On Wednesday, Governor Reynolds vetoed House File 639, a bill that would have been monumental in protecting Iowa landowners’ rights from the threat of Eminent Domain.
In response to this I have sent a request to all members of the House to sign a petition to reconvene the legislature in a special session to override the Governor’s veto.
I have had several constituents reach out asking what steps need to be taken to override the Governor’s veto, so I thought it would be helpful to give you a simple breakdown of what could happen next.
The Iowa Constitution is clear what needs to happen:
The legislature needs to come back in a ‘special session.’ To do this, it requires:
- 2/3rds of the House and 2/3rds of the Senate to sign a petition to hold a special session. By request of the Speaker, the House initiated its petition within minutes of the Governor’s veto.
- If both chambers reach 2/3rds, leaders from both chambers would then set a date for special session to begin.
- If a special session is convened, the legislature could then vote to override the veto of HF639.
The constitution outlines that in order to override a Governor’s veto, it requires 2/3rds of the House and 2/3rds of the Senate to vote in favor of the override, in which case her veto would be overturned and the bill would become law.
Signed by the Governor: Iowa High School Athletics Conference Realignment Act
This bill was in particular interest to some of my constituents in House District 57. House File 783 creates a conference realignment committee to oversee high school athletic conference affiliations. It requires the committee to consider factors such as enrollment, travel distances, and traditional rivalries when evaluating conference changes.
Those of you in the Waverly-Shell Rock Community School District are likely familiar with this issue. Not having a conference can leave some student athletes with less frequent opportunities for competition, more difficult travel schedules, the loss of competitive rivalries, and without the opportunity to compete for conference recognition and awards.
Once this was brought to my attention, I worked with folks from W-SR to try to find a solution, once it became clear to me that the current process was not working. My hope is that this new committee will allow for more robust discussions and the ability to make decisions based on what is best for the student athletes. I was happy to see this make it to the Governor’s desk for a signature.
