(Radio Iowa) – Republicans in the Iowa Senate have sent the governor a bill to ban transgender athletes from participating in girls sports in Iowa’s public and private K-through-12 schools. The ban also applies to women’s sports in all colleges and universities in Iowa, limiting participation to athletes who have female marked on their birth certificates. Senator Jesse Green, a Republican from Boone, says the bill is historic.

“We send a message to the nation that Iowans will not put common sense aside for wokeness,” Green said. “In the midst of an ongoing culture war, Iowans are taking bold steps to preserve the integrity and purity of athletic competition for generations to come.” All 17 “no” votes came from Democrats. Senate Democratic Leader Zach Wahls says the bill violates the Iowa value of inclusion.

“Iowa politicians have decided to pour gasoline on the culture war fires and embrace the worst form of identity politics, pitting Iowans against each other,” Wahls says. “…Why does this legislature have to police the lives of some of the most marginalized people in our society?” Governor Reynolds, who is expected to sign the bill, has said Iowa girls are in danger of losing out on college scholarships or winning championships if they’re competing against transgender athletes who were born male, but identify as female.

Senator Jeff Taylor, a Republicans from Sioux Center, says transgender ideology poses a danger to women. “This bill is not about hatred or discrimination. It is about keeping ourselves in alignment with reality,” Taylor says. “…It simply says, in regard to a non-coed, team context, that girls should be competing against other girls in K-12 athletics and women should be competing against other women in college athletics.”

Senator Pam Jochum, a Democrat from Dubuque, says the bill will isolate trans youth just like previous policies that forbid participation based on other characteristics, like race. “History is stained with these artificial boundaries that we set up,” Jochum said, “and as time goes on and we start to understand more and more of this, we open up our hearts and our minds and we become a more inclusive society.”

Eleven states have passed similar trans athlete bans and lawsuits challenging those bans have been filed in four of them. Senator Claire Celsi, a Democrat from Des Moines, says in 2020 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the Civil Rights Act protects transgender Americans from discrimination. “I find this current bill not only legally risky, but petty, partisan, hateful and the reasoning shaky,” Celsi said.

Senator Jim Carlin of Sioux City says he and other Republicans are standing up for girls and women. “We’re just trying to protect time honored boundaries for women and little girls who want the privacy of a restroom and a shower, who want authentic competition in the field of sports,” Carlin said. The bill passed the House on February 21st on a 55 to 39 vote.

(Radio Iowa) – “Cashless” wagering would be allowed at Iowa casinos under legislation that’s cleared the Iowa House. Representative Shannon Lundgren, a Republican from Peosta, says many people now have digital wallets on their smartphones and do not carry cash.  “The cashless e-wagering system allows you to set a time limit and an amount,” Lundgren says. “Once that amount is gone, you have to wait until your time limit is up in order to reload it.”

Representative Chris Hall, a Democrat, says he’s supported Iowa’s gambling industry in the past — including the casino in his hometown of Sioux City — but cashless wagering may be a step too far after the explosion of sports betting. “I now am kind of struck by turning on SportsCenter on the weekend or turning on ESPN and being surprised at the fact that more and more time is devoted to a ticker at the bottom of the screen that is placing odds on the games or a segment of SportsCenter that is solely devoted to what the betting lines are,” Hall says, “so it’s actually becoming a little bit more about gambling coverage than it is about the athletics and the sports themselves.”

It’s been legal in Iowa to place bets on sporting events like football and basketball games since August of 2019. The bill approved by the House would make betting on “electronic sports” legal, too. E-sports competitions feature people playing a video game. There are now professional and college e-sports leagues. Representative Sandy Salmon, a Republican from Janesville, says the bill represents another expansion of gambling in Iowa.

“This makes the availability and access to gambling so much easier, thus increasing its danger and addictive power,” Salmon says. “…People tend to think that when something is legal that it is o.k. and safe and even helpful and even that it can’t hurt you — and that’s a lie.” The bill also would make it legal to bet on charity events featuring professional athletes — like golf tournaments and the N-B-A All-Star game.

Betting on player-of-the-year awards and the drafts held by professional leagues — like next month’s N-F-L draft — would be allowed as well. The bill passed a 71-to-28 vote and goes to the Senate for consideration.