Friend –

The 89th General Assembly of the Iowa Legislature is now underway, and we're ready!

As the ACLU's new Policy Director, I'll be working with legislators, policymakers, advocates, partner organizations, and more to make sure that legislation this session protects the civil liberties of all Iowans.

Key legislation the ACLU of Iowa will be working on this session includes:

• A Pregnant Workers Fairness Act to protect the health, safety, and jobs of pregnant Iowa workers.
• Racial profiling legislation that prohibits law enforcement from stopping people based on the color of their skin and other racial characteristics. It must also provide better remedies for people who experience racial profiling and address the underlying practices that feed racial profiling, like traffic stops based on a pretext, such as allegedly failing to signal for a turn.
• An Iowa Housing Opportunity Act to seal eviction records, in appropriate cases, to help people access affordable housing. This is a racial and gender justice issue since people of color, especially Black women, who fall behind in payments are far more likely to be wrongfully evicted than white people in similar circumstances.
• Stopping any legislation that would further restrict the right to an abortion.

We hope you'll do your part, too, and consider being on our Rapid Response Team. It's a group of ACLU supporters around the state who are willing, when contacted, to reach out to their state senator or state representative on key civil liberties legislation.

I look forward to representing you, and all Iowans, in the months ahead!

Pete McRoberts
Pronouns: He, him, his
Policy Director, ACLU of Iowa