The Honorable Robert D. Ray
Governor of Iowa
Honorable Members
General Assembly of Iowa
Ladies and Gentlemen:
The Iowa Civil Rights Commission is pleased to submit its fourth annual
report for your information and consideration, pursuant to Ch. 105A.5, 1966
Code of Iowa.
The emphasis in this report, which covers the Commission's reporting period
of December 1, 1968 to November 30, 1969, is upon the diversity of discrimination
in Iowa. We attempted to demonstrate this diversity by briefly summarizing
the individual complaints processed by the Commission during the reporting
year, and by outlining a sampling of the instances where the Commission
acted as a conciliatory body to reduce intergroup tensions.
The Commission would like to take this opportunity to commend the bi-partisan
passage of Ch. 113, Acts 63rd G.A. (1st sess.), which repealed the requirement
that complaints alleging housing discrimination under the Iowa Civil Rights
Act be accompanied by a $500 bond. It is hoped that the progressive posture
of the executive and legislative branches will continue, being directed
during the 1970 legislative session to passage of various amendments which
would make the Commission's operations more effective.
The Commission at this time particularly feels the need for the passage
of H.F. 202 (relating to temporary injunctions), H.F. 468 (relating to de
novo proceedings), H.F. 478 (relating to subpoena powers), and H.F. 251
(relating to sex discrimination). The Commission is studying other bills
and potential bills, and reserves the right to add to the above list of
priority requests.
Respectfully submitted,
LAWRENCE S. SLOTSKY, Chairman
Iowa Civil Right Commission