House File 744 - Enrolled
House File 744
AN ACT
PROVIDING FOR TRAINING, PROHIBITIONS, AND REQUIREMENTS RELATING
TO FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS AT SCHOOL DISTRICTS AND PUBLIC
INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION.
4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
1 Section 1. Section 261H.2, Code 2021, is amended to read as
2 follows:
3 261H.2 Policy adoption Public institutions of higher
4 education —— duties.
5 1. The state board of regents and the board of directors of
6 each community college shall adopt a policy that includes all
7 of the following statements:
8 1. a. That the primary function of an institution of higher
9 education is the discovery, improvement, transmission, and
10 dissemination of knowledge by means of research, teaching,
11 discussion, and debate. This statement shall provide that, to
12 fulfill this function, the institution must strive to ensure
13 the fullest degree of intellectual freedom and free expression
14 allowed under the first amendment to the Constitution of the
15 United States.
16 2. a. b. (1) That it is not the proper role of an
17 institution of higher education to shield individuals from
18 speech protected by the first amendment to the Constitution of
19 the United States, which may include ideas and opinions the
20 individual finds unwelcome, disagreeable, or even offensive.
21 b. (2) That it is the proper role of an institution of
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22 higher education to encourage diversity of thoughts, ideas,
23 and opinions and to encourage, within the bounds of the
24 first amendment to the Constitution of the United States, the
25 peaceful, respectful, and safe exercise of first amendment
26 rights.
27 3. c. That students and faculty have the freedom to
28 discuss any problem that presents itself, assemble, and engage
29 in spontaneous expressive activity on campus, within the
30 bounds of established principles of the first amendment to the
31 Constitution of the United States, and subject to reasonable
32 time, place, and manner restrictions that are consistent with
33 established first amendment principles.
34 4. d. That the outdoor areas of campus of an institution
35 of higher education are public forums, open on the same terms
1 to any invited speaker subject to reasonable time, place,
2 and manner restrictions that are consistent with established
3 principles of the first amendment to the Constitution of the
4 United States.
5 2. The state board of regents shall develop materials,
6 programs, and procedures to ensure that those persons who are
7 responsible for discipline, instruction, or administration
8 of the campus community, or who have oversight of student
9 government organizations, or distribute activity fee funds,
10 including but not limited to presidents, vice-presidents,
11 deans, department directors, administrators, campus police
12 officers, residence life officials, faculty, and members of
13 student government organizations, understand the policies,
14 regulations, and duties of the institution regarding free
15 expression on campus consistent with this chapter.
16 3. a. Each public institution of higher education shall
17 protect the first amendment rights of the institution’s
18 students, staff, and faculty and shall establish and publicize
19 policies that prohibit institutional restrictions and penalties
20 based on protected speech, including political speech, to
21 the fullest extent required by the first amendment to the
22 Constitution of the United States. A public institution of
23 higher education shall not retaliate against a member of the
24 campus community who files a complaint for a violation of this
25 subsection pursuant to section 261H.5.
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26 b. If it is determined, after exhaustion of all available
27 administrative and judicial appeals, that a faculty member
28 knowingly and intentionally restricts the protected speech or
29 otherwise penalizes a student in violation of this subsection,
30 the faculty member shall be subject to discipline by the
31 institution through the normal disciplinary processes of the
32 institution, and such discipline may include termination
33 depending on the totality of the facts. If the faculty member
34 is licensed by the board of educational examiners under chapter
35 272, the board of educational examiners shall conduct a hearing
1 pursuant to section 272.13, and the faculty member may be
2 subject to disciplinary action by the board.
3 Sec. 2. NEW SECTION. 261H.6 Training —— first amendment to
4 the Constitution of the United States.
5 Each public institution of higher education shall provide
6 training on free speech under the first amendment to the
7 Constitution of the United States to all students, faculty, and
8 staff on an annual basis, which elected officials and staff
9 shall be permitted to attend.
10 Sec. 3. NEW SECTION. 261H.7 Student government
11 organizations —— student fees —— appeals —— liability.
12 1. Each institution of higher education governed by
13 the state board of regents shall make a student government
14 organization’s access to and authority over any moneys
15 disbursed to the student government organization by
16 the institution contingent upon the student government
17 organization’s compliance with the first amendment to the
18 Constitution of the United States and the provisions of this
19 chapter.
20 2. If, after exhaustion of all administrative appeals, it
21 is determined that a student government organization knowingly
22 and intentionally violated the first amendment rights of a
23 member of the campus community or that an action or decision
24 of a student government organization is in violation of this
25 section, the institution shall suspend the student government
26 organization’s authority to manage and disburse student fees
27 for a period of one year. During this period of suspension,
28 such student fees shall be managed and disbursed by the
29 institution.
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30 Sec. 4. Section 272.2, subsection 14, Code 2021, is amended
31 by adding the following new paragraph:
32 NEW PARAGRAPH. e. The board may deny a license to or
33 revoke the license of a person upon the board’s finding by
34 a preponderance of evidence that the person knowingly and
35 intentionally discriminated against a student in violation of
1 section 261H.2, subsection 3, or section 279.73.
2 Sec. 5. NEW SECTION. 279.73 Intellectual freedom ——
3 protection —— complaints.
4 1. The board of directors of each school district shall
5 protect the intellectual freedom of the school district’s
6 students and practitioners and shall establish and publicize
7 policies that protect students and faculty from discrimination
8 based on speech. A person shall not retaliate against a person
9 who files a complaint for a violation of this section. If the
10 person who files a complaint for a violation of this section is
11 an employee of the school district, the provisions of section
12 70A.29 shall apply.
13 2. If the board of directors of the school district or
14 a court finds that an employee of the school district who
15 holds a license, certificate, statement of recognition, or
16 authorization issued by the board of educational examiners
17 under chapter 272 discriminated against a student or employee
18 in violation of this section, the employee found to be in
19 violation under this section shall be subject to a hearing
20 conducted by the board of educational examiners pursuant to
21 section 272.2, subsection 14, which may result in disciplinary
22 action and the employee’s employment may be terminated.
23 Sec. 6. Section 280.22, subsections 4 and 5, Code 2021, are
24 amended to read as follows:
25 4. Each board of directors of a public school shall adopt
26 rules in the form of a written publications code, which shall
27 include reasonable provisions for the time, place, and manner
28 of conducting such activities within its jurisdiction. The
29 code shall incorporate all of the provisions of this section.
30 The board shall make the code available to the students and
31 their parents.
32 5. Student editors of official school publications shall
33 assign and edit the news, editorial, and feature content of
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34 their publications subject to the limitations of this section.
35 Journalism advisers of students producing official school
1 publications shall supervise the production of the student
2 staff, in order to maintain professional standards of English
3 and journalism, and to comply with this section.
4 Sec. 7. Section 280.22, Code 2021, is amended by adding the
5 following new subsection:
6 NEW SUBSECTION. 6A. A public school employee or official,
7 acting within the scope of the person’s professional ethics,
8 if any, shall not be dismissed, suspended, disciplined,
9 reassigned, transferred, subject to termination or nonrenewal
10 of a teaching contract issued under section 279.13 or an
11 extracurricular contract issued under section 279.19A, or
12 otherwise retaliated against for acting to protect a student
13 for engaging in conduct authorized under this section, or
14 refusing to infringe upon student conduct that is protected by
15 this section, the first amendment to the Constitution of the
16 United States, or Article I, section 7, of the Constitution of
17 the State of Iowa.
18 Sec. 8. IMPLEMENTATION OF ACT. Section 25B.2, subsection
19 3, shall not apply to this Act.
______________________________ ______________________________
PAT GRASSLEY JAKE CHAPMAN
Speaker of the House President of the Senate
I hereby certify that this bill originated in the House and
is known as House File 744, Eighty-ninth General Assembly.
______________________________
MEGHAN NELSON
Chief Clerk of the House
Approved _______________, 2021 ______________________________
KIM REYNOLDS
Governor


Statutes affected:
Introduced: 261H.2
Reprinted: 261H.2
Enrolled: 261H.2, 272.13