By O. Kay Henderson (Radio Iowa)

A bill eligible for debate in the Iowa Senate would prohibit judges from requiring a divorcing parent to cover some of the costs of their child’s college education.

Senator Scott Webster, a Republican from Bettendorf, said the bill is sponsored by another senator, in response to a specific case. “A father was weaponizing this particular system against a mother who couldn’t afford the college. She then had the opportunity to go to court and it got dropped, but she still had to pay all the legal fees,” Webster said.

An Iowa judge currently has the option of ordering a parent getting a divorce to pay up to a third of the total cost of their child’s undergraduate education. Webster said it’s an equal protection issue. “The subsidy does not currently apply to any other parents: married, single or never married,” Webster said.

Senator Nate Boulton, a Democrat from Des Moines, said his parents were divorced when he went to college and their divorce decree helped navigate the financial aspect of getting that degree. “There are ways to make this system better,” Boulton said. “There are ways to make it more fair and I think we are all open to that discussion, but simply to pull the rug out from underneath kids from divorced families who want to go to college is the wrong way to do this.”

The bill cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee last week. Senator Herman Quirmbach, a Democrat from Ames who voted against the bill, said parents have an obligation to provide for their children and college is a big step forward in life. “It’s certainly possible for people to get good jobs without a college degree and have a perfectly happy life,” Quirmbach said, “but on average college graduates earn significantly higher over a lifetime. They have a greater degree of marriage stability. They have a longer life span, on average.”

That kind of criticism is “a little bit disrespectful,” according to Webster. “It’s been said, maybe discussed that college is the way to go,” Webster said. “I didn’t go to college. My wife didn’t go to college. We turned out good.”

Iowa is one of 17 states that allow judges to order a divorcing parent to pay at least part of a child’s college tuition and fees.

A new study shows the three state universities add $14.9 billion to the state economy.

The study from the labor market analytics firm Lightcast shows the contributions from the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa were equal to approximately 7.1% of the total gross state product of the state. The study notes university activity supports 198,837 jobs in the state, which is one out of 10 jobs in Iowa, and returns nearly three dollars for every taxpayer dollar spent.

The study also outlines the impact of student education, alumni, and extension and outreach services. The universities have touted their impact on the state as they seek more state dollars from the legislature and governor.

You can see more details on the report here.: https://www.iowaregents.edu/reports/economic-impact-reports-fy-2021-22

By Dar Danielson (Radio Iowa)

The Iowa Supreme Court heard arguments in a request by the state to dismiss a lawsuit against the governor over the release of public records during the COVID pandemic.

The records were released 18 months after the request when the lawsuit was filed by the Iowa ACLU on behalf of journalists. The attorney for the governor, Eric Wessan, says the administration followed the law because it never denied the request. “In order to find a violation, there has to be a refusal. There was no refusal here, as is evidenced by the fact that Governor produced all of the responsive records,” Wessan says.

Chief Justice Susan Christensen says this approach could require anyone who requested open records to eventually hire a lawyer to get an agency to comply. She says that could be expensive and some people could not afford to do that. “What can someone do not have to hire a lawyer to make it happen?,” Christenson asked. “To avoid hiring a lawyer, an individual requester can try to clarify a timeline. They can say, can you turn this over in a certain period of time?,” Wessan responded.

The attorney for the ACLU, Thomas Story, says the state should not be allowed to stall and force a lawsuit. “The thing that is missing from the state’s argument is sort of the bottom line assumption of these laws, which is that public records are the public’s records,” He says. “The state is holding them for us. Right. They’re a trustee and that means that they have a duty to provide them to the public promptly upon request.” Wessan says it’s an important part of democracy.

Wessan says the governor’s office gave very little response to the records request other than to acknowledged they received the request. He says there should be some reason given for not producing the records. “That’s the test right, what about the size. Did it ask for voluminous records. What about the nature? Did it require substantial review and redactions? these are things we are asking about. I am not asking the governor’s office to tell me about everything it was doing,” Story says. He says the strategy was to delay and force a lawsuit. “This was just straight ignored by the lawful custodian at the highest level of government.” he says.

The Supreme Court will issue its ruling at a later date.