Bill touted as regulatory reform passes Senate committee

A bill Republicans tout as “regulatory reform” passed the Senate Business and Labor Committee on a six-to-five vote after democrats accused the G-O-P of trying to undo long-time worker protections. Senator Bill Dotzler, a democrat from Waterloo, was the bill’s harshest critic. Dotzler says if the bill becomes law, Iowa will have virtually no regulations to protect workers, and would put the state back in a “slave labor” era. The bill has a wide variety of “pro-business” proposals, ranging from reduced unemployment benefits for laid-off workers to limiting jury awards in medical malpractice cases. Senator Ron Wieck , a republican from Sioux City, helped put the legislation together. Wieck says Republicans want to make Iowa more “user-friendly” for business, and he says the “net result” will be that Iowans will be able to “make more money.”