — meaning that some voters without acceptable identification have an option to cast a ballot that will be counted without further action on the part of the voter.…

We are nearing the end of the session, so most of the “big” issues have been decided. However, there are still bills out there that are moving back and forth between the House and Senate. For example, if the House passes a bill and sends it to the Senate, they can reject it, change it,…

This is the final funnel week, so many pieces of legislation will die for this session. We will know by Monday what survived and what fell by the wayside. Most of the week was devoted to committee work, but we did debate a few bills on the floor, and eagerly awaited the Governor’s new budget…

Next week is a funnel week, so committees in the House were busy considering Senate bills this week. There was also some floor debate, as House files moved over to the Senate, but most of the bills were non-controversial. Next week’s activity will determine the fate of many bills. That is okay, because it is…

“March Madness” is upon us and as usual, there is a lot of chatter throughout the Capitol revolving around basketball. With the completion of the Iowa high school tournaments, attention now turns toward the college teams, both men and women, as they battle for national championships. Making it to the “Final Four” is a great…

Since this was the week after the first funnel, most of our time was spent on the House floor debating and passing bills. These bills will now go to the Senate for consideration. House bills must now pass out of a Senate committee before the next funnel in order to stay alive. Some will not…

This is the end of the eighth week of this session and it was our first funnel week. I have mentioned before that a funnel means in order to stay alive, a bill must pass from a standing committee. As you can imagine, there was a lot of activity at the Capitol as sub-committees and…

With a major winter storm bearing down on Iowa, lawmakers are anxious to finish up for the week and head home. For some, it is tempting to skip their final meetings of the week, and hit the road. This is understandable because of family and business concerns, but we are hired by the people to…

The weather seems to have moderated across Iowa, and I don’t hear anyone complaining. The warm temperatures and lack of snow are most welcome as there will be a lot of people travelling during the next few weeks. For example, the state wrestling tournament takes place in Des Moines this week, and the basketballers are…