Non-union Woodbury County employees will receive a 4.25 percent pay increase, a slight increase from the 4 percent given last year.
The Sioux City Journal reports the Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 on Tuesday to approve the 4.25 percent raise for the county’s wage plan for some employees. Keith Radig was opposed.
Radig said he would have preferred a 3.5 increase or less. He said many of the items that have been heavily impacted by inflation are currently dropping in price.
There are around 40 employees covered under the wage plan, spanning many of the county’s departments. This year, the board has been able to achieve a flat tax rate with some leeway, giving more room for potential increases than in prior years. A 3 percent wage plan increase was built into the budget.
Republicans in the Iowa House are looking to make a change to the school choice law. The Students First Act requires students who receive Education Savings Accounts to take all testing required by state and federal law.
A House subcommittee (HSB 138) approved a bill today that would require those students to take the Iowa Statewide Assessment of Student Progress, which is a test given once a year to meet federal guidelines.
But parents would have to ask for other state tests such as early literacy screenings.
Private school advocates say they already have systems in place tracking student progress, while opponents of the bill say it would remove an element of transparency from the ESA program.
The chairman of a key Senate committee is working on a bill inspired by the case of an Iowa teenager convicted of murdering a man she says raped her repeatedly, according to the Des Moines Register.
The judge who handled the Pieper Lewis case did not sentence her to prison and gave her a deferred judgement, but by law he was required to order her to pay $150,000 to the family of the man she killed. Brad Zaun of Urbandale, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said requiring a rape victim to pay the family of her rapist seems like an injustice.
Zaun has introduced a bill that would give judges the ability to consider the actions of the victim of a crime when deciding whether the victim’s family is owed restitution.
House lawmakers have referred a paid family leave program proposed by South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem to the House Committee on Appropriations, signaling the legislation has passed its first legislative hurdle.
The Argus Leader reports that the bill would provide 100% paid leave for state employees after the birth or adoption of a child, when the employee's spouse is on military active duty, or when the employee is called to be a caregiver for a sick family member for 12 weeks. The policy would be covered under insurance. Private employers would also have the chance to opt into the insurance policy.
With no opponents to argue against the proposed legislation, proponents from the business and insurance communities, health care professionals, women's rights groups and the Governor's Office spoke to the benefit that paid family leave provides. That included attracting young workers and ensuring those who love their job don't have to quit to take care of a loved one.
