Bipartisan successes

Ragan Report: Employment leave for adoptive parents is family friendly:
A family-friendly bill that makes it easier for parents to bond with their adopted chil-dren passed the Senate Labor and Business Relations Com-mittee.
According to the Depart-ment of Public Health, Iowa had 1,793 adoptions in 2018. Senate File 476 ensures em-ployers treat an employee who adopts in the same manner as biological parents of a new-born. If the employer offers maternity and paternity leave for parents of newborns, the employer also would provide leave for adoptive parents dur-ing the first year of adoption.
This bill treats employees equally and is a good example of how we can put Iowans first.
Initiatives make student loan debt more manageable: Iowa’s student loan debt has increased 77 percent in the last 10 years, according to an Ex-perian study. Graduating with debt can really set students back in getting their careers off the ground and becoming fi-nancially stable.
Two bills that passed the Senate this week will help:
Under SF 272, educational loan services doing business in Iowa must be licensed by Io-wa’s Division of Banking, follow contract requirements and be subject to Iowa’s Con-sumer Fraud Act for violations. This bill offers protections for those who contract with com-panies to manage their student loans, with the goal of eliminat-ing unscrupulous businesses that drive graduates further into debt.
Under SF 304, the state’s professional licensing boards will stop suspending or revok-ing a professional license due to default or delinquency on a student loan. Current law al-lows this practice. It doesn’t make sense to take away the very thing that allows a gradu-ate to repay their debts. A person’s professional license—like a cosmology or electrician license—can be critical to mak-ing a living and paying bills.
Both bills are now under consideration in the House.
Sen. Amanda Ragan (D-Mason City) serves Franklin, Butler and Cerro Gordo counties in Senate District 27. She can be reached at 515-281-3371 or 641-424-0874. Email her at aman-da.ragan@legis.iowa.gov.

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