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Senate roll-call roundup: five broad policy areas cleared and messaged to House
Summary
On March 18, 2025, the Senate passed multiple bills on education policy, elections, transportation records, family law, consumer insurance, and courtroom procedure. This roundup lists each item, its outcome and vote tally from the floor.
The Senate on March 18, 2025 considered and passed a sequence of bills spanning education policy, election law, transportation records, family law, consumer protections and a constitutional resolution. Below is a concise summary of each measure as read on the Senate floor, the recorded outcome, and the sponsor where noted.
Senate File 27 — Driver improvement course reporting to DOT. Sponsor: Senator Klimesh (Winneshiek). Outcome: Passed; clerk recorded 47 ayes, 0 nays. Effect: Requires clerks to notify DOT when courts order and when persons complete driver improvement courses; DOT to include course flags in electronic records.
Senate File 256 — Disputed land boundaries and corners (property rights). Sponsor: Senator Sweeney (Hardin). Outcome: Passed; roll-call recorded and title agreed (clerk announced constitutional majority). Effect: Revises law regarding disputed land boundaries (text read on floor; details not fully in transcript excerpt).
Senate File 273 — Grooming behavior definition for BOEE. Sponsor: Senator Salmon (Bremer). Outcome: Passed; clerk announced 45 ayes, 2 nays. Effect: Broadens definition for BOEE action in school settings (debated on scope and interaction with criminal law).
Senate File 288 — Pregnancy accommodations at public higher education institutions. Sponsor: Senator Taylor (Sioux). Outcome: Passed; clerk recorded 47 ayes, 0 nays. Effect: Requires reasonable accommodations for pregnant and postpartum students at institutions governed by the Board of Regents and community colleges; amendment adopted replacing some complaint-process language with Title IX coordinator procedures.
Senate File 448 — School bus driver training. Sponsor: Senator Zumba (Delaware). Outcome: Passed; clerk announced 47 ayes, 0 nays. Effect: Changes training requirements; Department of Education training becomes optional and districts may choose whether to require it.
Senate File 459 — Prohibition on ranked-choice voting. Sponsor: Senator Rosenboom (Marion). Outcome: Passed; final roll call 34 ayes, 13 nays. Effect: Bans ranked-choice/instant-runoff voting statewide; an amendment to allow local adoption was defeated 13–34.
Senate File 513 — Repeal of court-ordered postsecondary education subsidy in divorce. Sponsor: Senator Green (Boone). Outcome: Passed; clerk announced 43 ayes, 4 nays. Effect: Removes court’s option to order postsecondary education payments in dissolution proceedings.
Senate File 521 — Sanctions for contempt in dissolution proceedings (reasonable attorney fees). Sponsor: Senator Rowley (Dickinson). Outcome: Passed; roll-call showed unanimous passage where recorded. Effect: Adds available sanction of ordering the contemnor to pay reasonable attorney fees in dissolution contempt matters.
Senate File 573 — Motor vehicle glass repair and insurance. Sponsor: Senator Warmie (Story). Outcome: Passed; clerk announced 47 ayes, 0 nays. Effect: Establishes requirements around insurance-covered glass repair/replacement and related consumer disclosures and penalties.
Senate Joint Resolution 9 — Constitutional amendment addressing confrontation clause for children and certain disabled witnesses. Sponsor: Senator Dawson (Potawatomi). Outcome: Passed; clerk recorded 47 ayes, 0 nays. Effect: Proposes amendment to create narrow exception to the confrontation clause; further legislative steps and voter approval required.
Several other bills were read and messaged in grouped unanimous-consent requests; the clerk and sponsors moved to immediately message measures at the end of the floor sequence. Recorded vote totals above reflect roll-call announcements on the floor; where detailed vote-record fragments were read into the record, they were included in the clerk’s tallies.
