January 12, 1970


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would like to take this opportunity to commend the bi-partisan passage of Ch. 113, Acts 63rd G.A. (1st sess.), which repealed the requirement that complaints alleging housing discrimination under the Iowa Civil Rights Act be accompanied by a $500 bond.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

1970 Annual Report Main Page