Our second deadline for this year’s legislative session is March 15. The eighth week of the session focused on debate, as well as starting our work on the bills we’ve received from the House of Representatives.
A founding principle of this nation is the ability of Americans to buy land and improve their lot in life. This week the Senate passed SF 2324 to protect that opportunity for future generations. It prevents state government from bidding against farmers to purchase land. This bill does not eliminate the ability of landowners to sell land to the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) if they wish. However, it does prevent state government from bidding on land in an auction and using farmers’ tax dollars to compete against them to purchase land.
Last week, the Senate passed Senate File 2204 which strengthens Iowa’s land protection laws and ensures we know who is buying land in our state. The House passed the bill this week, and it is one of the first pieces of legislation this session to be sent to the governor’s desk for her signature. Amid the international uncertainty and the security threats we are constantly experiencing, this bill is one way Iowa can protect our greatest resource from bad actors.
With all of this emphasis on protecting land ownership, I have to wonder why leadership in both House and Senate don’t do more to protect a landowner’s property rights from aggressive companies that seek taxpayer dollars to profit themselves. Both SF 2097 (county ordinances regulating pipelines) and SF 2099 (deals with any project requiring eminent domain) would require a 90% voluntary participation in the project before eminent domain can be used. In my opinion, these projects do not promote the public benefit and convenience, so constitutionally the IUB should not be able to allow eminent domain to be used.
This week the Senate also passed SF 2391, which ensures food products that are grown in a lab or come from plant or insect protein cannot be labeled as beef, chicken, goat, pork, lamb, sheep, or turkey. This does not apply to products labeled as imitation or substitutes according to federal law. A cell-cultivated, insect, or plant protein product is permitted to use an identifiable meat term such as “drumstick” or “sausage” if the label includes a clear qualifying term such as “meatless”, “lab-grown”, or “plant-based.”
The Senate passed SF 108 to require Iowa businesses to use an employment verification system known as E-Verify. E-Verify is a federal database which employers may use to verify the immigration status of a potential employee. The database is very accurate, easy to use, provides immediate results and is free to the employer. More than 5,000 businesses in the state of Iowa already voluntarily use this program to ensure they are only hiring citizens and legal residents.
Illegal immigration has engulfed the southern border and precipitated chaos across the country. The Biden Administration’s refusal to secure the southern border is the principle driving cause of this problem, but the incentives to enter the country illegally are also a significant cause. Easy employment, taxpayer funded benefits, lax border security, and other incentives have created a humanitarian and national security disaster. SF 108 single-handedly cannot solve this problem, but it is one policy implemented at the state level to reduce incentives to cross the border illegally.
I am planning a town hall meeting in Hampton on March 16, 9:00 AM, at the Franklin County Farm Bureau office. I will have another town hall in Webster City on March 23 at 11:00 AM on the Central College campus.
“Remember; democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.” John Adams
That is why our Founders chose to make the United States a “Representative Republic.” Our republic needs the participation of all of you, its citizens.
