~by State Senator Jesse Green (R), District 24
Greetings from the Golden Dome. The Senate is moving many bills as we are nearing the end of session. I’ll touch base on a few of them.
SF 315 is the “Raw Milk” bill. My good friend Senator Schultz has been working on this bill for many years now and finally got a win on this issue. It surprises many that Iowa is one of just a handful of states that does not allow the sale of raw milk. There is demand for this product within our state and I believe consumers should have the freedom to purchase this product. This bill states that raw milk sales must be limited to 10 milk-producing dairy animals which could be cows, goats, or sheep. Some common sense safety guidelines are clarified as well. This passed the House and will go to the governor’s desk.
SF 358 passed both chambers and has caught the eye of outdoorsmen. This bill allows people to shoot or trap a coyote, raccoon, possum, skunk, or groundhog if the taking is for nuisance control purposes. The fur market has been terrible during the past few years, consequently, the population numbers have gone up with these animals and they can cause terrible damage to vehicles and property. This bill should help keep these numbers in check.
SF 542 is the Senate’s youth employment bill. This bill allows more opportunities for high school students to earn more money. Some changes that would be made by this bill are that during the school year, 14-15 year old students can work till 9 pm instead of 7 pm. During the summer they can work till 11 pm instead of 9 pm. This bill also increases the hours they can work on a school day from 4 to 6 hours. For 16-17 year old students, federal law has no restrictions on the hours they can work so our law now matches up with this as well. This bill does not prevent a person under 14 from working in a family business.
One of the issues the Left tried to twist in debate was the issue of allowing 16-17 year old workers the ability to serve alcohol in a restaurant. The truth of this bill is that this age group is not allowed to mix drinks which by definition is bar-tending, just serve. The Left had fun twisting this bill and some of the words for use in the media to try to fearmonger and poke holes in this bill. I strongly supported this bill because there is dignity in work and we should allow students the ability to earn more money if they desire. The House will now consider this bill and hopefully vote on it soon.
Lastly, I wanted to touch on SF 494 (that was highly criticized by the Left recently) which makes changes to our SNAP/food assistance program that was passed and already sent to the Governor.
Just a few years ago Iowa was actually fined by the USDA due to our high error rate from people that were receiving food assistance that shouldn’t have been. The Senate has been working ever since this problem was brought to our attention. It has been our goal to provide solutions that would result in a more efficient process of verifying an applicant’s identity and their assets.
The legislation we passed will benefit those applying because their applications will be reviewed more efficiently, as well as providing safeguards to taxpayers’ money. The main thing to remember with the bill is that anyone who earns 160 percent of federal poverty level (FPL) or less, and has $15,000 or less in liquid assets, may qualify for the program. This income threshold of 160 percent FPL is more generous than the federal guideline of 130 percent FPL. I’m proud of these changes we made to this program so it is sustainable in the future for those who truly need it.
As always, thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve you.
