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Poker, child care, trout fishing: New freedoms for Iowans in 2021
Some bills you may have overlooked in the aftermath of the Iowa legislative session
The Iowa Legislature is out and freedom is on its way in.
Legislative leaders used that “freedom” word a lot this year. I wrote several times during the session about how I was disappointed in their peculiar vision of freedom. They introduced a bunch of junk this year that is totally hostile to freedom, and some of it was passed into law. But credit where it’s due, they passed some legitimately pro-freedom bills, too.
Big ones that earned a lot of attention include easier access to handguns, relief from local COVID-19 restrictions, more charter schools, stronger First Amendment protections on school campuses and income, property and inheritance tax cuts.
Iowans already are or soon will enjoy some other freedoms that you might have overlooked in the aftermath of the 2021 legislative session.
- Social gambling — House File 311 allows qualified charitable organizations to host game nights, including casino-style games, once per month rather than once per year. It also allows veterans organizations to hold card tournaments once per week rather than twice per month, setting up the possibility of more frequent legal poker games at American Legions and VFWs.
- Women’s health — Senate File 529 forbids health care providers from requiring women to get consent from their spouse before getting a hysterectomy. While spousal consent was not required under Iowa law, some providers have a policy of asking, which is an extreme violation of their bodily autonomy.
- Child care — House File 260 changes regulations for in-home day care providers, which don’t have the same burdensome regulations as licensed child care centers. The limit on children is increased from five to six if at least one of the children is school-aged, which could provide some minor relief to Iowa’s child care shortage.
- Driver’s education — Senate File 546 allows parents to teach driver’s education to their own children. They will have to follow the same curriculum as traditional instructors. Anyone who likes their expensive private driver’s ed program can keep it.
- Amusement rides — House File 558 reduces the minimum age of amusement ride attendants to 16. It lets amusement parks expand their pool of eligible workers, which legislators representing the parks say is especially important under Iowa’s workforce shortage.
- Vaccines — Senate File 296 adds COVID-19 vaccinations to the list of services pharmacists can administer. That bolsters vaccine access, especially in underserved rural communities. It’s another example of the government cutting unnecessary red tape to address the pandemic.
- Alcohol — House File 768 allows Iowa distilleries, breweries and wineries to get a second liquor license, enabling them to open another location to sell their products. House File 766 allows third-party services such as Uber and Grubhub to deliver alcohol. And House File 384 allows alcohol sales to start at 6 a.m. on Sundays instead of 8 a.m.
- Trout fishing — House File 234 establishes a lifetime trout fishing license to people 65 and older. At long last, older Iowans will be free from the tyranny of trout licensing.
Some of them might seem like petty freedoms, but what is the government if not an amalgamation of petty restrictions?
adam.sullivan@thegazette.com; (319) 339-3156
The Iowa state flag. (Rebecca F. Miller/The Gazette)
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