With lots of attention given to a few bills during the Iowa Legislative Session, one lawmaker that represents most of the Raccoon Valley Radio coverage area highlights the progress of a few other bills.

District 24 Senator Jesse Green says a bill that he has been working on for the past two years is Senate File 513. He tells Raccoon Valley Radio the bill would strike out language in the current law that requires judges to force parents and kids to pay for college tuition in divorce situations.

“And it’s something that is personal to me. One of my neighbors told me about her experience with how she was harassed by the provision in the code. This provision was put in, in the early 1970s when divorce rates were low and (college) tuition was low. And now obviously, divorce rates are high and college tuition is high. I don’t believe this is a healthy environment for us to be talking about college tuition and forcing this on conversations that are really hard to navigate to begin with.”   

Green notes that the bill received overwhelming bipartisan support as it passed the full Senate and is now in the House for consideration.

Green describes another bill that has passed the Senate Education Committee and a companion bill also passed the House Education Committee about high school students and individuals wanting to get a General Education Development (GED) degree would be required to pass the same civics test that immigrants are required to pass to become US citizens. 

Finally, Green has also been working on the vaccine notification and exemption standards bill. He says this bill would require public schools and daycare facilities to share the Iowa law of the vaccines that are required along with reasons for exemption with parents and families whenever vaccines are brought up. Green adds that the bill has passed the House and the Senate Education Committee and is eligible for a full Senate vote.