Introduced on Feb. 21, 2019, House File 492 was proposed in response to the 2019 polar vortex that hit Iowa in January and February, resulting in nine full school days missed in the Iowa City Community School District. These missing days have resulted in an extension of second trimester and an added 10 minutes of school each day to meet the required 180 school days or 1080 hours.

If the bill were to pass, school districts in Iowa would be allowed to make up no more than five days or 30 hours of snow days. This means that if there were more than five snow days in a year, the school district would not need to make up more than five, and could go under the required hours of school.

The bill was referred to the Education Committee to be reviewed. If passed, the bill would go into immediate effect.