The county human rights ordinance moved forward last night, rather smoothly it seems. By all accounts the People's Republic is the first Iowa county to do this.
Highlights from coverage:
Iowa Civil Rights Commissioner David Leshtz, who was present at the meeting, said he and the rest of the commission have recommended that the state expand its law to include sexual orientation for the last five years.
And although legislation has been proposed, it has never been voted on, because Republican leaders have not allowed it through either house of the Legislature, said Sen. Joe Bolkcom, D-Iowa City.
"We just have not gotten debate on it," he said. "The majority party has been unwilling to bring it to the floor."
Supervisors were initially concerned money would limit their ability to enforce a human-rights law, after Iowa City said it would charge $40,000 annually to contract investigation services.
The law gained unanimous support when the County Attorney's Office offered to take up case investigations specific to the county's inclusion of sexual orientation and identification, which could not be forwarded to the state.
"If we find out the number of complaints are higher than we thought, I'm going to come back and ask you to fund it," Assistant County Attorney Janet Lyness told the supervisors.
She said she could have a measure ready for approval in a month.
An interesting and shrewd work assignment on White's part. He's apparantly seen the writing on the wall, and handed this popular job to the candidate...
More coverage in the PC and Gazette.
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