By Senator Kevin Alons (R), Iowa’s 7th District
(SBA) - Hello from the Iowa Senate, at the end of week 9 of the 2024 legislative session. The upcoming funnel is a week away and there are lots of bills that face this looming deadline and seem unlikely to advance any further.
One bill that is in jeopardy of advancing is SF2321, a bill I sponsored this year that extends a general data privacy bill passed last year. My bill would protect an individual’s non-HIPAA health data from being collected, sold, transferred or used for business decisions without the acknowledgement and consent of the individual (or guardian for minors up to age 18). Given the huge amount of data being collected by online vendors and online devices, it is so important that we know what is being collected, have a say in what it is used for, and ensure prior consent is obtained.
We continue to watch the federal government fail to act on the border, actively and aggressively hindering states from protecting their own borders, and attempting to leverage a created crisis as justification for a “border bill” that fails to address the root issues. Every state continues to reel under the unsustainable influx of illegal aliens, and one place this is painfully evident is our education system.
This week I had a conversation with a 1st grade teacher in Iowa, who described a classroom where over half of the students do not speak English, with at least 5 different languages other than English as primary. No classroom is equipped to deal with that level of disruption, we simply cannot ignore the overwhelming and destructive nature of this invasion any longer.
This week the Iowa Senate passed two bills intended to somewhat address the underlying reasons so many people are flooding across our porous borders:
1) SF108 - a bill that requires e-Verify to be used to ensure new workers are eligible in the state – this system is maintained (and required!) by the federal government
2) SF2340 - a bill that empowers our law enforcement to enforce immigration status for illegal aliens who have been previously deported, denied admission, or are guilty of previous, serious convictions
Neither of these bills can fix the absolute dysfunction on our national borders, but they are concrete actions we can take to reduce the incentive to break the law to come to the US and our state, encourage following a lawful entry process into the country and our society, and give our law enforcement the authority to apprehend truly dangerous illegal aliens.
Quite a few bills have been passed through the House and are eligible for committee assignment and passage in the Senate. A couple bills I hope will advance include:
1) HF2255 - Social media apps to be required to obtain parental consent before a minor creates an account.
2) HF2545 – review/update high school graduation requirements, core curriculum review, implement a periodic review/update process with broad stakeholder input to refocus education in Iowa on English language arts, mathematics, science, and United States history, western civilization, and civics.
Please join 4th district Congressional candidate Kevin Virgil and myself as we discuss the 10th Amendment of the US Constitution and state sovereignty – Sunday, March 10 at 4 PM at https://facebook.com/theiowastandard
