Iowa Senate Majority Leader Jack Whitver

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Republicans have a super majority in the Iowa Senate. We'll talk about their 2024 priorities and plans for key legislation with Senate Majority Leader Jack Whitver on this edition of Iowa Press.

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For decades, Iowa Press has brought you political leaders and newsmakers from across Iowa and beyond. Celebrating 50 years of broadcast excellence on statewide Iowa PBS, this is the Friday, February 2nd edition of Iowa Press. Here is Kay Henderson.

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Henderson: Our guest on this edition of Iowa Press was elected leader of Senate republicans in March of 2018. This past November he was re-elected to the Iowa Senate for a fourth term. Senate Majority Leader Jack Whitver, welcome back to Iowa Press.

Whitver: Thank you for having me.

Henderson: Also joining the conversation, Stephen Gruber-Miller of the Des Moines Register and Katarina Sostaric of Iowa Public Radio.

Sostaric: Senator, an amended version of the Governor's plan to overhaul special education got through a Senate subcommittee this week, but a republican Senator took the original version of the bill and threw it in a trash can. Is that indicative of republicans' feelings about this bill and how it was rolled out?

Whitver: Well, in the Senate, we got it through in the subcommittee and so we are continuing to work on it. I think there's a lot of people in our caucus that are excited to make some reforms. There's some that have a lot of questions. And so, I think it really indicates more of just the normal legislative process where the two sides are going to disagree and we're going to have to work with the Governor and find some solution. But I'm optimistic we can do that.

Sostaric: House Speaker Pat Grassley says there needs to be a reset in the conversation about this bill. Do you think you need to start from scratch on trying to improve special education in Iowa?

Whitver: Well, the bill has been largely rewritten in the last couple of weeks and so I don't know about starting from scratch because it is a totally different bill now than it was three weeks ago. But we're going to have to continue the conversation and make the case why these reforms are necessary if it's going to become law.

Gruber-Miller: One of the concerns that some people have about this bill is that the larger sort of urban school districts will be more easily able to sort of opt out from the AEA system because there are other service providers in their areas and that money will make it harder for, losing that money will make it harder for the AEAs to provide services to rural schools. Do you think the bill adequately addresses that?

Whitver: Well, that's what we're looking at. But there's almost $600 million in the AEA system. So, if some of the schools opt out, I think there's still a lot of money in there to make sure that services are being given to students all over the state. But that's certainly one thing that we're hearing from our rural members.

Gruber-Miller: Another part of that bill would raise teacher pay for starting teachers, first-year teachers to $50,000 a year. Is that number something Senate republicans can support?

Whitver: Yeah, we're still talking about that. But I think there is a desire to raise teacher pay at some point, the minimum teacher pay. We did it maybe six, seven, eight years ago and it's probably time to do that again. So, there's interest in raising teacher pay. It's just what the number is, is still to be determined.

Gruber-Miller: So, do you think it will get up to $50,000 or will it be --

Whitver: I don't know, it's hard to say. It's hard to say at this point.

Henderson: What about the timeline that the Governor laid out in this AEA reorganization bill? Is it too aggressive? Schools would have to decide in June what they're going to do for the next school year.

Whitver: Yeah, I understand why she did it because when you only are in legislative session for three to four months a year, when there's timelines that come during the year, we just kind of have to adapt. And if she is setting an April deadline or a May deadline, it's because that is when we're in session, we have to do it quick. And so, I'm not worried about that. It might cause more schools under the current bill to just not opt out at all, just continue services as it is and then maybe next year start looking at what they want to opt out of.

Henderson: This past week, the leaders of the Senate and House committees that draft tax policy came out with a plan that would they say provide a glide path to getting rid of the state income tax. The Governor has a completely different plan that she presented to you last month that would speed up already approved tax cuts for individual taxpayers. What are you going to do?

Whitver: Well, this is really the normal legislative process, right. The last couple of years we got kind of spoiled and you just have agreed to bills from the House, Senate and Governor and we just pass them really quick. That's not the normal process, as you guys know about the building, and so you're just going to have different proposals that we're just going to have to work through them and I'm sure that we'll be taking ideas from the Governor, we'll take ideas from the House and Senate and hopefully have a really good tax bill by the end of the year. I think the great thing though is that we're talking about expediting these tax cuts. Five years ago, when we passed the original tax cuts everyone said, these aren't sustainable, you're on a bobsled to bankruptcy was what the democrats said about it. And the reality is, is now we're in a position to speed them up and start talking about what's next. And so that's where we are right now in the session and we'll continue to work with the Governor and the House to find a really good solution.

Henderson: Last year the Senate Ways and Means Committee did pass a bill that set up a framework for getting to zero by the end of the decade. Do you anticipate that legislators will take a vote this year or just go out and talk with voters about these are our ideas?

Whitver: I think it's still a little early to tell. This is probably an issue that will be settled towards the end of session in the close down. And so, it's a little early to tell. The Governor wants to be a little bit more aggressive right now getting more money back into the pockets of Iowans and I understand that, I think that's a great goal. In the Senate and House bill we talk about how do we get to zero and how long that will take. And so that's just something that we'll have to work with the House and Governor on before we find a solution.

Sostaric: You took action to keep transgender people out of girl sports and also certain school bathrooms and now the Governor is proposing a bill that could keep transgender people from other public facilities that align with their gender identity. Do you think the legislative needs to go further with this issue?

Whitver: Well, that is to be determined. The bill just came out in the last couple of days so we're taking a look at it. But it's something that I know a lot of our people would be interested in. But it's too early right now to predict on what will happen with that.

Sostaric: It seems like a lot of these bills related to transgender Iowans have been based on this idea that some people have that allowing transgender people to participate in public life in a way that aligns with their gender identity is somehow stepping on the rights of people who aren't transgender. This bill from the Governor also would include, would require including people's sex changes on driver’s licenses and birth certificates. How does that line up with the rationale for these other bills related to trans individuals?

Whitver: Well, in some regards the bills address issues where the rights of the transgendered are conflicting with the rights of non-transgendered athletes or athletes, for example. You have girls that are playing girls sports and all of a sudden there is a transgendered girl playing those sports. That is a conflict of rights. So that's kind of what you're dealing with, with this situation. So, we'll see where it goes. But definitely it will be something our people will be interested in.

Gruber-Miller: On the topic of eminent domain, the House has introduced a bill that would allow 20% of Iowa Senators or 20% of Iowa House members to essentially halt ongoing eminent domain proceedings for a particular project. It's a different approach than they have taken last year. Is that something the Senate will take up?

Whitver: I personally don't support that bill. That is giving the power to a super, super, super minority of the chamber. If you can have 11 Senators decide what happens in state policy, I just don't think that's a good proposal. That's not to say that there won't be any conversation on eminent domain or property rights. But I think giving the power to 11 Senators, that's an undemocratic way to go about it.

Gruber-Miller: Another part of that bill would allow landowners or companies who are involved in eminent domain proceedings to get a quicker resolution from the courts about whether eminent domain is proper for that particular piece of land. Do you think that is something that you would support?

Whitver: Anything that can make government more efficient and get a faster result I would be interested in. I haven't read that specific part yet to give a final position.

Henderson: The Governor told me at Radio Iowa that she is open to changes for future projects, but nothing should be retroactive. Is that your approach in the Iowa Senate?

Whitver: Yeah, in the Iowa Senate we have people all over the board on this, which is why you haven't seen any legislation passed at this point. There's people that want to make changes now and they don't want the pipeline period. You have people that don't want eminent domain for the pipeline but they're okay with the pipeline. Then there's people that think this is really important for the future of Iowa. And so, it's really a split caucus, which is why you haven't seen action to this point.

Henderson: One of your members told some radio stations that they're interested in making sure that the land is restored after the pipeline is put in. Is that something that you might do separately?

Whitver: Yeah, I think a bill is filed regarding that and I think that is totally appropriate type of legislation to pass right now. If this pipeline is going to happen we absolutely want the land restored. There's only a finite amount of land in this state and we need to protect it. And so, ideas like that I think would have a good chance.

Henderson: Senator Whitver, you played football at Iowa State University and you did probably not use your smartphone. Did you have a smartphone to place bets?

Whitver: I don't think they even existed at that time.

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Henderson: So, what is your view of the Division of Criminal Investigation investigating the gambling on the part of male athletes at Iowa State and the University of Iowa?

Whitver: Yeah, this is a complicated issue and we're still trying to get facts that come out of it. And I think ultimately, you're going to see most of those facts come out in a court case probably. It sure looks like the athletes are going to sue and a lot of those facts of the case will come out in that lawsuit. And so certainly watching it very intently, especially to see if we need to change anything. But it's a complicated issue because it's not just the state of Iowa. The only punishment from the state of Iowa on any of these athletes was a $500, $600 fine. The other part of it is the NCAA and the punishments that come down from the NCAA for any of these violations.  And so, it is complicated, certainly watching it close to see if we need to do anything.

Henderson: What do you envision doing?

Whitver: Well, I don't know yet. If there's violations as far as the constitutional rights of the members, we may have to do something. I don't know. But, like I said, largely this is going to be sorted out in the courts.

Sostaric: Senator, Senate republicans have declined to have an oversight hearing on nursing home oversight as we've seen in the media just some reports of some awful things happening to some nursing home residents. And Senate democrats wanted to have an oversight hearing. If you're not going to have that sort of hearing, what will you do to improve oversight at nursing homes in Iowa?

Whitver: Oh, we're working with the department and talking to the department all the time. And if you hear issues we're bringing it up with them, we're seeing what we can do better. There's not really a more regulated -- there's very few more regulated industries in the state of Iowa than the nursing homes, both at the state and at the federal level. So, I think that it's proper oversight on the nursing homes right now.

Henderson: The House has been advancing a bill that would allow people to have cameras in their nursing home rooms so that their families can check in on them, things like that. Would you be open to advancing that in the Senate?

Whitver: I think it's an interesting concept that we're willing to look at. Depending on how it is written and how it works and if people have an ability to opt out. Not everyone wants a camera in their room all the time. And so, there's some privacy issues that go on here too. So interested to see what they're going to do with this bill, but don't have an opinion yet.

Gruber-Miller: On the issue of immigration, the Senate has several years now passed a bill that would require businesses to use the e-verify system to check whether their employees are in the country legally. It has never passed the House. With all the attention on immigration this year and the presidential election coming up, do you think this is the year that it could get done?

Whitver: I know we have a bill that is alive, I think it's through subcommittee and maybe even through committee at this point or close to. And so, in the Senate it will be a live round. I'm not positive, when we filmed this I haven't looked at everything that happened all week, but I think the House might have had a subcommittee on it and maybe it didn't pass. And so, if it doesn't pass the House, I don't know how much further we'll go. But it's something that our caucus has been interested in for five or six years. But a lot of it is going to be determined by the House.

Gruber-Miller: Businesses pretty much every year when the bill comes up raise issues with implementing that system. They say the e-verify system has accuracy issues. Those haven't been improved at the federal level yet so they don't support implementing it at the state. Is there anything that you could do about that?

Whitver: I could tell you, I have owned a business that used e-verify. We had to in the business and it worked fine every time I've used it probably with 100 employees or more. It worked perfect. And so, I'm not as worried about that. I am sympathetic to the arguments that government, you guys are putting so many rules and regulations on us, we don't need one more. And that is an argument that some of the businesses are making. They say, we don't hire illegals, we never have, but now we still have to go through this whole process. And so, I'm sympathetic to that argument, but going through this process before it's a very, very quick process. It takes probably a minute or two to get it done. So, I don't think it's overly burdensome.

Gruber-Miller: There's also a House bill that would say that undocumented students would not qualify for in-state tuition at the state's Regent universities or community colleges. Do you think that would have support in the Senate?

Whitver: I think it would have a good chance. Frankly, I was a little bit surprised to read that. I didn't know that they were getting in-state tuition. And maybe that's just an oversight by me. But it's something I didn't know about. And so, I wouldn't be surprised if our members started looking at that.

Henderson: The Regents institutions have made changes in regards to diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Are those sufficient? Or do you expect to pass some sort of legislation?

Whitver: I know there's people talking about whether we want to codify that DEI proposal that have come from the Regents. I don't know that anyone is talking about going further. I think that largely the Regents have done a good job on everything in the last couple of years. But this is an area that they took to hear, they went and really put together a good DEI plan. And so, I think any conversation will be about whether we codify that or we just leave that in the department rules.

Henderson: Moving onto another subject, you have a colleague in Brad Zaun who has tried for the past 13 years to either outlaw traffic cameras or regulate them.

Whitver: He's persistent, yes.

Henderson: What will the legislature do in 2024?

Whitver: I don't know. I mean, in the Senate we have passed a bill to ban, we have passed a bill to regulate, we have passed all kinds of ideas over the last couple of years. This year it seems like they're partnering up a ban with the hands-free legislation. I don't know that that usually works because you get two issues that people are split on and then it's hard to match together the 26 votes that you need. But Brad has been very persistent on this and there is a decent amount of support in our caucus to ban the traffic cams. So, I wouldn't be surprised to see those bills come forward.

Sostaric: There was the tragic school shooting in Perry earlier this year and people have been calling for some kind of action. People may disagree on what that should be. It seems like republicans in the Iowa legislature don't want to take action on guns. But there has been also conversations about school safety. What will Senate republicans do this year to tackle that issue of making schools safer so people don't have to worry when their kids are going off to school in the morning?

Whitver: Yeah, in the last 18 months to two years, I don't know the exact timeframe, the Governor has put forward $100 million of federal money to school safety and put it out there, the schools had to come back with safety plans and show the state what they're doing for the safety of the school and then they get grants to implement those. Not that many schools have actually done that to this point and I think that's the number one focus is getting those school safety plans finished, getting them approved and getting them implemented. And I think that is what Senate republicans will focus on because there is $100 million ready to be implemented to make our schools safer and I think that's what we should start with.

Sostaric: How do you speed that up?

Whitver: Well, it's largely on urgency from the schools and so talking to the schools, I assume the Department of Education will talk to schools. The tragic situations like we just had in Perry hopefully would encourage people to speed that up if they could.

Sostaric: Mental health is also a big topic that people talk about when it comes to school shootings. The Governor has proposed merging substance use disorder districts with mental health regions and creating this whole new behavioral health system. Do you think that will help mental health and children's mental health? Will that help prevent tragedies like this in the future?

Whitver: Yeah, one thing we know is we always have to continue working on mental health. You don't just pass a bill and solve the problem with mental health. And I've got to give the Governor a lot of credit on this issue. The very first speech she gave as Governor, when she got sworn in, went to the rotunda of the Capitol, gave a speech and she proposed the first children's mental health program in the history of our state. We didn't have a children's mental health program. But you can propose it, you can pass it, but you still have to continue to work on it, fund it, implement it. And so, we're going to continue to do that. We'll continue to increase funding every year like we have been. It's actually automatic in the legislature. It's not like every other appropriation where you have to go in and decide if you want to give more money. It's an automatic increase for mental health. It's something that is really important and I know that we have taken a lot of focus on the children's mental health aspect.

Henderson: Hospital officials say they still have people who are in emergency rooms waiting for a psychiatric bed and the system that the state set up to help them find an opening somewhere just isn’t working. Is that a focus of something that you need to fix in 2024?

Whitver: Yeah, that's something that we need to continue to work on. That has been a problem forever. It's not something that has happened in the last couple of years. And we need to continue to work on it. And we've tried. And like I said, this is an issue that you're not going to pass a bill and solve it all. We need to continue to work on it.

Gruber-Miller: The Governor has proposed this year extending post-partum Medicaid coverage for new mothers to a full year after giving birth. Currently Iowa offers just two months of Medicaid coverage. The Governor's proposal also suggests lowering the ceiling for who can qualify for that, so less people would get coverage but they would get it longer. Is that something the Senate sees as the right approach?

Whitver: Well, in the Senate we have passed a version of this proposal a couple of times and it hasn't passed the House to this point. And so, it's definitely something our members are interested in. I know Mark Costello, our Chair in this area, is really interested in it. He has passed that bill I think twice now. And so, I would imagine the Senate is going to be interested in some sort of proposal. I don't know exactly what that will be yet.

Gruber-Miller: Would they be okay with lowering that income threshold?

Whitver: I haven't had that conversation with them and so it's a little early to predict. But I know it's something that they care about and are interested in.

Henderson: In the middle of the 1990s the Iowa House narrowly passed a bill that would have reinstated capital punishment for a limited number of crimes in Iowa. It failed in the Iowa Senate. You have some Senate colleagues who are proposing a bill that would reinstate capital punishment in Iowa. Is that going to happen?

Whitver: You know, this is something that has been a part of the conversation since we took the majority eight years ago. There is a pretty sizeable amount of our caucus that would like to reinstate that for very limited purposes whether it's murder, rape and murder of a kid or police officers. But to this point we've had enough people that just don't support that. They say I'm pro-life from natural birth to natural death and have just resisted that. I would guess we still have enough people in our caucus that resist that to make that happen this year.

Henderson: Also, the Governor has proposed a bill that would require the Secretary of State to comb through land records and determine if there are secret ways, loopholes that federal governments and foreigners have used by being part of a U.S. corporation to buy Iowa farmland. Current law prohibits foreigners from owning more than 320 acres. The report in the Governor's bill that would be required from the Secretary of State would keep that information secret and share it with you as legislators and the Governor. Do you think that information should be public?

Whitver: I don't know. We haven't talked enough about it. I know there's interest from our people to continue to work on these land laws. I do know Iowa has some of the strongest laws related to foreign ownership of any state in the country. So, I think we're in pretty good shape. But the Governor continuing to push on that I think is something that our members are interested in. I think Iowans are interested, especially with the national security aspect. And so, I'm not sure, I'd have to look at the proposal and the privacy of it. But as far as the overall proposal of continuing to protect that from foreign ownership, I think we're definitely interested in that.

Sostaric: Looking ahead to this year's elections, Senate democrats say that they're going to tell voters that you are too extreme on abortion. Will that hurt you in the November elections?

Whitver: I'm very confident going into the 2024 elections. We've had several good cycles in a row now. We went from 24 to 29 to 32 to 34. At some point you can't keep growing. There's only so many seats that we can get. But I think we've had a message, especially on the economy, that Iowans believe and they see the results. I mean, Iowa is probably in the strongest position maybe it has ever been in and we have the biggest surplus we've ever had. And so, we're going to tell our story, we're proud of our story, we're proud of our story of what we have done in the majority and what we've done with the trifecta and I feel very confident about the elections this year.

Sostaric: So, you think voters won't be voting based on abortion rights?

Whitver: I mean, some will of course. But I think voters vote how they end up voting for a lot of different reasons. But overall if you take the big picture of what republicans have been working on and pushing the last eight years, voters have rewarded up and I think they're going to continue to.

Gruber-Miller: The Iowa Secretary of State has a bill that would essentially limit the grounds for challenging a presidential candidate's place on the ballot in Iowa. This might preclude people going through the ballot challenge process to President Trump, for instance, on 14th Amendment grounds like we've seen in other states. Will that bill get assigned to a committee or get a hearing in the Senate?

Whitver: I would guess it would get a hearing, yes. I don't know enough about the bill. But what I do know about the whole presidential election, it has become so politicized. And I know it is a political campaign, that's what they do. But the means that they're trying to use to keep President Trump off the ballot, from running again, from becoming President again, is something that our voters are concerned about. And so, I would be very interested in that bill coming down from the Secretary of State.

Henderson: Are you publicly endorsing President Trump as he seeks re-election?

Whitver: Yeah, I think it's pretty apparent at this point that he is going to be the nominee. I would publicly endorse him today or any time. I think he is our best chance to win this election this year and have no problem doing that.

Henderson: What about Jack Whitver? Do you intend to seek some other office once this current term is up?

Whitver: I still have three years on this term and I like what I'm doing right now. I think we're making a difference what we're doing. And so, this election coming up is going to be big for the presidency, but it's big for some of our members in our caucus. And so, I've been staying focused on that.

Henderson: Well, Jack Whitver, thank you for being on this edition of Iowa Press.

Whitver: Thank you.

Henderson: You can watch every episode of Iowa Press online at iowapbs.org. For everyone here at Iowa PBS, thanks for watching.

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Funding for Iowa Press was provided by Friends, the Iowa PBS Foundation.

The Associated General Contractors of Iowa, the public's partner in building Iowa's highway, bridge and municipal utility infrastructure.

Elite Casino Resorts is a family-run business rooted in Iowa. We believe our employees are part of our family and we strive to improve their quality of life and the quality of lives within the communities we serve.

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Across Iowa, hundreds of neighborhood banks strive to serve their communities, provide jobs and help local businesses. Iowa Banks are proud to back the life you build. Learn more at iowabankers.com.

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