Program areas at ACLU-IA
Legal program services: (1) win on behalf of numerous Iowa journalists and media groups challenging Iowa governor's failure to provide timely access to public records for up to 18 months, with successful settlement on remand to district court, requiring ongoing compliance. (2) litigated case to protect abortion access in Iowa by temporarily blocking Iowa's extreme abortion ban, taking effect around six weeks, before many women even know they are pregnant. (3) favorable settlement in a disciplinary post-conviction relief case, brought on behalf of an Iowa inmate who challenged unreliable prison methods of drug testing legal mail, as well as the alarmingly low "some evidence" burden of proof required to convict an inmate of a disciplinary violation resulting in loss of "earned time and loss of access to rehabilitative programming. (4) litigated case challenging Iowa's book ban, "don't say gay or trans and forced outing law, resulting in a temporary block of the book ban and "don't say gay or trans" provisions of the law from taking effect statewide. (5) litigated case challenging Iowa's covid-19 prohibition on masking requirements. (6) litigated a free speech challenge to Iowa's "ag-gag" laws. (7) numerous amicus briefs filed in Iowa supreme court cases, arguing: evidence that a criminal defendant listened to rap music should rarely if ever be admissible against them; Iowa municipalities should not be permitted to assess fees for search and retrieval of open records; that juveniles have a right to state-paid expert expenses in juvenile delinquency cases. (8) amicus briefs filed in federal court case, arguing that a new transgender-focused anti-bullying policy at an Iowa school should not be blocked. (9) successful prisoner rights advocacy to restore Iowa prisoners' right to normal in-person attorney visits, consistent with the united states and Iowa constitutions and Iowa law. These visits had remained highly restricted since the covid-19 pandemic. (10) successful lgbtq rights advocacy to repeal anti-drag ordinances in seven Iowa cities. (11) advocacy for lgbtq group's free speech rights reminding all Iowa cities that they cannot prohibit participation by pride groups in local parades based on city officials' disagreement with the content and/or viewpoint of the group's message. (12) advocacy for student free-speech rights reminding all Iowa schools that they cannot punish absences due to student protests more harshly than any other unexcused absences.
Public education program services: (1) recruited and trained nearly 9,000 more reproductive freedom education team volunteers in a 12 month period from this time last year. (2) we obliterated our goal of 10,000 total volunteers by the end of 2024, and our volunteer base is now 7000% of what it was when we started. (3) expanded the "reproductive rights action team", to educate iowans about the status of reproductive freedom in light of changes in state and federal law. (4) expanded aclu volunteer leadership in every Iowa house and Iowa senate legislative district. (5) performed "we are the reproductive freedom majority" signature drive; goal was 7,500 signatures; we reached roughly 5,500 and will deliver to each state legislator. (6) the new "capitol corps" program brought constituents to the legislature every two weeks, for a total of five day-long visits of seven total; met with three dozen legislators. (7) aclu's "capitol corps" was critical in building deeper relationships with state legislators, staff, and in connecting people to each other and their government. (8) our 38 participants represented roughly 1/3 of all legislative districts. (9) after hitting our initial goal of 10,000 volunteers nearly a year ahead of schedule, we finalized the last segment of our three year plan - individual education by door knocking, personal texting, and phone banking. (10) scheduled the first of two "door knocking days of action" with 35 volunteers; have had more than 400 people attend our events; more than a thousand people contacted their legislator, and we have nearly 40 volunteer community leaders. (11) presented information to community members and organizations across the state on a variety of Civil Liberties issues, including, but not limited to voting and reproductive rights know your rights (kyr) presentations. (12) printed and mailed our defender newsletter to a mailing list of approximately 15,000 supporters and other interested parties. (13) responded to media inquiries, held press conferences and crafted media statements on our efforts and on matters regarding Civil Liberties and Civil rights. (14) updated and printed brochures regarding Civil Liberties with topics such as transgender rights, voting rights (in english and spanish), and rights when interacting with police (in english and spanish). (15) created and aired primetime television ads featuring a transgender Iowan and their family to build empathy and understanding for transgender kids.
Legislative and policy program services: (1) increased our full-time presence at the Iowa state legislature, drafting legislation, providing advice on and advocating for pro-civil Liberties legislation, with an emphasis on fixing racial disparities in housing law, defending due process for people subject to abusive state agencies. (2) continued our one-on-one outreach to newly elected legislators and legislators whom we had not worked with, to strong results in our core issue areas. (3) advocated for the first amendment by supporting an anti-slapp (strategic lawsuit against public participation) bill. (4) successfully advocated against two new discriminatory proposals that would have hurt transgender people. (5) were formally invited by the legislative majority to serve as opposition to repeal of lgbt rights in the Iowa Civil rights act (succeeded). (6) advocated for change in law to expand Iowa's open records law. (7) advocated for racial justice reform through continuing to manage the bipartisan effort to expunge unproved eviction allegations, and allow for some completed evictions to be expunged, an issue with a significantly disparate impact on african-american women and survivors of domestic violence. Bill will come back in 2025 with more support after having passed the Iowa house of representatives three times.