State Sen Jesse Green, May 12, 2026
Greetings from the Golden Dome! Session has finally come to an end. As I sit back to reflect on the wins and losses, I am full of gratitude for all that we were able to accomplish. For this week’s newsletter, I will focus on a few of the big wins that took a lot of work for us to get done.
Property Tax Reform – We were finally able to come to a compromise between the two chambers and passed major property tax reform. We focused on prioritizing homeowners by enhancing the homestead tax exemption and implementing a 2 percent restriction on local government property tax growth. The legislation, continuing work from 2023, aims to lower levy rates when assessments increase and control local spending. Beyond direct tax relief, the bill introduces increased transparency by providing a new, more detailed taxpayer/local government budget statement to be provided to the taxpayer based on their property. It also creates a fairer residential appeals process by shifting the burden of proof for residential property to assessors based on certain properties that experience a 10% valuation increase in an assessment cycle and require additional information to be provided to the taxpayer related to reasons for the increase.
Tough on Crime – Three Strikes Bill – This bill requires a person convicted of three class “D” or “C” felonies to be sentenced as a habitual offender, requiring a minimum sentence of seven years or a maximum of 20 years with no earned time. Under current law, repeat violent offenders are released back onto the streets where they become a risk to our children and loved ones. By using a strike system with clear warnings, we give individuals every opportunity to change their path. This isn’t about one mistake; it’s about a proven pattern of dangerous behavior. We hope that the threat of a longer prison sentence will prevent future crimes from ever being committed.
Education Innovation – School Choice Expansion –
Charter Schools – In Iowa we have seen 30 new private schools and 10 new public charter schools get established in just two years. I truly believe charter schools will be the future innovator in the public space that helps us become number one in education once again. Charter schools are public schools and cannot reject any student. The first major change this bill made is we will allow the last categorical from state funding, Teacher Salary Supplement (TSS), to follow the student if they enroll in a charter school. Previously, the traditional public school would be able to keep this money even though they weren’t educating the student. The bill also ensures that charter school students can participate in extracurricular activities of the school district they live in if the activity has not already been provided by the charter school. The last major provision for charter schools we changed was establishing a revolving loan program fund to help charters acquire suitable school facilities.
Accredited Private Schools – We created a new additional window for ESA applications. Most school choice states have more than just one window. This change certainly makes sense for Iowa since we are still the only Midwest state to have full school choice and as a result we are attracting new families to Iowa. By establishing a second window, we are allowing families to be able to find an option that best suits them if they move here mid-year.
Homeschooling – We expand homeschool freedoms under Independent Private Instruction by erasing the cap requirement of 4 unrelated students and allows IPI to charge tuition or fees, thus allowing Iowa parents to be free to operate small micro schools. Also in this bill, homeschool diplomas, transcripts, and credentials are required to be considered by colleges as equivalent to public or private high school diplomas, transcripts, and credentials. Lastly, we removed red tape from Form A required for Competent Private Instruction.
Additional Water Quality Investments
To help provide additional nitrate removal, we give a one-time, $25M investment to Central Iowa Water Works to double their nitrate removal capacity within three years. This is long overdue when you consider the population growth of the area. Our changes also create a revolving loan fund, with financing available to small and medium sized communities at a loan rate of 1% or less to upgrade water and wastewater infrastructure. Lastly, we provide an additional $500,000 annual appropriation to the DNR to supplement additional water quality monitoring. This will now total nearly $4.0 million for water monitoring investment.
Overall, Iowa invests nearly $100 million annually in water quality, with approximately $50 million supporting non-point source conservation through the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS). This state funding is bolstered by over $530 million in federal and private matching funds, enabling farmers to rapidly scale conservation practices. In the last decade, cover crop usage has seen a tenfold increase to nearly 4 million acres, while the construction of nitrate-reducing wetlands and filtering buffers has accelerated to three to five times the pace of previous decades. These efforts are complemented by innovative IDALS initiatives, such as streamside buffer pilots and a nitrogen soil sampling project launched this year, which target critical watersheds upstream from major metros like Des Moines and Cedar Rapids to proactively filter nutrients and protect source waters.
Next week join me for another glimpse at some other big wins we had this session. Till then, Happy Trails!
