Greetings from the Golden Dome. Week 1 of the session has wrapped up. Many bills have been filed, the Governor has laid out her agenda, and each legislator is preparing themselves for what may come. For this week’s Roundup, I will lay out what is on my mind legislatively.
Landowner rights: The House is making it very clear that property rights are their top priority. They have already held a subcommittee and committee to pass out one single and simple bill: no eminent domain for carbon pipelines. I appreciate the simple approach they are taking this year and I will be paying close attention to how the Senate responds.
I have made it very clear that the only thing I will support is a bill that deals solely with the topic of carbon and how eminent domain can be applied. I do not think carbon is a public utility and so it should be looked at differently than all other projects that require the use of eminent domain.
Many in the Senate want to widen the proposed corridor that Summit Carbon Solutions has in its application so they can search out more willing landowners who would like to be a part of the project. I appreciate this approach as well.
Can these two concepts be joined together for a final bill? Will the Governor be open to any changes to current law? These will be the most interesting questions looking for answers this session.
Property Taxes: The House, Senate, and Governor have made it clear this is one of our top issues, but each has a different concept on how to address it.
I believe when we sit down and study the three concepts, there will be some things we can agree on. For me personally, if we can come up with a system that doesn’t allow local governments to simply hide behind rising assessments every year—but rather forces them to take tough votes on raising levy rates—we will have a system that is more accountable to the people which will automatically keep taxes lower.
Within the Governor’s bill, she establishes a new grant that will help incentivize the consolidation of positions and services in local government. She also proposes making the Treasurer, Auditor, and Recorder positions unelected, but rather appointed by Supervisors. These positions should not be politicized and could possibly be consolidated in certain counties. I fully agree with her vision on these two ideas.
A couple of personal bills I have in the works:
Divorce Bill: I hope to pass a bill this year that will create a new option for those desiring to get married. This new option would allow couples to waive “no-fault divorce.” The reason for this is that I believe many would rather have this option than agree to prenuptial agreements due to faith reasons.
Open Enrollment Transportation: A few years ago, Representative Thompson and I were able to get a bill passed to allow more flexibility for parents to find options for transportation. This adjustment was narrow in scope, addressing families that reside within a couple of miles of a neighboring district.
I would like to expand this to include any family that geographically lives closer to a neighboring school district building than the school building of the district they reside in. If we maintain a parents-and-students-first mindset, this bill should be able to pass.
As chair of the Education Budget Appropriations Committee, education funding will be the main thing I will be focusing on in the next couple of weeks. Please reach out to me at jesse.green@legis.iowa.gov if you have any questions. Happy trails until we meet again at the next Capitol Roundup.
