Members,

 

Last Week

President Trump visited Iowa on Tuesday and delivered a speech. Many afternoon subcommittee and committee meetings were rescheduled to accommodate legislators attending the speech.

On Thursday afternoon, the House held back-to-back subcommittee meetings on the House and Governor’s property tax bills. Both bills advanced out of subcommittee with support from the Republican members. Ways and Means Committee Chair and floor manager, Representative Carter Nordman, shared that he would continue to work with stakeholders toward a final solution.

 

Eminent Domain

 Last week, after a brief debate, the House passed House File 2104 to the Senate with a 64-28 vote. The bill would prohibit the use of eminent domain for the construction of carbon capture pipelines.

On Tuesday, the Senate held a subcommittee hearing on the bill, with the Senate Commerce Chair and the Senate Majority Leader serving as the Republican members. The bill advanced out of subcommittee with a recommendation to amend. The following day, the Senate Commerce Committee took up the bill and advanced an amendment to replace the language introduced by Senator Klimesh in Senate File 2067, which includes:

• Allows a company, any time after the mandatory county informational meeting, to contact any landowner within a "voluntary easement corridor" that includes land anywhere in the county, and anywhere within five miles of the initially proposed route, for the purpose of proposing voluntary purchase of easements
• Requires companies provide a landowner all the information presented at the meeting and provides landowners with a right to opt out of any further contact from the company except for mail (which can be easily discarded)
• Requires diligent efforts by a company to assemble a project route using only voluntary easements, such as requiring the company to inform a landowner about the easement it seeks and to request permission to conduct a civil survey (also includes specific deadlines for a survey and for a determination of land suitability), adding additional transparency for landowners
• Provides for a company to present, at a county informational meeting, a template easement and an easement valuation methodology
• Allows a pipeline company to hold a separate general informational meeting, without proposing specific easement terms, to facilitate healthy communication between the company and any interested person

Senator Klimesh stated that he still intends to convene a separate subcommittee to hear public feedback on Senate File 2067.

 

Other Bills of Interest

Senate Study Bill 3015: A bill mandating that the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners and school districts require applicants to provide proof of employment eligibility and that practitioners who do not face renewal requirements provide proof of lawful presence every five years. The bill was unanimously passed out of subcommittee on Wednesday.

House Study Bill 552: A bill that would prohibit local governments from establishing their own forms of identification. The bill was introduced in response to Johnston County’s decade-old community ID program. The bill passed out of subcommittee on a 2-1 vote.

House File 2074: Allows a city to create an entertainment district, allowing for the possession or consumption of alcohol in certain public spaces. The bill passed out of subcommittee on Wednesday.

House Study Bill 558: Establishes a seal of civics excellence program administered by the Department of Education for high school students who have exhibited proficiency in civics. The bill passed out of both the subcommittee and the Education Committee this week.

 

This Week

The legislature will hold subcommittee and committee meetings in advance of the first funnel deadline on February 20^th. There will be limited activity today, as legislators will be in their districts for the 2026 Caucuses.

House Schedule

Senate Schedule

Chris LaFerla

President & CEO
Council Bluffs Chamber