This past week the 2026 legislative session got underway. It is truly an honor and a privilege to represent everyone in Bremer, Butler, Chickasaw and Floyd Counties! I believe with your input and help we will be able to do some good things this year for the people of Iowa!
I am looking forward to seeing you at my town hall meetings, all of which will be held on Saturday mornings. Waverly and Charles City town hall meetings were held this past weekend. The rest of the meetings are scheduled over my district in all 4 counties and are set as follows:
Saturday, Jan. 31st in Greene at the Greene Public Library from 9 to 10 a.m.
Saturday, Jan. 31st in New Hampton at the New Hampton Public Library from 11 a.m. to Noon
Saturday, Feb. 7th in Sumner at Sumner Public Library from 9 to 10 a.m.
Saturday, Feb. 7th in Nashua at the Nashua Welcome Center (Gateway to Northeast Iowa Welcome Center) from 11 a.m. to Noon
Saturday, Feb. 14th in Denver at the Denver Community Room from 9 to 10 a.m.
Saturday, Feb. 14th in Parkersburg at the Parkersburg Public Library from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 21st in Fredericksburg at Upham Memorial Library from 9 to 10 a.m.
Saturday Feb. 21st in Allison at the Allison Public Library from 11 a.m. to Noon
Rep. Charley Thomson will join me when he can.
Governor’s Priorities
Governor Kim Reynolds gave her “Condition of the State” speech last week.
She has proposed her budget and her plan is to spend $9.6 billion from the General Fund in FY 2027. This is an increase of $180 million over last fiscal year, about a 2% increase.
Among the major items in the governor’s budget are:
- $31 million increase for Supplemental State Aid (SSA) for schools, which is a 2% increase
- $7.6 million increase for the Regents schools; $1.6 million to UNI for workforce development (neighboring state tuition program) and nursing program expansion
- $3.6 million increase for community colleges
- $31 million net increase for Medicaid
The governor’s budget makes some changes to income tax law:
- Expands the tax-deductible savings account for first-time homebuyers
- Expands the Beginning Farmer Tax Credit
- Maintains coupling with changes in the federal income tax changes in the One Big Beautiful Bill:
- No tax on tips
- No tax on overtime
- No tax on car loan interest with certain qualifications
- Enhanced deduction for seniors
Other governor priorities:
- Bans the use of certain dyes and additives for public school meals.
- Put into law requirements to purchase only healthy foods in the SNAP program, meaning no soda and no candy
- Allow ivermectin to be sold over-the-counter without a prescription
- Require state agencies to use federal immigration databases to confirm a prospective employee is a U.S. citizen or is eligible to work in the U.S.
- Require everyone registering to vote to swear they are a U.S. citizen
Property Tax Reform
Many Iowans are feeling the weight of increased property taxes over the last few years, making it difficult to afford and maintain the property they own. Iowa is the 10th worst state in the country for property tax burdens. Property taxes are the most unfair tax because they rise whether your income rises or not.
There are 2 plans proposed so far:
- Governor’s plan:
- Cap local government’s revenue growth at 2%, except for new construction, debt service, and school funding
- Freeze property tax bills for Iowans ages 65 and up whose homes are valued at $350,000 or less.
- Property tax assessments would be done only every 3 years instead of every 2 years as it is now.
- TIF would be reformed-limited to public purposes within public infrastructure, redevelopment, and economic development projects. Project time limit would be 20 years.
- Senate plan:
- For Iowans 60 and older, once you finish making loan payments on your primary house, the one you actually live in, whether it be a mortgage loan or a HELOC, you do not pay any more property taxes, except those that are voter-approved.
- A homeowner gets a 50% permanent taxable value discount on your primary house. Eliminates the rollback which changes from year to year.
- When property value inflation goes up more than 2%, (excluding new growth and construction) the levy rate automatically goes down.
- Allows locals to raise their Local Option Sales tax from 1 penny to 1.5 pennies, thus providing an opportunity for local governments to increase their revenue.
- Allows the gas tax to increase if the cost to construct roads increases. It is only allowed to go up by 1 penny a year. Since cities and counties get 53% of the road use funding, this provides another source of income for local governments to address infrastructure needs, like repairing roads and bridges. Road use funding is required by law to be only used for roads and bridges.
- The method for computing property taxes for agricultural land remains the same.
Eminent Domain
With the inaction on the part of Senate leaders for a number of years and the governor’s veto of the property rights bill we struggled to pass last session, we are back to square one on addressing the issue of eminent domain for CO2 pipelines. The House has their bill, which is a simple bill banning the use of eminent domain for CO2 pipelines. It has passed the House Judiciary Committee and will be ready for the floor next week. Senate leaders are getting a bill ready to introduce that allows the CO2 pipeline company to go outside the corridor approved by the IUC and find any wiling landowner who wants to sign on to give the company an easement. This issue is likely to be a point of great contention in the legislature again this year.
Other Issues I’m Working On
Education: The Dept. of Education’s revised social studies standards still need to be stronger in promoting American heritage, legacy, and citizenship and eliminating left-leaning indoctrination. Better enforcement still needs to be implemented for those schools that persist in violating the prohibition on teaching and promoting DEI and CRT. Laws should also be updated so that we don’t license someone who is not a U.S. citizen or not allowed to work in the U.S. to be in our schools, i.e. the Des Moines Schools superintendent situation that surfaced last fall.
Pornography: We need to protect kids from exposure to pornography they can find online on school and library computers and in sexually explicit materials in our public libraries. 39% of all internet activity is pornographic. Every day, 25% of all internet searches are pornography related. Our sex-related crime increases reflect these damaging and disastrous statistics. Many of our laws protecting kids were put in place 40 years ago when pornography was delivered by telephone and printed material. Those days are over.
Pro-Life: We need to address the issue of chemical abortion as the abortion industry has now moved to a business model that steers women away from health care providers. New studies show that 11% of women who take these pills suffer an adverse event and some end up in the emergency room. Chemicals are now being trafficked into our state by bad actors violating the pro-life laws we have in our state.
Religious Liberty: We need conscience protections for health care providers, mental health counselors, adoptive and foster care parents, and students to ensure they can carry out their job duties and studies in accordance with their faith.
Election Integrity: We need a Voter ID requirement for mail-in absentee voters so we can know that the person who requested the ballot is actually the person who voted the ballot. We should require same day registering voters to vote a provisional ballot instead of a regular ballot, so those votes are not counted before the voter is verified as a legitimate voter. We also need to prohibit the use of AI in elections.
Government Overreach Issues Leftover from COVID: There still needs to be reform to our disaster emergency law to include greater protections for the rights of citizens, families, businesses, and churches during a public health disaster emergency. We also need to protect the long-held prescribing and dispensing authority of our doctors and pharmacists from unnecessary and harmful overreach by state regulating agencies. Also, we should prohibit discrimination against a healthy person because they have or have not received a medical treatment. This applies to employment, as a customer, as a student, and to regular participation in society.
