Wednesday was a difficult day for The American Independent News Network, which is the larger entity that operates The Iowa Independent. Our chief executive and founder announced two of our sister sites would close and their content would be moved to The American Independent.
A recently introduced bill could have far-reaching impact on the U.S. sugar industry, including American Crystal Sugar, a farmer-owned cooperative that locked out 1,300 Midwest workers on Aug. 1.
The chairman for Herman Cain’s Iowa effort says the campaign “relied more on the word of farmers than Washington regulators” in deciding to run an ad containing claims the Environmental Protection Agency says are false.
The Iowa Senate will remain under the control of a slim 26-25 Democratic majority when it reconvenes in January 2012.
Liberal blog Bleeding Heartland took exception to unanimous Republican opposition last week to a bill in the Iowa Senate promoting workplace accommodations for employees who express breast milk.
The bill, Senate File 2270, is similar to laws passed in 24 states, Washington, D.C., and Peurto Rico. Republican opposition was apparently based on the notion that the bill would be bad for business and is an unfair mandate.
From Bleeding Heartland:
The bill requires employers to make “reasonable efforts” to accommodate employees and defines “reasonable efforts” as “any effort that would not impose an undue hardship on the operation of the employer’s business.” The bill also defines “undue hardship” as “any action that requires significant difficulty or expense when considered in relation to factors such as the size of the business, the financial resources of the business, or the nature and the structure of its operation.”
Even after listening to the Senate debate, I didn’t understand why almost the whole Republican caucus would vote against this bill. [GOP state Sen. Nancy] Boettger cited no data to support her ill-informed assumption that this bill would be bad for businesses. She hasn’t studied this problem and wrongly assumes it affects just a handful of people. Her claim about “unfunded mandates” wasn’t even accurate.
Lobbyist declarations for the bill found the only registered opposition came from the Association of Business and Industry.
I don’t know whether most of the Iowa Senate Republicans took their marching orders from ABI, or whether both the senators and ABI simply had a knee-jerk reaction against this bill because Democrats and labor unions were supporting it.
The bottom line is, when they had a chance to do something for the health and well-being of working families, almost all the Iowa Senate Republicans said no. Empty “pro-business” talking points trumped the real-world interests of Iowa families.
The bill passed 29-15.
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