Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds introduced a bill Thursday to define men and women in Iowa code. In a news release on Thursday, Reynolds said the bill was necessary to protect women’s privacy in sensitive spaces.

“Women and men are not identical; they possess unique biological differences,” Reynolds said in a news release on Thursday. “That’s not controversial, it’s common sense … It’s unfortunate that defining a woman in code has become necessary to protect spaces where women’s health, safety, and privacy are being threatened like domestic violence shelters and rape crisis centers.”

The bill, House Study Bill 649, creates a law defining a person’s sex as the sex assigned at birth — either male or female.

In the bill, a female is defined as, “a person whose biological reproductive system is developed to produce ova,” and a male as, “a person whose biological reproductive system is developed to fertilize the ova of a female.”

The bill would require state and local government offices to identify people exclusively as male or female when collecting data for various purposes. The bill does not mention intersex identities.

The bill would also require a birth certificate, driver’s license, or other form of identification that is reissued after a person receives gender-affirming surgery to list their sex at birth and sex after the operation.

The bill states that the term “equal” does not mean “same” or “identical,” and says that “separate accommodations are not inherently unequal.”

The legislation says the government has “objectives of protecting the health, safety, and privacy” of Iowans in situations in which separate accommodations for men and women may be necessary, such as in domestic violence centers and rape crisis centers.

Reynolds’ proposal comes a day after Iowa legislators rejected a proposed bill that attempted to remove gender identity as a protected class under the Iowa Civil Rights Act. Struck down in a House subcommittee Wednesday afternoon, the bill also would have classified gender dysphoria and other aspects of gender identity as a disability.

The legislation was also introduced less than a year after Reynolds and Republican majorities passed several bills placing restrictions on LGBTQ+ Iowans, including restrictions on gender-affirming health care for minors.

Iowa Republicans introduce legislation to eventually eliminate all state income tax

Iowa Republicans introduced a bill Thursday to reduce individual income tax rates to zero, eventually eliminating the tax in the state, furthering Reynolds’s proposed tax cuts.

The introduced plan, Senate Study Bill 3141, is an attempt to gradually reduce Iowa’s individual income tax, which is capped at 5.7 percent to zero with a new state trust.

Reynolds announced an expedited tax cut in her Condition of the State address last month. Under her proposed legislation, Iowa’s individual income tax will be reduced to a flat rate of 3.65 this tax year with an end goal of reducing to a flat 3.5 percent in 2025.

The bill introduced on Thursday will create the “Iowa Taxpayer Relief Trust,” which will receive $2.6 billion in a transfer from a new state fund.

Beginning in 2028, the bill will transfer 5 percent annually to a state account used to lower the individual income tax. The trust would be handled by an oversight board and investment through the Iowa Public Employees’ Retirement System.

The Ways and Means committee chairs proposed an amendment to the state’s constitution that aims to restrict certain tax law changes and calls for a requirement of a single rate for individual income taxes. Also introduced Thursday, Senate Study Bill 3142 solidifies the flat tax rate in Iowa’s constitution and requires a two-thirds majority vote to approve any bill attempting to raise income tax rates.

Senate lawmakers advance bill to repeal gender balance requirement for Iowa boards

A panel of Iowa Senate lawmakers voted to approve a bill to repeal the gender balance requirement for Iowa’s Boards and Commissions. Currently, Iowa law requires all boards and commissions in state and local governments to have the same number of men and women.