A lawmaker’s attempt to push legislation aimed at amending the Iowa Constitution to ban gay marriage failed this morning.
House Minority Leader Christopher Rants, a Sioux City Republican, sought a procedural vote to allow the proposal to skip past the typical legislative process.
If he had been successful, House Joint Resolution 8 would have become eligible for debate by the full House. It also would have survived past a committee deadline this week. Most legislation must pass a House or Senate committee by the end of this week in order to remain eligible for further debate this year.
“I’m disappointed by the outcome,” Rants said shortly after the 46 to 49 vote split along party lines.
Democratic majority leaders have resisted debate on the resolution. The issue is currently before the Iowa Supreme Court and debating the issue before the court rules would subvert the judicial process, they have said.
The issue came about after a ruling last year by Polk County District Court Judge Robert Hanson that said Iowa's 1998 marriage law was unconstitutional in defining marriage as only between a man and a woman.
“It was primarily done to generate press, which I think it certainly served that purpose,” said House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a Des Moines Democrat.
One Republican and four Democrats were absent or not voting on the issue. The Republican was Ralph Watts of Adel. The Democrats were: Marcella Frevert of Emmetsburg, Geri Huser of Altoona, Janet Petersen of Des Moines, and Nathan Reichert of Muscatine.
Watts and Huser have previously indicated that they would vote this year in support of the resolution if it were brought up for debate while the other Representatives who did not vote on the issue today have indicated they would not support the legislation.
Today’s vote, however, was not on the resolution itself but on its path through the Legislature. Lawmakers were voting on whether the proposal could skip typical procedure and become eligible for debate.
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