The current Iowa legislative session is only a week old, and already there’s been some dispute at the State House on the practices being instituted.

Republicans leading subcommittees in the Senate recently voted to remove specific language that governs how the public is informed of their meetings. Senate Democrats cried foul, but the Republican side, including Senator Jake Chapman of District 10, defended their action, saying it removed redundancies in the code. “We abide by the rules of the Senate. We have what’s called Rule 39 of the Chamber, that requires committee process to be open to the public. It’s required to have a day notice. In previous years, the minority party put additional rules on top of Rule 39 that were redundant and duplicitous. So a number of the committee chairmen eliminated those additional rules, (and) the general public will see no change.”

Chapman adds, anyone who claims the Senate is attempting to have less transparency and more secrecy is promoting inaccurate information. He says he’s already sat in several subcommittee hearings this session, and each has been open to the public and had more than a day’s notice. Democrats in the Senate have said they fear the removal of the specific language from Rule 39 will lead to the hindrance of the public being able to give their opinions on bills. However, Chapman promises that the Senate subcommittee meetings will continue to be operated as they have for years, and that people will have access to them.

To hear more from Chapman, listen to today’s Perry Fareway Let’s Talk Dallas County program on air and at RaccoonValleyRadio.com.