Kristi Hager

Kristi Hager (born November 9, 1963) is a member of the Iowa House of Representatives from the Iowa House, District 56. A resident of Waukon, she has served as a Republican in the Iowa House of Representatives since January 2017. Hager has lived much of her life in Allamakee County, Iowa.^[1]

As of March 2017, Hager serves on the following committees in the Iowa House of Representatives: Education, Local Government (Vice Chair), Public Safety, and Transportation.^[2]

Political stances

Voting accessibility

During the 2017 legislative session, Hager voted^[3] to shorten both the amount of time one may cast an absentee ballot and the number of days one can vote at satellite polling sites,^[4] and she voted to require all voters to present a state-issued ID.^[5] Though she voted for the measure, the bill was opposed by the Iowa State Association of Counties, an advocacy group for Iowa's disabled, and Iowa's Department on Aging opposed the bill.^[6]

Workers' rights

Kristi Hager voted to scale back collective bargaining rights for municipal and state employees and teachers^[7] after a week and a half of public deliberation.^[8] When local teachers noted at a town hall that there was little local support for the bill, Hager argued that there was a silent majority supporting her perspective.^[9] However, only three speakers spoke to support the bill in the Iowa Senate hearing at the capitol while hundreds opposed.^[10] Another citizen noted that the Hager did not run on ending collective bargaining, and Hager did not dispute this.^[11]

Later in legislative session of 2017, Hager voted for significant changes to Iowa's Workers' Compensation system.^[12] She increased the requirements workers must meet to receive worker's compensation.

During 2017, she also voted to void and nullify local and county minimum wage ordinances. Iowa has not increased the minimum wage in nine years, while adjacent states have increased their minimum wage in Minnesota, Illinois, Missouri, and Nebraska.^[13] She voted that the State of Iowa have a uniform minimum wage, thereby lowering the minimum wage in four counties which had already voted to raise their rate (Johnson, Linn, Wapello, and Polk^[14]).^[15] Estimates show that at least 64,300 residents of Iowa will have their wages effectively lowered, including 35,800 to 36,000 in Polk County,^[16] 10,100 in Johnson County,^[17] and 18,400 in Linn County.^[18]

Women's & Reproductive Rights

During the 2017 legislative session, Hager voted for an amended version of Senate File 471^[19] to ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy unless the life or the health of the mother was at risk.^[20] The bill does not provide an exception for an abortion when a woman carries a fetus with such severe anomalies that the fetus could not survive outside of the womb; this woman must carry the inviable fetus to term.^[21] Hager voted no^[22] on the amendment^[23] to Senate File 471 to allow for abortions after 20 weeks in the case of rape, incest, fetal anomaly, and medical emergency. Hager also voted no^[24] on Amendment H-1303^[25] which would have ensured that this bill did not inadvertently prohibit birth control, even though the bill didn't mention birth control and nothing in the bill prohibited women from obtaining birth control.

References

External links

• Official site on Republican Party's page