Iowa lawmakers will consider advancing Gov. Kim Reynolds’ bill barring local governments from setting their own policies protecting trans and nonbinary people from discrimination.
A three-member House panel will give its first consideration to House Study Bill 664, a measure that would expand the state’s 2025 law removing gender identity as a protected class in the Iowa Civil Rights Act, in a subcommittee hearing at noon Monday, Feb. 9.
The bill would prohibit communities from adopting their own civil rights policies protecting different classes than state law covers.
It targets the several local governments that have kept or added their own civil rights protections against discrimination based on gender identity since she signed a law removing gender identity as a protected class in the Iowa Civil Rights Act last February.
The 2025 law left trans and nonbinary Iowans unshielded by state law from discrimination in housing, employment, education and more when it took effect July 1.
Republicans said the move will help other legislation they passed survive court challenges, including a ban on transgender youth from receiving gender-affirming medical care, restricting transgender students from using school bathrooms that align with their gender identity and banning transgender women and girls from competing in female sports.
Here’s what to know as the bill begins to move through the legislative process.
What does the bill do?
The bill states a “city or local government shall not enact any ordinance or other law which is broader or has different categories of unfair or discriminatory practices than those provided” under the Iowa Civil Rights Act.
It proposes striking a code section on local implementation of the civil rights law which states that nothing shall be construed as “limiting a city or local government from enacting any ordinance or other law which prohibits broader or different categories of unfair or discriminatory practices.”
If passed, the bill would force at least 18 communities to eliminate their civil and human rights policies shielding their residents against gender-identity based discrimination.
Deeply blue Johnson County, Iowa City and Coralville each passed resolutions affirming protections against discrimination based on gender identity in the wake of the state law change.
Ames is currently in the process of crafting an ordinance to restore antidiscrimination protections based on gender identity in local civil rights code.
Local officials have acknowledged the legal landscape surrounding their ordinances remained untested and they weren’t clear what sort of teeth their policies still offered under the new law.
How can I participate in the subcommittee?
Reps. Steve Holt, R-Denison; Skyler Wheeler, R-Hull; and Ross Wilburn, D-Ames are on the subcommittee that will consider moving the measure forward to the full House Judiciary Committee.
The subcommittee is slated to take place in room 103 of the Iowa Capitol.
These meetings typically last for 30 minutes and speakers’ time may be limited during highly attended subcommittees. Lawmakers then have the opportunity to share their opinions on the bill and choose whether to sign off on advancing it to the full committee.
One Iowa anticipates there may be protesters outside the subcommittee and an increased law enforcement presence at the Capitol.
Here’s the Des Moines Register’s guide on how to contact lawmakers and track bills.
This story will be updated with subcommittee coverage.
Marissa Payne covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. Reach her by email at mjpayne@registermedia.com. Follow her on X at @marissajpayne.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa bill would ban local trans, nonbinary civil rights protections
Reporting by Marissa Payne, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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