Capitol Notebook: Iowa Senate advances legislation allowing chaplains in public schools

Republican lawmakers on the Iowa Senate Education Committee advanced legislation that would allow public school districts, charter schools and innovation zone schools to employ chaplains or engage volunteer chaplains.

Under the bill, school chaplains would not be required to have a license, endorsement, certification, authorization or statement of recognition issued by the board of educational examiners. However, chaplains would be required to pass a background check.

House File 334 does not define “chaplain,” but they are professionals trained to address the “spiritual, emotional and relational needs of school communities,” according to the National School Chaplain Association.

Critics of the legislation argue that the bill aims to replace trained and licensed school counselors and social workers with chaplains.

“This legislation gives untrained, unvetted, unsupervised individuals a title, it gives them authority and it gives them access to our children,” Democratic Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott, of West Des Moines, said. “It is really troubling to me that at bare minimum, we're only asking them to do the mandatory reporter training and not all of the important work that a real Chaplain does in order to work with vulnerable populations in vulnerable circumstances.”

Supporters say chaplains would complement, not replace, counselors and are equipped to provide trauma care and crisis counseling for students in need of support.

“This is actually strengthening extremely what already exists and does not make chaplaincy mandatory in any school,” Republican Sen. Mike Pike, of Des Moines, said.

Under the legislation, schools would not be allowed to require or coerce a student to use the chaplain.

Bill rescheduling psilocybin alongside federal changes advances

A bill allowing synthetic psilocybin prescriptions in Iowa if the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves the substance was unanimously advanced out of the Iowa Senate Health and Human Services Committee Thursday.

House File 383 would reschedule the drug, which is currently listed as a Schedule I substance, based upon the recommendations of the FDA.

Another bill moving through the Iowa House would legalize the use of psilocybin to treat PTSD.

Bill on University of Iowa medical residency demographics advances

Iowa Senate lawmakers unanimously advanced legislation out of committee that would require 80 percent of students accepted to residency programs through the University of Iowa’s schools of medicine and dentistry to be Iowa residents or those who have attended college in Iowa.

Backers of the legislation argue it will help address Iowa’s physician shortage by ensuring more medical students and residents stay in the state after graduation.

“We want to make sure that our universities are turning out doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists, nurses that (stay in) state and practice in rural Iowa,” Republican Sen. Mike Klimesh, of Spillville, said.

Iowa ranked 44th in the nation for patient-to-physician ratio per 100,000 population in 2024, according to the Iowa Medical Society.

While Democratic Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott, of West Des Moines, said she supports the legislation, she questioned whether it is the best approach to addressing the state’s health care workforce shortage.

“I'm not sure if this bill is really helping us with what we truly need, which is more residencies and more money and more support for medical students so we can just have more, not restrict who is in the current slots,” Trone Garriott said.

AG Bird warns Iowans to delete 23andMe data following bankruptcy

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird is warning Iowans to delete any data from genetic testing company 23andMe following its bankruptcy announcement in March.

23andMe, a company where individuals can send in DNA samples to track their ancestries, said it will sell “substantially all of its assets.” This may include genetic data that could be sold to a third party without their consent, according to Bird.

“As 23andMe goes bankrupt, Iowans should know how to keep their DNA off the market,” Bird said in a new release. “Iowans have the ability to download and delete their data, destroy their test samples, and revoke permission for their data to be used for research. The power is in Iowans’ hands to keep their unique and valuable genetic information safe.”

Bird’s office is directing Iowans to file requests on the 23andMe website to delete their account, download 23andMe data before deletion, destroy test samples and revoke permission for their genetic data to be used for research.

More information on data deletion is available on the Iowa Attorney General’s website.

Iowa DOT warns of unpaid toll phishing scam

The Iowa Department of Transportation is warning Iowans of a phishing scam involving text messages saying they have an unpaid toll or registration fee that appear to be coming from the department.

The texts include a link prompting individuals to provide financial information to pay fees that will lead them to what looks like the Iowa DOT’s website.

Phishing is a type of scam where scammers attempt to trick individuals into providing personal and financial information or installing malware by posing as a reputable company or source.

The Iowa DOT does not have any toll roads, nor does it send out fee collections via text. Recipients of the phishing texts should not click on the links, provide personal or financial details.

Find more information on identifying and reporting these phishing texts on the DOT’s website.

Gazette-Lee Des Moines Bureau