Representative Jim Lykam, a Democrat from Davenport, just came into the statehouse news room to dispense some news. House Speaker Pat Murphy moments ago used his authority to pull a bill out of committee and place it on the House Debate Calendar. The bill Murphy exercised this power on today is the so-called "puppy mill" bill.
The bill passed the House Public Safety Committee (Lykam is chairman of that committee), but had been reassigned to the House Ag Committee. The ag committee's chair assigned the bill to a subcommittee. That subcommittee held a meeting yesterday. The subcommittee's chairwoman told reporters the group would hold another subcommittee meeting next week (hence the opening line in the Radio Iowa story: "Legislation that would crack down on so-called 'puppy mills' seems to be losing steam at the statehouse'). But now the speaker has come to the bill's rescue and the bill will be eligible for debate in the Iowa House next week. Eligible, however, doesn't mean scheduled. That's a separate decision, made by House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (D-Des Moines).
About O.Kay Henderson
Kay is a founding member of the Radio Iowa network newsroom. In 1994, she became the network’s news director. She’s a featured reporter and commentator on Iowa Public Television’s “Iowa Press,” and the 2002 recipient of the Shelley Award.
That’s a pretty thin defense of an awfully subjective headline. You might have told the story about how one-sided the subcommittee meeting was, and how a Humane Society official who flew in from Washington was not permitted to comment publicly on the USDA official’s presentation.