Governor Terry Branstad says he is “pleased” to see an overhaul of the state’s workers compensation system advancing through the legislature. Branstad says the system is out of whack due to new regulations and recent court rulings.”What they’ve done is taken the original concept of workers comp with is instead of fight over who’s at fault, compensate the worker and try to help them so they can get back to work as quickly as possible to making it kind of, some cases, almost kind of a long-term disability thing.”

Republicans on committees in both the Iowa House and Senate approved the overhaul Thursday afternoon. Democrats on the committees voted against it. Democratic Senator Nate Boulton, a lawyer from Des Moines who has represented injured workers said  “To my fellow senators around this table, pause and think about what message we are sending to our workforce today.”

Boulton says the bill is an “unforgiveable” attack on Iowa workers in both private sector and and government jobs. “If we pass this in its current form, we are going to be truly dismantling a system that is designed to protect Iowa workers who suffer disabling injuries at their workplace,” Boulton says.

The bill would take steps to reduce potential compensation for repetitive motion injuries as well as injuries tied to pre-existing conditions. It also would cut off workers comp checks when an employee reaches the age of 67. Iowa business groups say the system has gotten out of balance and the bill will help address “significant” premium hikes. Representative Peter Cownie, a Republican from West Des Moines, says those concerns need to be addressed.

“If someone gets injured at work, they deserve to be compensated and this bill allows that to happen absolutely,” Cownie says. “But the fact of the matter is there has been abuse in the system. It cannot be denied.” A hearing will be held at 6 p.m. Monday at the statehouse to give the public a chance to comment.

(Radio Iowa)

A bill now eligible for debate in the Iowa Senate would bar Iowa cities and counties as well as public schools and colleges from having “any policy that discourages enforcement of federal immigration law.” The Des Moines School Board recently adopted a policy that requires immigration officials to first contact the superintendent if they want to speak to someone on school grounds.

Immigrants and their advocates crowded into a statehouse hearing on the bill yesterday, watching as Republican Senator Julian Garrrett of Indianola questioned Des Moines School Board member Rob Barron. “Do you recognize that the federal government has jurisdiction in this area over immigration law?” Garrett asked. Barron responded: “There’s not a single person in this room that believes that the federal immigration policy is right. What law enforcement asks for is not always appropriate or right or legal.”

The bill also would make officials in Iowa cities and counties liable if they fail to detain someone federal officials suspect is in the country illegally — and that person commits a felony within the next decade.

A bill that cleared a committee in the Iowa HOUSE about a month ago would deny state funds to any city, county, community college or public university with policies that seek to “restrict or limit” enforcement of federal immigration laws.

(Radio Iowa)

The lead sponsor of legislation that would have reinstated the death penalty in Iowa says scheduling conflicts have doomed the bill and it will not be considered again THIS year. Republican Jerry Behn of Boone has been trying to reinstate capital punishment in Iowa since he was first elected to the senate in 1996. “I’m hoping we can get it taken back up next year,” Behn says.

Behn’s bill ONLY would have allowed a death sentence when someone was convicted of kidnapping, rape and then the murder of the victim. “This is an effort to appease some of those who thought, basically, that the death penalty was inappropriate at any time,” Behn said. “After some of the horrific murders that have occurred, I said maybe we can get a consensus to get something back on the books again.”

Behn says he’s especially troubled by the life sentence given to the man convicted of the brutal 2005 death of a 10-year-old Cedar Rapids girl who was kidnapped, raped and murdered. Jetseta Gage’s mother had planned to travel to Des Moines Thursday afternoon to testify for Behn’s bill. However, the senate schedule was chaotic Thursday, as senators rushed to find meeting rooms and take committee votes on dozens of bills. The room in which debate on the death penalty bill was to occur was double-booked. Connie Ryan of the Interfaith Alliance of Iowa was in the hallway outside that room.

“We had a line-up of people of faith and civil rights advocates and other folks who were prepared to speak and say that Iowa should not ever be a death penalty state,” Ryan says. With D-N-A evidence exonerating some death row inmates and officials in other states struggling to find the right drugs to administer lethal injections, Ryan says it would have been “surprising” to see Iowa reinstate capital punishment.

“States were not getting it right…We know as a nation we’re having these conversation and really questioning whether states across the nation should be doing this,” Ryan says. “…It was disappointing to see the bill, but we’re very grateful that the conversation has stopped for the moment, at least.”

Four other Republicans serving in the senate co-sponsored the bill with Behn. He believes that’s the most support he’s seen for reinstating the death penalty in the past two decades. “I would truly like to believe we’d never have to use it. To say that I am a proponent…that’s not really accurate. I would just as soon nobody ever had to use it,” Behn says. “I just think it needs to be a toolbox that’s available.”

Iowa outlawed capital punishment in 1965. Three decades later, in 1995, the Iowa Senate overwhelmingly rejected a bill that would have reinstated the death penalty. Only 11 of the 50 senators voted for it.

(Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:50 a.m. CST

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A Senate committee in the Iowa Legislature has approved a bill that would ban most abortions in the state after 20 weeks of pregnancy. The Senate Human Resources Committee voted 9-3 in support of the measure. It’s now available for debate on the Senate floor. The legislation advanced beyond a legislative procedural deadline this week that stopped a separate personhood bill from moving forward.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa lawmaker says he didn’t mean to mislead anyone by approving a state government website posting claiming he has a business degree from an organization that actually offered a training program for a Sizzler restaurant franchise. Sen. Mark Chelgren’s biography on an Iowa Senate Republican website had noted he had a business management degree from Forbco Management school. The information was removed Wednesday after reports Forbco Management is a company that operated a Sizzler franchise.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — A judge has ordered a 15-year prison term for a Rwandan man who lied to gain entry into the U.S. after helping carry out deadly attacks during his country’s 1994 genocide. U.S. District Judge Linda Reade says that Gervais Ngombwa was “an active participant, indeed a leader” of the genocide, in which more than 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate says the Libertarian Party has obtained official political party status in Iowa. Pate says the status began effective Wednesday after state election officials determined that the party’s presidential nominee, Gary Johnson, received 59,186 votes _ or 3.8 percent of the vote in the November general election. That surpassed the 2 percent threshold required by Iowa law to obtain official political party status.