The governor appoints hundreds of people to serve in state departments. The roles range from board member, director, or member of a judicial nominating commission. All of these individuals require confirmation by the Senate by a two thirds majority for them to continue in their appointed role. Some of these appointees visit a Senate committee. Former Speaker of the House Kraig Paulsen, did that this week with the Ways and Means Committee. Two weeks ago he was appointed as the director of the Iowa Department of Revenue. He talks about the department’s challenges and potential solutions to long waits on the phone for customers who have questions about their taxes during filing time. Also visiting a committee are three Iowa Board of Regents appointees. They answer questions about universities balancing freedom of speech rights with discrimination. This topic is center to a bill that comes before the Senate. The bill is related to 2016 incident that happened at the University of Iowa. The