Democrat State Sen. Tony Bisignano pointed out again Tuesday that the Iowa Senate is yet to do anything regarding eminent domain for the carbon capture pipelines and is continuing to ignore their constituents who have shown up at the Capitol for years to advocate against eminent domain for the private, for-profit project.
Bisignano, who offered an amendment during the rules debate that would have allowed a majority of senators to bring a bill to the floor and bypass leadership, said he is still waiting to see how sincere Republican senators are when it really comes down to protecting private property rights in Iowa.
Bisignano said last week, when the Senate had the conversation, it was adjourning just before noon. On Tuesday, the body finished debate before 11 a.m.
“We are going to adjourn for the day because we have no more business,” he said. “Well, I beg to disagree. We have three days left of this session, per se, and it’s not a big habit around here to work Fridays. So what I want to know is when are we going to talk about eminent domain? Is this just run-out-the-clock kind of session again? Nobody’s going to really do anything. We look at each other. we’re counting on them to do it. We’re counting on them to do it. Who is going to stand up over there and move this bill to the floor? We’ve got many budget bills left, if you’re sincere about this issue, if you’re sincere about property rights, you would not cast one vote for a budget until you have that debate on this floor. The time has come. Four years. Stand up in how you believe. Stand up for the Iowans who have been here for four years. Who call you. Who text you. Who email you. I get those. These are Iowans. Some of them have been here generations of farming. They pay their taxes, they go to church, they hang out with you in their communities, but it seems when they walk in this door, we don’t know ’em. We forgot about ’em. Because when Daddy Warbucks shows up, everybody starts to get skiddish. This isn’t about money, this isn’t about campaign contributions. This isn’t about anything but property rights.
“You all find this minuscule stuff to make us debate every single day here. But the elephant is in the room and we’re all turning our head. And I’m ashamed. I truly am ashamed. Those of you to question my sincerity, shame on you. Because the ones that question my sincerity are on that side but I’ve seen nothing on that side to make that move, against leadership, to force this debate. Believe me, if a few of you would stand up and refuse to move this session forward by passing any budget bill out of this chamber, we will have an eminent domain debate. You know it and I know it. Let’s don’t act like we don’t know how to do it. Three days. Three days. I know how this place works. Probably in three days we’re going to send everybody home and we’re going to call them back to vote on budgets and say, ‘Oh we’re not picking up any other issues, we’re just going to do budget bills.’ Iowans, this is your week. This is your week to hold this majority party responsible. They can bring up everything else in this chamber, some of the most awful things I’ve seen. But your property rights? We fought for farmers in this room many times when they’ve been abused. When they’re being surveilled. We don’t want drones over farm land, we’re protecting all that. The very fundamental thing is your property rights. How do you look past that and worry about drones? Worry about cameras? Worry about surveillance? How have we done all of that, but in four years, we can’t have an eminent domain debate on this floor? I am sincere. And if anybody wants to question it, get up. Get up and we’ll have that debate right now. Because I’m ready for this debate. I’m ready for it. And many of you aren’t.”
