SIOUX CITY – People attending a Legislative forum on Saturday told Iowa state lawmakers they oppose lessening access to library materials and also fear a higher tax on HMO health medical plans will soon result in higher premiums being passed onto Iowans.
Republicans state Rep. Travis Sitzmann, of Kingley, and Republican state Sen. Kevin Alons, of Salix, said there should be added restrictions on access to library materials by young people.
“The content that our society is consuming today is increasingly corrosive,” Alons said.
Rural Woodbury County resident Jo AnnSadler said the bill does not define what constitutes age appropriateness.
Democratic state Sen. Catelin Drey, of Sioux City, said Republicans are not consistent on local control, depending upon issues. The library access bill, Drey said, “is meant to be chilling for free speech.”
Democratic state Rep. J.D. Scholten, of Sioux City, said, “We should let librarians do their job…We don’t need to oversee everything.”
Earlier this week, Governor Kim Reynolds signed a bill that raises the tax on HMO health insurance plans going for nine months, backdated to January and going through September.
The tax paid by some insurance companies is going from less than 1 percent to 3.5 percent through September.
Alons said Iowa is facing growing Medicaid budget deficits, and the HMO plans tax enables the state to collect $26 million over the nine months.
Democrats Drey and Scholten opposed the tax increase, saying it will cause Iowans’ health insurance premiums to increase when people are already struggling to afford health care. Alons said the companies may not necessarily pass the cost on to Iowans.
Also concerning health, Sioux City resident Mary Kovarna, told legislators she opposes bills that seek to eliminate vaccine requirements in public health. Kovarna said the current schedule of vaccines were the product of decades of research, and have benefited the greater public.
Republican state Rep.Jacob Bossman, of Sioux City, said the Iowa Legislature is widely drawn from people with differing opinions, so some “vaccine skeptics” will introduce bills.
Alons said the COVID-19 vaccine “went through very limited testing.”
Other questions and topics posed to lawmakers included fossil fuel impacts on the environment and the Educational Savings Accounts money that for a third year can be used by families who send their children to private K-12 schools.
The sole time that applause broke out in the forum came when Mike Whitlock, of Sioux City, asserted that the ESA’s undermine public education. Scholten said the private school vouchers law was the worst in many years.
The lawmakers noted that the second legislation-funneling week just passed. The big issues that remain by the scheduled end of the session by April 22 involve property taxes and whether eminent domain powers to access private property for renewable energy pipelines will or will not be restricted.
The Saturday forum was the last of the three held from January through March by the League of Women Voters-Sioux City.
