Des Moines, Iowa — An Iowa Senate committee has dismissed complaints against Republican senators who voted to ban schools from requiring masks.
Six Iowans accused GOP senators of violating Senate ethics rules by backing a ban that could put medically vulnerable students, staff and families at greater risk of getting COVID. Senate Republicans, in a written response, said voting for a bill isn’t an ethics violation. Senator Pam Jochum, a Democrat from Dubuque who voted against the bill, says she’s sympathetic to the concerns of parents — but Jochum says the Senate Ethics Committee isn’t the proper forum to resolve the issue.
On Monday, a judge issued a temporary order that lets school districts require face masks be worn on school grounds until the lawsuit challenging Iowa’s ban on mask mandates is decided.
