The head of Sioux City’s Human Rights Commission says some of the most vulnerable people in the community will suffer after city leaders decided to significantly cut funding.
The Sioux City Council in this week’s meeting slashed the budget by more than 30 percent, or $140,000.
Executive Director Karen Mackey oversees the Commission that enforces anti-discrimination laws. Mackey said she was blind-sided by the cuts.
“Someone with power is rarely discriminated against. It's the powerless, that have that issue, and the reason having a fully functional human rights commission with staff is important.
It's really vital. Because we are a free and neutral fact-finder,” Mackey said.
Mackey says it’s too early to tell where cuts will take place, but staffing will likely be reduced. There are three full-time and two part-time employees.
City officials say property tax cuts passed by the Iowa Legislature in recent years have led to a tighter financial outlook.
*In other news, Republicans in the Iowa House and Senate passed a bill Thursday afternoon to remove anti-discrimination protections for transgender Iowans from state law.
The two chambers have sent it to Governor Kim Reynolds’ desk for her signature.
The bill would remove gender identity from the Iowa Civil Rights Act, which is meant to prevent discrimination in housing, employment, public accommodations and more.
Democratic Senator Liz Bennett of Cedar Rapids says this will make Iowa the first state to strip citizens of civil rights.
“The fact that this bill is so expansive to remove an entire group of people from civil rights protections speaks to the real agenda, which is policing gender expression and creating a world so hostile to those that don’t fit your mold, that trans or non-gender-conforming people can’t exist,” Bennett said.
Republican state Senator Jason Schultz, of Northwest Iowa, says the bill is needed to prevent other state laws targeting transgender Iowans from being struck down by the courts.
On Thursday morning, hundreds of protesters filled the central rotunda and spilled into side hallways while chanting phrases like “no hate in our state” and “stop stripping rights.”
