Governor Chet Culver will sign a bill into law this afternoon which outlines how the state will provide insurance coverage to more uninsured children.
Culver signed 16 bills into law on Monday afternoon, including one which was designed to respond to the plight of mentally retarded men who were living in a "bunkhouse" in Atalissa.
The men, who had been working at the West Liberty meatpacking plant, were removed from the facility in February. Henry’s Turkey Service had been collecting most of their wages in return for room and board in an old schoolhouse which authorities found was heated only with space heaters.
Officials later revealed the men were malnourished and needed dental care. The bill Culver signed into law on Monday expands the definition of dependent adult abuse to include situations similar to the one in Atalissa.