KHOI's Capitol Week

Laura Belin and Spencer Dirks focused this week on the wide-ranging new Iowa law targeting transgender and nonbinary people. They discussed the key provisions, including some that have received little attention in other reporting. Laura described the atmosphere at the capitol, the House and Senate debates, last-minute maneuvering to secure House Republican support, the handful of Republicans who opposed removing gender identity protections from the civil rights code, when the law will take effect, and some oddities surrounding the way it was fast-tracked. She previewed the legal arguments each side will raise when the law is challenged in court. Other topics covered: a few bills advancing in the state legislature, the budget blueprint approved by Iowans in the U.S. House, and the official launch of a Republican primary challenger's Congressional campaign.