WEEK 10 March 19, 2015 House Passes Binding Arbitration Changes for School Districts and AEAs This week, the House of Representatives dealt with the Public Employees bargaining process,better known as Chapter 20. This bill passed in the early 1970's and has had almost no changes made to it since then. This law was designed to let public employees form a union to bargain with public employers such as School Boards, Cities, Counties, or the State of Iowa. Under current law the arbitrator must choose either the worker's final offer or the management's final offer. Common sense tells us that there may be a more appropriate solution that is somewhere in-between. Let's say that the workers want a 5% raise and management final offer is a 2% raise. Under current law the arbitrator must choose either 5% or 2%. Under the change the arbitrator may choose either of those offers or a figure that is between the 2% and 5%. HF549 will also allow the arbitrator to be able to compare public sector wages with private sector wages and conditions of employment when possible. Iowa has the largest percent gap between the public sector and the private sector wages of all 50 states in our nation. The last part of this bill prohibits the arbitrator from just saying that a school district has the ability to raise taxes to pay for the decision of the arbitrator. All governments can raise taxes but is this in the best interest of all the citizens of Iowa? Chapter 20 has done some good things to prevent employer abuse on employees and now is the time to bring some common sense solutions to our citizens. After several hours of debate over two days, the bill passed 56-41. House File 549 now heads to the Iowa Senate where it faces an uncertain future. House Addresses Mental Health Issues In the last two weeks, the Iowa House has passed multiple bills that address mental health concerns. These bills are a result of an ongoing need to improve Iowa’s mental health system as a part of mental health redesign. The House passed the following bills:
Senate File 440 - The bill allows the mental health regions to contract with hospitals in bordering states to secure substance abuse or mental health treatment for people. The goal of this legislation is to allow people that need treatment to get services closer to their home and family members. The bill passed the House with a vote of 96-0. The bill will now go to the Governor’s office for his signature. House File 510 - Currently, when a person in a hospital is waiting for a mental health bed to open somewhere across the state, their transportation to that bed is uncertain. This bill will allow regions to contract with private entities to transport people with a mental illness or substance disorder. This will provide for the safe and secure transport of the person in crisis to another location. This bill passed the House with a vote of 95-1. House File 449 - For years, Iowa hospitals have been struggling to determine where beds are located for mental health patients that come to their emergency rooms in crisis. Patients in crisis have to wait hours in emergency rooms before a bed is found. Once a bed is found, there is no guarantee the bed will remain open until the person arrives at the placement. This bill requires DHS to set up a bed tracking system. After the new system is set up, providers will be able to contact a central access point that will tell them where the nearest bed is located. The bed will now be held for the person until they arrive. This bill passed the House with a vote of 96-0. This week, Suzanne Conrad, Rick Ramsey, and Sarah Fewell, from Iowa Donor Network, visited Rep. Vicki Lensing and myself at the Capitol
As we prepare for another week of session, the House will focus on budget subcommittee meetings and continue debating bills sent over from the Senate. If you have any questions, please contact me at
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