All but one of the 29 Republicans who will serve in the Iowa Senate for the next two years elected their leaders on Friday, changing little from the group that led the minority caucus during the last legislative session.

Bill Dix moves from Senate minority leader to majority leader.

Jack Whitver moves from minority whip to Senate president.

Jerry Behn, who preceded Dix as minority leader but hasn’t been in leadership since 2012, will become Senate president pro tem. He’s the longest-serving current Republican senator.

My own state senator, Charles Schneider, moves from an assistant minority leader position to majority whip.

Dan Zumbach and Randy Feenstra will be assistant majority leaders, having been assistant minority leaders during the last legislative session. The other two assistant majority leaders are new to leadership: Michael Breitbach and Amy Sinclair, the only woman in the 29-member incoming GOP caucus.

After the caucus meeting, Dix spoke only in general terms about the new majority’s plans.

From Rod Boshart’s story for the Cedar Rapids Gazette:

“Make no mistake, our promise to voters was that we are going to make Iowa attractive to career development and more opportunities for Iowa families, and making sure our tax policy reflects that is something we will not take our eye off of,” Dix said. […]

“We know that revenues are tight, and we’ve got to keep our nose to the grindstone in making sure that we are keeping spending in check,” Dix said.

O.Kay Henderson reported for Radio Iowa,

Dix said growing the economy is a priority as well and that means tax changes are in store, but the details of the Senate Republicans’ tax plan will be decided at a later date.

“Clearly, we want to make sure that our tax code is reflective of one that will offer better opportunities for people to keep more of their hard-earned money and also to invest it in our state,” Dix said, “which creates more career opportunities.”

William Petroski reported for the Des Moines Register,

“We are going to make sure that the state budget is treated like the family budget,” Dix said after the meeting. “We need to do a better job of defining our priorities and make sure that we spend less and make government smaller and more efficient. At the same time, we want to move forward policies to grow our state and make our state more attractive for investment and new career opportunities.”

Dix said it’s too soon to discuss specifics of legislation that will be introduced during the upcoming session. […] He said more details about individual bills will be worked out in Republican caucus meetings in the weeks ahead.

Dix and Whitver raised and spent more than a million and a half dollars on this year’s state Senate races. Yet their candidates offered no concrete plans, just vague promises about tax cuts and new jobs. Jeff Edler told viewers, “It’s time for Iowa’s legislators to tighten their belts so hard-working Iowans don’t have to.” Former Iowa House member Mark Lofgren assured voters, “we won’t balance the budget by underfunding vital programs.”

Most Republican spending during the last two months went toward television commercials and direct mail featuring negative talking points against Democratic senators. Many of those attacks were false: opposed a tuition freeze, supported a “ritzy golf tournament,” “trolley for lobbyists,” and “heated sidewalks.”

Which programs will Dix and his comrades-in-arms axe to “make government smaller and more efficient”? What criteria will determine whose belts will be tightened and which “vital programs” will be protected? Whose taxes will Republicans cut, and what services will they eliminate to make up for lost revenue? We have no idea. Maybe most of the senators themselves don’t know and are just waiting for marching orders.

Dix has had years to contemplate what policies he would push as leader of the chamber. Refusing to disclose his agenda suggests he knows his tax cuts would not help the majority of Iowans, and/or his cuts to education and other programs would be unpopular. His plans might not be as extreme as U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan’s blueprint, which would direct 99.6 percent of the tax cuts to the wealthiest 1 percent when fully implemented. Maybe Iowa Senate Republicans will emulate Donald Trump, whose tax plan would give 51 percent of the money to the top 1 percent while raising taxes for many single parents.

Take this to the bank: hard-working Iowans at the lower end of the income scale will see little to no benefit from the tax reform Dix and his colleagues unveil next year.

Some likely Republican policies will cost more than the status quo. Take defunding Planned Parenthood, a dream GOP lawmakers will finally be able to realize, without a Democratic-controlled Senate standing in the way. Iowa can’t simply prohibit the organization from receiving Medicaid funds for birth control or pregnancy and STD tests, because that’s against federal law. Our state Department of Human Services will have to create its own family planning program, giving up federal Medicaid dollars. I suppose GOP lawmakers could discontinue all state-funded contraception services, but going down that road would only increase the number of unplanned pregnancies, and in turn, abortions.

Statehouse reporters should keep pressing Republican leaders for details on how they will use their newfound power.

P.S.- Tim Kapucian and Rick Bertrand were among last year’s assistant minority leaders but will not be assistant majority leaders during the coming legislative session. I don’t know whether they were snubbed or asked for certain committee assignments rather than a leadership role. Bertrand indicated this summer that he is “unlikely” to seek a third term in 2018. I expect him to change his mind, now that Republicans are in the majority. On the other hand, he may not have fond feelings toward his Senate colleagues who endorsed Representative Steve King against Bertrand in this year’s primary to represent the fourth Congressional district.

P.P.S.– During this year’s campaign, Bleeding Heartland had a cameo role in one of the lies told by lying liars (to paraphrase Al Franken). Todd Dorman’s October 21 column for the Cedar Rapids Gazette cited a Republican hit piece on State Senator Liz Mathis:

Of course, just when I’m preparing to ding Democrats and Mathis for fudging a mailer, Republicans and [Rene] Gadelha hit my mailbox with a new one blaming Mathis for Obamacare premium increases. The smoking gun? Mathis attended an Obamacare panel in 2012 led by then-U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley. Gotcha!

Never mind that the state senate didn’t pass, and has no power to fix, Obamacare. That’s Congress. But you knew that, because you’re smarter than a GOP strategist.

I didn’t remember referring to that panel in a roundup of news about the second anniversary of Congress passing the Affordable Care Act. Anyway, thanks for reading, GOP staffers. Next time, use my work in a less misleading way.

The post After campaigning on lies, Iowa Senate Republicans still won’t lay out agenda appeared first on Bleeding Heartland.

The Iowa legislature’s 2017 session begins today with minor adjustments to business in the state House but massive changes in the Senate. After ten years of Democratic control, the last six with a one-seat majority, the upper chamber now contains 29 Republicans, 20 Democrats, and one independent (former Republican David Johnson).

I enclose below details on the Iowa Senate majority and minority leadership teams, along with all chairs, vice chairs, and members of standing Senate committees. Click here to find the same information from the 2016 legislative session.

Just six senators are women (five Democrats and a Republican), down from ten women serving in the chamber in 2013 and 2014 and seven during the past two years. All current senators are white. To my knowledge, the only African-American ever to serve in the Iowa Senate was Tom Mann, elected to two terms during the 1980s. No Latino has ever served in the Iowa legislature; in 2014, Nathan Blake fell 18 votes short of becoming the first to join the Senate. No Asian-American has served in the state Senate since Swati Dandekar resigned in 2011.

As a group, the members of the new majority caucus have much less legislative experience than do their Democratic counterparts. As detailed below, only three of the 29 Senate Republicans have served ten or more years in the Iowa legislature, compared to thirteen of the 20 Democrats.

Some non-political trivia: the 50 Iowa senators include two with the surname Johnson, four Marks, three Bills, and two men each named Richard (Rich and Rick), Robert (a Rob and a Bob), Dan, Tim, Tom, Jeff, and Charles (one goes by Chaz).

Senate Republicans

First elected in 1996: Jerry Behn

First elected in 2004: Brad Zaun

First elected in 2008: Randy Feenstra, Tim Kapucian

First elected in 2010: Bill Dix (ten years previous service in Iowa House), Rick Bertrand, Roby Smith, Bill Anderson, Mark Chelgren

First elected in a 2011 special election: Jack Whitver

First elected in 2012: Dennis Guth, Mark Segebart, Jake Chapman, Amy Sinclair, Ken Rozenboom, Dan Zumbach, Mike Breitbach

First elected in a 2012 special election: Charles Schneider

First elected in a 2013 special election: Julian Garrett (three years service in the Iowa House)

First elected in 2014: Tom Shipley, Jason Schultz (six years in Iowa House), Tim Kraayenbrink

First elected in a 2014 special election: Mark Costello

First elected in 2016: Waylon Brown, Dan Dawson, Jeff Edler, Tom Greene, Craig Johnson, Mark Lofgren

Senate Democrats

First elected in 1982: Wally Horn (10 years previous service in Iowa House)

First elected in a 1994 special election: Bob Dvorsky (eight years in Iowa House)

First elected in 1996: Matt McCoy (four years in Iowa House)

First elected in 1998: Joe Bolkcom

First elected in a 2002 special election: Amanda Ragan

First elected in 2002: Bill Dotzler (six years in Iowa House), Herman Quirmbach

First elected in 2004: Jeff Danielson

First elected in 2006: Rob Hogg (four years in Iowa House)

First elected in 2008: Pam Jochum (sixteen years in Iowa House)

First elected in 2010: Tod Bowman

First elected in a 2011 special election: Liz Mathis

First elected in 2012: Janet Petersen (twelve years in Iowa House), Rita Hart, Rich Taylor

First elected in 2014: Tony Bisignano (six years in Iowa House and four in Iowa Senate during 1980s and 1990s), Kevin Kinney, Chaz Allen

First elected in 2016: Nate Boulton

First elected in a 2016 special election: Jim Lykam (fourteen years in Iowa House)

Iowa Senate Republican leadership team

Majority Leader Bill Dix served ten years in the Iowa House, ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2006, then defeated a Democratic Senate incumbent in 2010. After a failed attempt to become minority leader the following year, Dix was chosen for the position shortly after the 2012 general election. He represents Senate district 25, covering Hardin and Grundy counties and parts of Story and Butler counties.

Senate President Jack Whitver represents Senate district 19, covering Ankeny and other parts of northern Polk County. He served as minority whip last year.

Senate President Pro-Tem Jerry Behn preceded Dix as minority leader but hasn’t been in leadership since 2012. He represents Senate district 24, covering all of Boone, Hamilton, and Greene counties and part of Webster.

Majority Whip Charles Schneider was an assistant minority leader during the last legislative session. He has since 2013 represented Senate district 22, covering Windsor Heights, Clive, Waukee, and parts of West Des Moines in Polk and Dallas counties.

Two of the four assistant majority leaders were assistant minority leaders last year:

Randy Feenstra is serving his third term and represents Senate district 2, covering Sioux, O’Brien, and Cherokee counties.

Dan Zumbach has since 2013 represented Senate district 48, covering Delaware County and parts of Jones, Linn, and Buchanan counties.

The other two assistant majority leaders are new to leadership:

Michael Breitbach has since 2013 represented Senate district 28, covering all of Allamakee and Clayton counties, most of Winneshiek County, and about half of Fayette County.

Amy Sinclair, the only woman in the GOP Senate caucus, has since 2013 represented Senate district 14, covering Clarke, Decatur, Lucas and Wayne counties, most of Marion County, and a small portion of Jasper County.

Iowa Senate Democratic leadership team

After 20 years as either majority or minority leader of his caucus, Mike Gronstal lost his 2016 re-election bid.

Minority Leader Rob Hogg represents Senate district 33, covering part of Cedar Rapids in Linn County. He is serving his third term in the upper chamber and unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate in 2016.

Minority Whip Amanda Ragan is serving her fourth term and represents Senate district 27, which includes Mason City and most of Cerro Gordo County as well as Franklin County and most of Butler County.

Assistant minority leaders:

Joe Bolkcom is serving his fifth term and represents Senate district 43, covering most of Iowa City in Johnson County.

Bill Dotzler is serving his fourth term and represents Senate district 31, covering a large area in Waterloo in Black Hawk County.

Rita Hart has since 2013 represented Senate district 49, covering Clinton County and part of Scott County.

Liz Mathis helped Democrats retain control of the chamber by winning a 2011 special election and has since been re-elected twice in Senate district 34, covering some surburban areas in Linn County.

Matt McCoy was first elected to the Iowa Senate in 1996 and represents Senate district 21, covering much of the south side of Des Moines and part of West Des Moines in Polk County.

Herman Quirmbach is serving his fourth term and represents Senate district 23, covering Ames and some rural areas in Story County.

Iowa Senate Standing Commitees

Agriculture

Chair: Dan Zumbach (see above)

Vice Chair: Waylon Brown was just elected for the first time in Senate district 26, covering Worth, Floyd, Chickasaw, Mitchell, and Howard counties, and parts of Cerro Gordo and Winneshiek counties.

Ranking member: Kevin Kinney was first elected in 2014 and represents Senate district 39, covering Washington and Keokuk counties and a large area in Johnson County.

Other members: Ken Rozenboom (R), Jeff Edler (R), Tom Shipley (R), Tim Kapucian (R), Mark Segebart (R), Mark Costello (R), Amanda Ragan (D), Tod Bowman (D), Rich Taylor (D), Rita Hart (D)

Appropriations

Chair: Charles Schneider (see above)

Vice Chair: Tim Kraayenbrink was first elected in 2014 and represents Senate district 5, covering Calhoun, Humboldt, and Pocahontas counties, as well as most of Webster County.

Ranking member: Joe Bolkcom (see above) He chaired the Ways & Means Committee when Democrats controlled the chamber.

Other members: Dan Zumbach (R), Julian Garrett (R), Dennis Guth (R), Mark Lofgren (R), Ken Rozenboom (R), Tom Shipley (R), Mark Costello (R), Rick Bertrand (R), Tom Greene (R), Craig Johnson (R), Mark Chelgren (R), Nate Boulton (D), Jeff Danielson (D), Bill Dotzler (D), Rita Hart (D), Rob Hogg (D), Liz Mathis (D), Matt McCoy (D), Amanda Ragan (D)

Commerce

Chair: Bill Anderson was first elected in 2010 and represents Senate district 3, covering much of Woodbury County (including southern neighborhoods in Sioux City) and most of Plymouth County. He was ranking member of this committee for the past two years.

Vice Chair: Mike Breitbach (see above)

Ranking member: Janet Petersen chaired this committee during the previous legislature. First elected to the Senate in 2012 after serving for 12 years in the Iowa House, she represents Senate district 18, covering parts of northern and eastern Des Moines in Polk County.

Other members: Rick Bertrand (R), Dan Zumbach (R), Amy Sinclair (R), Craig Johnson (R), Randy Feenstra (R), Brad Zaun (R), Dennis Guth (R), Chaz Allen (D), Nate Boulton (D), Jim Lykam (D), Liz Mathis (D), Matt McCoy (D)

Economic Growth

Senate Republican leaders chose to eliminate this committee, for reasons I haven’t seen anyone explain in public. My impression has been that lawmakers like talking about their work in this area. The committee continues in the GOP-controlled Iowa House.

In a December press release, Minority Leader Hogg slammed the “decision to gut legislative oversight of Iowa’s job creation efforts,” saying, “The Senate Economic Growth Committee has helped Iowans create jobs with innovative programs in infrastructure, community development, and emerging technologies. The committee’s job is to improve these efforts and provide a safeguard against crony capitalism.”

Education

Chair: Amy Sinclair (see above) She was ranking member on this committee during the previous legislature.

Vice Chair: Jeff Edler was just elected for the first time in Senate district 36, covering Marshall and Tama counties and part of Black Hawk County.

Ranking member: Herman Quirmbach (see above) He chaired this committee in recent years.

Other members: Jerry Behn (R), Tim Kraayenbrink (R), Tom Greene (R), Mark Chelgren (R), Ken Rozenboom (R), Mark Lofgren (R), Craig Johnson (R), Tod Bowman (D), Bob Dvorsky (D), Rita Hart (D), Liz Mathis (D), Jeff Danielson (D)

Ethics

This committee has three members from each party in accordance with Iowa law.

Chair: Jerry Behn (see above)

Vice Chair: Dennis Guth was first elected in 2012 and represents Senate district 4, covering Emmet, Kossuth, Winnebago, Hancock, and Wright counties.

Ranking member: Wally Horn was first elected to the Iowa Senate in 1982 and represents Senate district 35, covering a large area of Cedar Rapids in Linn County.

Other members: Mark Costello (R), Pam Jochum (D), Kevin Kinney (D)

Government Oversight

Chair: Mike Breitbach (see above)

Vice Chair: Amy Sinclair (see above)

Ranking member: Matt McCoy (see above)

Other members: Mark Lofgren (R), Janet Petersen (D)

Human Resources

Chair: Mark Segebart was first elected in 2012 and represents Senate district 6, covering Buena Vista, Sac, Carroll, and Audubon counties, plus part of Crawford County.

Vice Chair: Mark Costello was first elected in a 2014 special election to replace Joni Ernst and represents Senate district 12, covering Mills, Montgomery, Fremont, Page, Taylor, and Ringgold counties.

Ranking member: Liz Mathis (see above)

Other members: Julian Garrett (R), Mark Chelgren (R), Tom Greene (R), Craig Johnson (R), Jake Chapman (R), Tom Shipley (R), Joe Bolkcom (D), Pam Jochum (D), Herman Quirmbach (D), Amanda Ragan (D)

Judiciary

Chair: Brad Zaun was first elected in 2004 and represents Senate district 20, covering Urbandale, Johnston, Grimes, and other areas in northwest Polk County.

Vice Chair: Dan Dawson was just elected for the first time in Senate district 8, covering Council Bluffs and Carter Lake in Pottawattamie County.

Ranking member: Rich Taylor was first elected in 2012 and represents Senate district 42, covering Lee and Henry Counties and parts of Jefferson and Washington.

Other members: Julian Garrett (R), Tom Shipley (R), Amy Sinclair (R), Charles Schneider (R), Jason Schultz (R), Jeff Edler (R), Tony Bisignano (D), Nate Boulton (D), Janet Petersen (D), Kevin Kinney (D)

Labor and Business Relations

Chair: Jason Schultz was first elected in 2014 and represent Senate district 9, covering Ida, Monona, Harrison, and Shelby counties, along with parts of Crawford and Woodbury counties. He is known to some Bleeding Heartland readers as the only state lawmaker who has called me a traitor.

Vice Chair: Brad Zaun (see above)

Ranking member: Nate Boulton was just elected for the first time in Senate district 16, covering much of the east side of Des Moines and Pleasant Hill in Polk County.

Other members: Jake Chapman (R), Waylon Brown (R), Mark Costello (R), Dennis Guth (R), Mike Breitbach (R), Bill Dotzler (D), Rich Taylor (D), Tony Bisignano (D)

Local Government

Chair: Julian Garrett was first elected in a 2013 special election and represents Senate district 13, covering Madison County and most of Warren County.

Vice Chair: Mark Lofgren was just elected for the first time in Senate district 46, covering parts of Muscatine and Scott Counties.

Ranking member: Chaz Allen was first elected in 2014 and represents Senate district 15, covering most of Jasper County and eastern areas in Polk County.

Other members: Tim Kraayenbrink (R), Tom Greene (R), Dennis Guth (R), Mark Segebart (R), Mark Chelgren (R), Herman Quirmbach (D), Bob Dvorsky (D), Matt McCoy (D)

Natural Resources and Environment

Chair: Ken Rozenboom was first elected in 2012 and represents Senate district 40, covering Mahaska, Monroe, and Appanoose Counties, and parts of Marion and Wapello Counties. He was previously ranking member on this committee.

Vice Chair: Tom Shipley was first elected in 2014 and represents Senate district 11, covering Adams and Union counties, most of Cass County, and most of Pottawattamie County outside the Council Bluffs city limits.

Ranking member: Bob Dvorsky was first elected in 1994 and represents Senate district 37, covering Coralville and a large area in Johnson County as well as Cedar County.

Other members: Mike Breitbach (R), Jerry Behn (R), Tom Shipley (R), Waylon Brown (R), Bill Anderson (R), Tim Kapucian (R), Rick Bertrand (R), Joe Bolkcom (D), Kevin Kinney (D), Rita Hart (D), Jim Lykam (D), David Johnson (independent) Senate Democrats gave Johnson one of their slots on this committee.

Rules and Administration

Chair: Bill Dix (see above)

Vice Chair: Jack Whitver (see above)

Ranking member: Rob Hogg (see above)

Other members: Jerry Behn (R), Charles Schneider (R), Roby Smith (R), Randy Feenstra (R), Amy Sinclair (R), Bob Dvorsky (D), Amanda Ragan (D), Pam Jochum (D)

State Government

Chair: Roby Smith was first elected in 2010 and represents Senate district 47, covering Bettendorf and parts of Davenport in Scott County.

Vice Chair: Jake Chapman was first elected in 2012 and represents Senate district 10, covering most of Dallas County, a little bit of Polk and Cass counties, and all of Adair and Guthrie Counties.

Ranking member: Tony Bisignano was elected in 2014 and represents Senate district 17, covering parts of downtown Des Moines and the south side. He previously served six years in the state House and four years in the Senate during the 1980s and 1990s.

Other members: Bill Anderson (R), Brad Zaun (R), Randy Feenstra (R), Jason Schultz (R), Dan Dawson (R), Waylon Brown (R), Charles Schneider (R), Tod Bowman (D), Jeff Danielson (D), Janet Petersen (D), Wally Horn (D), Pam Jochum (D)

Transportation

Chair: Tim Kapucian was first elected in 2008 and represents Senate district 38, covering Benton, Iowa and Poweshiek counties.

Vice Chair: Mike Breitbach (see above)

Ranking member: Tod Bowman was first elected to the Senate in 2010 and represents Senate district 29, covering Jackson, most of Dubuque County (but not the city of Dubuque) and a large area in Jones County. He chaired this committee in the previous legislature.

Other members: Dan Zumbach (R), Bill Anderson (R), Rick Bertrand (R), Tim Kraaeynbrink (R), Tom Greene (R), Roby Smith (R), Jeff Danielson (D), Tony Bisignano (D), Wally Horn (D), Jim Lykam (D)

Veterans Affairs

Chair: Mark Costello (see above)

Vice Chair: Ken Rozenboom (see above)

Ranking member: Wally Horn (see above)

Other members: Rick Bertrand (R), Mark Lofgren (R), Jeff Edler (R), Mark Segebart (R), Dan Dawson (R), Chaz Allen (D), Tod Bowman (D), Amanda Ragan (D)

Ways & Means

Chair: Randy Feenstra (see above)

Vice Chair: Jerry Behn (see above)

Ranking member: Former Senate President Pam Jochum was first elected to the chamber in 2008, having previously served 16 years in the Iowa House. She represents Senate district 50, covering Dubuque.

Other members: Waylon Brown (R), Dan Dawson (R), Bill Anderson (R), Mike Breitbach (R), Jason Schultz (R), Roby Smith (R), Jeff Edler (R), Bill Dotzler (D), Joe Bolkcom (D), Janet Petersen (D), Matt McCoy (D), Herman Quirmbach (D)

Appropriations Subcommittees

Administration and Regulation

Chair: Dennis Guth (see above)

Vice Chair: Jake Chapman (see above)

Ranking member: Liz Mathis (see above)

Other members: Dan Zumbach (R), Jim Lykam (D)

Agriculture/Natural Resources

Chair: Tom Shipley (see above)

Vice Chair: Waylon Brown (see above)

Ranking member: Rita Hart (see above)

Other members: Ken Rozenboom (R), Kevin Kinney (D)

Economic Development

Chair: Mark Lofgren (see above)

Vice Chair: Mike Breitbach (see above)

Ranking member: Bill Dotzler (see above)

Other members: Tom Greene (R), Chaz Allen (D)

Education

Chair: Tim Kraayenbrink (see above)

Vice Chair: Craig Johnson was just elected for the first time in Senate district 32, covering Bremer County and parts of Fayette, Buchanan and Black Hawk.

Ranking member: Jeff Danielson was first elected in 2004 and represents Senate district 30, covering Cedar Falls, part of Waterloo and some rural areas in Black Hawk County.

Other members: Jason Schultz (R), Herman Quirmbach (D)

Health and Human Services

Chair: Mark Costello (see above)

Vice Chair: Mark Segebart (see above)

Ranking member: Amanda Ragan (see above)

Other members: Jeff Edler (R), Joe Bolkcom (D)

Justice Systems

Chair: Mark Chelgren was first elected in 2010 and represents Senate district 41, covering much of Wapello County and all of Davis and Van Buren counties.

Vice Chair: Dan Dawson (see above)

Ranking member: Bob Dvorsky (see above)

Other members: Julian Garrett (R), Nate Boulton (D)

Transportation, Infrastructure, and Capitals

Chair: Rick Bertrand was first elected in 2010 and represents Senate district 7, covering most of Sioux City in Woodbury County.

Vice Chair: Tim Kapucian (see above)

Ranking member: Matt McCoy (see above)

Other members: Bill Anderson (R), Tod Bowman (D)

Administrative Rules Review Committee

Five Iowa House and five Iowa Senate members serve on this committee. The Senate’s five representatives on this committee are Mark Chelgren (R, chair), Mark Costello (R), Jack Whitver (R), Rich Taylor (D), Pam Jochum (D)

The post Who’s who in the Iowa Senate for 2017 appeared first on Bleeding Heartland.

A Republican bill that would have made Iowa courts far less accessible to ordinary people will die in an Iowa Senate subcommittee, GOP State Senator Charles Schneider told Bleeding Heartland on February 25. Bill Brauch, former director of the Consumer Protection Division in the Iowa Attorney General’s Office, explained here how the so-called “loser pays” bill “would in effect kill Iowa’s private consumer fraud law, and just about eliminate any other type of legal action by an individual against a defendant with money.”

Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Brad Zaun introduced Senate Study Bill 1008 during the first week of the legislative session, then assigned it to a subcommittee chaired by Schneider. Following a February 25 public forum in Clive, I asked Schneider about that bill’s status. He replied, “I don’t think it’s going anywhere. I haven’t held a subcommittee meeting for it, and I’m not planning to.”

I mentioned that Senate Majority Leader Bill Dix had named “loser pays” as one of his top four priorities in an interview with Radio Iowa. Schneider responded, “I’m not planning to hold a subcommittee meeting on it. I don’t think any other tort reform bills include a ‘loser pays’ section in them.”

Under Iowa legislative rules, most non-appropriations bills will be dead for the year if they have not cleared at least one Iowa House or Senate committee by the first “funnel,” coming up on Friday, March 3. The leaders of subcommittees and committees have discretion on what bills to bring up for a vote.

I’m pleasantly surprised to learn Senate Study Bill 1008 will go down without a fight. Only a month and a half ago, Dix cited a “measure that ensures losers in those court cases pay for the cost associated with the case” as one of “four bills that I believe define us and give Iowans a clear indication of where we plan to go with policies for our state.” The Iowa Association of Business and Industry, a lobby group with substantial influence among statehouse Republicans, registered in favor of this bill almost immediately. Perhaps Schneider, who practices law as a day job, was able to convince non-attorneys Dix and Zaun that “loser pays” is unnecessary and unfair. Or perhaps Zaun miscalculated by putting Schneider in charge of this subcommittee.

Whatever caused this bill’s demise, any bit of good news from this dreadful legislative session is worth celebrating.

UPDATE: Reader Marian Kuper noticed that Senate Study Bill 1144 contains a “loser pays” clause for nuisance lawsuits against large livestock farms. Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Dan Zumbach proposed that bill, which contains several provisions designed to shield confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) from lawsuits. It has passed a subcommittee and appears likely to survive the funnel, with support from several Big Ag lobby groups.

The post Key Iowa Senate Republican: “Loser pays” bill going nowhere appeared first on Bleeding Heartland.

One of the anti-abortion community’s top legislative priorities, a bill declaring that life begins at conception, appears likely to perish in this week’s “funnel.” Social conservatives introduced companion “personhood” bills in the Iowa House and Senate two weeks ago. Under legislative rules, all non-appropriations bills must pass at least one committee in one chamber by March 3 in order to remain eligible for consideration this year.

However, House File 297 has not even been assigned to a House Human Resources subcommittee, and Senate File 253 appears not to have the votes to get out of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

As Bleeding Heartland discussed here, top Republicans in the House and Senate were noticeably absent from the list of personhood co-sponsors. In the lower chamber, the bill was referred to Human Resources, where committee chair Joel Fry was not a co-sponsor, even though he had backed similar legislation in 2011 and 2013. Committee leaders have the power to bury bills quietly. By not assigning House File 297 to a subcommittee, Fry has guaranteed that it will not come up for a vote in the full committee by this Friday.

In the Senate, the bill declaring that life begins at conception was referred to the Judiciary Committee, led by Brad Zaun. He’s one of the 20 Republican co-sponsors, joined by independent Senator David Johnson. I wondered whether something was up last week, when Zaun assigned the bill to a new subcommittee including himself. On February 25, he told a large audience in Urbandale that he hadn’t studied the personhood issue (even though his name was on the bill, and he’s co-sponsored similar legislation before).

Zaun showed his hand at a crowded February 27 subcommittee hearing on Senate File 253. He and State Senator Jason Schultz voted to move the bill forward, ignoring testimony suggesting it would not stand up in court. Republicans aware well aware of that reality, which is why section 2 of the bill states, “The Iowa Supreme Court shall not have appellate jurisdiction over the provisions of this Act.”

As the Judiciary Committee chair, Zaun could bring up personhood before Friday. None of the five Democrats serving on Senate Judiciary would support Senate File 253, which means that supporters can afford to lose only one of the eight Republican votes to get the bill out of committee.

Four of the Republicans on Judiciary (Dan Dawson, Julian Garrett, Tom Shipley, and Charles Schneider) are not among the personhood co-sponsors. A fifth Republican on that committee, Amy Sinclair, did sign on as a co-sponsor but may be wavering; she was the original subcommittee chair on the legislation before Zaun formed a new panel last week.

The FAMiLY Leader group, a leading voice for Iowa social conservatives, sent out this e-mail blast today:

ACTION ALERT: Your one email TODAY could save babies’ lives!

Dear Friend of the Family,

We don’t have much time. And neither do the over 3,000 babies who are likely to be killed by abortion in Iowa next year. We need you to take action TODAY.

Click here to send one, simple email that could make all the difference!

JackWhitver
Iowa Senate President Jack Whitver
Senate File 253 would establish in Iowa law that life begins at conception, the first step in defending every precious mother and baby from the horrors of abortion.

But the fate of SF253 may very well lie in the hands of one man today, Senate President Jack Whitver. The duties and powers of his office enable him to move SF253 to a committee that can pass it before the “funnel” deadline of this Friday, after which it may be too late for SF253 to advance this year.

Would you please send Sen. Whitver an email today, encouraging him to advance SF253?

Click here for a simple tool that makes sending your email quick and easy!

THANK YOU for taking action today. This may be our best chance in 40 years, since Roe v. Wade, to defend the lives of unborn babies. If not now … when? If not you … who?

For the Family,

Bob Vander Plaats, President and CEO, The FAMiLY LEADER

P.S. – To do even more, including contacting your legislators as well, donating, signing the petition, watching the new viral “She’s a Baby” video, and more, visit ShesABaby.com today!

Fortunately for Iowans who care about women’s rights (but unfortunately for anti-abortion activists), Whitver isn’t co-sponsoring personhood. Neither is Senate Majority Leader Bill Dix. I doubt Whitver will be swayed by a bunch of pleading e-mails.

GOP Senator Jake Chapman is rumored to be circulating a discharge petition seeking to bring personhood to the Senate floor if the bill dies in the funnel. (I’m seeking confirmation and will update this post as needed.) Chapman would likely have trouble obtaining 26 signatures.

Any relevant comments are welcome in this thread. Please let me know of any communication from Republican senators indicating whether they would support a bill declaring life begins at conception. The following nine Republicans didn’t co-sponsor Senate File 253: Dix, Whitver, Schneider, Shipley, Garrett, Dawson, Waylon Brown, Tim Kapucian, and Dan Zumbach. Brown told Laura Hubka at a recent legislative forum that he won’t vote for personhood because he and his wife have stored frozen embryos.

UPDATE: Senate File 253 is on the Judiciary Committee’s agenda for March 2, which suggests Republicans may have found enough votes to bring it out of committee.

The Senate majority leader has the final say on which bills come to the floor, so even if personhood passes Zaun’s committee, Dix will not be obliged to call it up for a vote in the full Senate. I’m very interested to know what constituents hear back from Dix or Whitver about this bill.

MARCH 2 UPDATE: The personhood bill was removed from the agenda of today’s Senate Judiciary Committee meeting. Zaun told Steffi Lee of CBS-2 News in Cedar Rapids that he was disappointed not to have enough votes from Republican senators to pass the bill.

Senate File 53, a 20-week abortion ban, is still alive. This bill seems much more likely to reach Governor Terry Branstad’s desk, since it is similar to legislation the Republican-controlled Iowa House approved in 2011.

The post “Personhood” in trouble as Iowa legislative deadline approaches appeared first on Bleeding Heartland.

Republicans have already inflicted immeasurable harm on Iowans during the 2017 legislative session, taking rights away from more than 180,000 workers, slashing funding for higher education and human services, and approving the third-smallest K-12 school funding increase in four decades. The worst part is, they’re nowhere near finished.

Iowa Senate Minority Leader Rob Hogg has flagged twelve of the most destructive bills still alive in the GOP-controlled House and Senate. Any Iowan can attend public hearings scheduled for March 6 or 7 on four of those “dirty dozen” bills. Those who are unable to come to the Capitol in person can submit written comments on the legislation or contact Republican state representatives or senators directly by phone or e-mail.

Here’s what you need to know about the four bills most urgently requiring attention.

House File 484 (formerly HF316), dismantling the Des Moines Water Works board

Public hearing: 10 am to 11 am on Monday, March 6 in room 103 (Supreme Court Chamber)

Points to raise when submitting a public comment or speaking directly to GOP representatives and senators about House File 484 or its companion, Senate Study Bill 1146:

• Suburban customers of Des Moines Water Works didn’t ask for this bill and don’t want this bill (especially important if you are contacting Polk County Republicans).
• The bill would interfere with economic development projects in central Iowa.
• The bill takes away local control over independent utilities.
• The bill is a smokescreen designed to stop the Des Moines Water Works from advocating for less polluted waterways.
• Republican lawmakers have promised to support stronger water quality efforts statewide, but this bill would take Iowa backwards.

Background:

The Des Moines Water Works sued three northwest Iowa drainage districts in January 2015, seeking better enforcement of the federal Clean Water Act. Drake Law School Professor Neil Hamilton summarized the key legal issues in this presentation and a shorter op-ed column for the Des Moines Register. The lawsuit angered powerful agricultural interest groups and Republican politicians including Governor Terry Branstad and Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey.

Republican lawmakers retaliated by introducing companion bills this year (House File 316 and Senate Study Bill 1146) to replace the Des Moines Water Works board with a regional authority. For some reason, the House bill was renamed House File 484 on March 1.

Although the stated purpose of this legislation is to give residents of the Des Moines suburbs more say in Water Works management, its lead sponsors in the House and Senate don’t live in central Iowa. GOP leaders referred the bills to the agriculture committees in both chambers, rather than to committees that would normally handle local government issues. The floor managers are Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Dan Zumbach and State Representative Jarad Klein; both are farmers with ties to agricultural interest groups.

Zumbach has ludicrously denied that House File 484 and Senate Study Bill 1146 were inspired by the Water Works lawsuit against the drainage districts. But everyone following the issue knows that Big Ag wants this bill in order to derail that litigation. That’s why every major environmental group in Iowa is registered against the legislation.

House Republicans tried to dismantle the Water Works board last year. Speaking to the Des Moines Register at that time, Klein admitted that “smaller cities that buy water from Des Moines Water Works — including Urbandale, West Des Moines and Ankeny — did not request the change.” The Iowa Senate (still under Democratic control) refused to go along with efforts to destroy the Water Works. But Republicans have enough seats in both chambers now to take revenge.

Just like in 2016, suburban governments didn’t ask the legislature to reorganize the water utility. On the contrary: Kim Norvell reported for the Des Moines Register last month that the Water Works bill threatened a planned Microsoft data center in West Des Moines and “could put the brakes on suburban cities’ efforts to move forward with their own water treatment plants.” An amended version of the House bill “will allow contracts made before the new law is enacted to stand”–namely, the Microsoft project–but “would continue to prohibit planning, design or construction of new water production and treatment plants.”

Strangely, lobbyists for the city of Des Moines are registered in favor of this bill. City Council Member Skip Moore has indicated officials view the current proposal as less harmful than last year’s version. As Water Works board member Graham Gillette noted,

Klein has received support for and, possibly, help to draft this vindictive bill from a group of lobbyists/attorneys who represent both the Iowa drainage districts and the city of Des Moines. While it can be argued such a glaring conflict of interest would prevent a group of attorneys from representing entities serving people on opposite sides of a federal court case, the support Klein is receiving from the Des Moines City Council is even more dubious.

Des Moines City Council Member Christine Hensley has been a vocal critic of the DMWW lawsuit. Now, Hensley’s city council has made the decision to support HF 316 outside of the public meeting process. The public does not know which council members support dismantling DMWW, although Mayor Frank Cownie told me he would remain neutral, and council member Skip Moore has stated his opposition.

Why did the city of Des Moines hire lobbyists who also represent drainage districts? MacKenzie Elmer reported for the Des Moines Register last month,

Jim Carney, Doug Struyk and Shannon Henson of Des Moines-based Carney & Appleby Law were hired to represent the city’s interests. They also work at the Iowa Capitol on behalf of the Iowa Drainage District Association. […]

The Iowa Drainage District Association has provided legal and financial support for the drainage districts being sued.

Des Moines received bids from three lobbying firms interested in representing the city on a contract basis this legislative session. Carney & Appleby disclosed the firm’s representation of the drainage districts in its bid, but Des Moines Councilman Skip Moore, who opposes the bill, said he was unaware of the ties when the lobbyists were hired in November.

Carter Howe published a good article about the Water Works bill in the Grinnell College student newspaper.

“We want to call it for what it is; it’s a power grab by Farm Bureau and its allies in the legislature to quiet our opposition to industrial agricultures pollution effect’s on our surface waters,” [Water Works CEO Bill] Stowe said. “If it were about regionalization, it wouldn’t be coming from a hog farmer in southeastern Iowa. It would be coming from a suburban or urban legislator here in central Iowa.” […]

Stowe also said that suburban customers, whom the bill claims to be aiding, do not support it and that efforts have been made in the past at giving suburban communities more say in the governance of the utility but were unsuccessful because of the high cost of assuming a stake in the utility’s capital assets involved.

MacKenzie Elmer and Kim Norvell followed up for the Register after after Klein’s bill passed the Iowa House Agriculture Committee.

Klein met with mayors from cities that receive their water from Des Moines Water Works last week. City officials raised concerns about who would hold the power on a regional water authority board and whether the bill would halt cities from making planned infrastructure improvements, among other issues. […]

Sioux City’s Rep. Chris Hall, the only Democrat on the three-person House Agriculture Subcommittee, questioned whether the bill is rushing a process that could be worked out among local officials.

“If the goal was to try and get local mayors and city councils engaged, goal accomplished,” Hall said. “We do not need to intervene. Local control is working well.”

Des Moines Water Works CEO Bill Stowe said the willingness of the bill’s sponsor to remove the mandate for a regional water authority shows the legislation was never about providing better service to suburban customers. […]

Dale Acheson, general manager of the Urbandale Water Utility, said Iowa residents already have the power to force the creation of regional utilities if they want them. The legislation does nothing more than strip away local citizens’ control over their independent utilities, he said.

House File 295, pre-empting local government authority

Public hearing: 5 pm to 6:30 pm on Monday, March 6 in room 103 (Supreme Court Chamber)

Points to raise when submitting a public comment about House File 295 or speaking directly to GOP representatives and senators:

• Lowering the wages of 65,000 Iowa workers is unfair and will hurt the economy.
• There is no public interest in preventing local governments from setting wages or environmental regulations that are right for their areas. If voters don’t like it, they can throw the bums out at the next election.
• For decades, Iowa Republicans have claimed to be the party of “local control.” This bill suggests such principles mean nothing.
• The bill would let landlords discriminate against vulnerable Iowans, solely because they may be elderly or living with a disability or surviving primarily on alimony or child support. Lawmakers should not help landlords target people who have done nothing wrong.
• Veterans who were wounded while serving this country are among those who could lose their homes if this bill becomes law.

Background:

House File 295 has two main goals: nullifying the minimum wage increases that Johnson, Linn, Polk, and Wapello county governments approved in 2015 and 2016, and preventing city or county authorities from passing ordinances that offer greater protection than the Iowa Civil Rights Act. A third provision, which blocks local governments from regulating “containers used to transport consumer merchandise,” is a reaction to the plastic bag ban being considered in Dubuque.

Senator Hogg has pointed out that House File 295 would lower wages for 65,000 Iowans who live in affected counties, which have higher costs of living than some other parts of the state. Less income for low-wage workers means fewer potential customers for local businesses selling goods and services.

Governor Branstad indicated last year that he would support a slightly higher statewide minimum wage in exchange for revoking local government authority in this area. But House File 295 would leave Iowa’s minimum wage at $7.25, where it has been since a Democratic-controlled legislature approved the last increase in January 2007. Five of the six states bordering Iowa have higher minimum wages.

Corporate-funded groups backing this bill, like the Iowa Association of Business & Industry, argue “there needs to be a clear policy across the state, not a patchwork.” Echoing business lobbyist talking points, House Speaker Linda Upmeyer has said employers need “uniformity” in wage rates: “Having a patchwork all over the state doesn’t work out very well and now we have also a patchwork within a county.”

Show me one company with multiple employees that pays all its workers the same hourly wage or annual salary. Payroll departments know how to accommodate different wage levels, depending on the employee’s experience, responsibilities, or length of time in the job.

The Iowa Civil Rights Act has banned discrimination based on sexual orientation since 2007, but some local governments have approved increased protections for LGBTQ citizens. Courtney Crowder and Kevin Hardy reported for the Des Moines Register on February 26,

After getting pushback, legislators proposed an amendment last week to strike the broader civil rights restrictions, zeroing in instead on the source-of-income protections Marion and Iowa City approved for renters.

[State Representative Jake] Highfill said the amendment is targeted at those using housing vouchers, such as participants in the federal Section 8 program that helps the poor. Republicans and business leaders argue landlords shouldn’t be forced to do business with the government.

But advocates say that’s just an excuse, that landlords really want to avoid renting to low-income people who receive disability payments, Social Security, child support or even alimony, advocates said.

Highfill chairs the Iowa House Local Government Committee, which proposed House File 295. GOP State Representative John Landon offered the amendment Crowder and Hardy referenced. I recommend clicking through to read their whole Des Moines Register article. The piece includes an interview with Joe Stutler, an Army veteran living with disabilities in Marion, a suburb of Cedar Rapids.

Stutler created this cartoon depicting House File 295 as tantamount to revising Iowa’s motto to read, “Your liberties we despise and your rights we will restrain.”

Stutler also gave me permission to share some of his recent correspondence with Hogg, which tells the backstory of the threatened Marion ordinance:

Marion’s Civil Rights Ordinance (Chapter 31 of the city code) was adopted back in 2011, as the city’s population had grown to a point where they were required by state statute to establish a Civil Rights Commission. When developing the ordinance, they used the assistance of the Cedar Rapids Civil Rights Commission and patterned Chapter 31 on CR’s ordinance (Chapter 69). At that time, an additional protected class – Lawful Source of Income – was being considered for Cedar Rapids. Marion’s Chapter 31 ended up including LSoI, while lobbying from some landlords and realtors successfully blocked CR from adopting it.

LSoI is defined as:
Chapter 31.02 Definitions
14. “Lawful source of income” means any lawful, verifiable source of money paid directly or indirectly to or on behalf of a renter or buyer of housing, including income derived from:
A. Any lawful profession or occupation.
B. Any government or private assistance, subsidy, voucher, grant, or loan program.
C. Any gift, inheritance, pension, annuity, alimony, child support, or other consideration or benefit.
D. Any sale or pledge of property or interest in property.

Chapter 31 built in some protections for sellers/landlords at 31.21:
31.21 FAIR HOUSING – EXCEPTIONS FOR LAWFUL SOURCE OF INCOME.
The protection against lawful source of income discrimination shall not prohibit a person from:
1. Refusing to consider income derived from any criminal activity; or
2. Determining the ability of any potential buyer or renter to pay a purchase price or pay rent by:
A. Verifying, in a commercially reasonable manner, the source and amount of income of the potential buyer or renter, including any rental or purchase payments or portions of rental or purchase payments that will be made by other individuals, organizations or voucher and rental assistance payment programs on the same basis as payments to be made directly by the potential buyer or renter
B. Evaluating, in a commercially reasonable manner, the prospective stability, security and credit worthiness of the potential buyer or renter or any source of income of the potential buyer or renter, including any rental or purchase payments or portions of rental or purchase payments that will be made by other individuals, organizations or voucher and rental assistance payment programs.

It’s not a “must rent/sell to anyone” ordinance as some would like to spin it. LSoI simply says that you can’t exclude any income lawfully derived (as defined) from the rental/purchase evaluations.

Marion’s ordinance protects some of our most vulnerable: low income, disabled, elderly, families, veterans…anyone who gets income from sources that the landlord/seller might not like.

Almost a year ago, on March 3, 2016, I heard the best example of why this ordinance is necessary. At the Marion City Council meeting that evening a landlord asked the council to remove LSoI from Chapter 31. Her reason was that she didn’t want to have to rent to people who received a “benefit” and not a “wage”. She really seems to dislike Section 8 recipients.

Rob, I’m a disabled war Veteran. My primary source of income is a “benefit” – VA Disability. When I was single and still living in your district, I qualified for Section 8. I have also qualified for “food stamps” at various times, and I currently qualify for medicaid. While that landlord is prohibited by state and federal statute from discriminating against me due to my disabilities, she can say she doesn’t like where my money comes from – except in Marion, where Chapter 31 has LSoI.

HSB 92 wants to gut local control of Civil Rights. Apparently Republicans think folks should be able to discriminate against disabled war Vets, as long as they do it by saying “your money’s no good here.”

House File 516, enacting voter ID and other obstacles to voting

Public hearing: 7 pm to 8:30 pm on Monday, March 6 in room 103 (Supreme Court Chamber)

Points to raise when submitting a public comment about House File 516 or speaking directly to GOP representatives and senators:

• This bill is an expensive solution in search of a problem. Only a handful of ballots were cast by ineligible voters in Iowa during the 2016 election–mostly by mistake.
• Neither Voter ID nor signature verification rules would have prevented a small number of ineligible voters to cast ballots last year.
• Iowa already has good procedures to verify voters’ identity, when they register.
• Tens of thousands of Iowans will have more trouble exercising their fundamental constitutional rights if this bill becomes law. Although Pate has promised that valid identification will be provided at no charge to every Iowa voter who doesn’t have a driver’s license, the bill states that “providing voter registration cards is contingent upon adequate appropriations.”
• Iowa’s budget is already under strain. This bill will add new expenses without any measurable benefit, since voter impersonation fraud is non-existent.
• Closing polls an hour earlier on election day and shortening the window to cast early ballots will make it harder for many Iowans to participate in the election. UPDATE: According to John Deeth, Republicans have abandoned efforts to shorten the early voting window.
• Iowa’s same-day voter registration process works well. Forcing all election-day registrants to cast provisional ballots will create delays at the polls for no good reason. Long wait times could prevent or discourage some Iowans from voting.

Background:

House File 516 is the successor to House Study Bill 93, proposed by Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate. This bill would impose new voter ID and signature verification requirements. For details on how Pate’s original proposal could disenfranchise thousands of eligible voters, read any or all of the following:

• Bleeding Heartland’s original post on Pate’s proposal, the day he announced some of its provisions;
• John Deeth’s “deep dig” into Pate’s proposal;
• My analysis of two documents Pate used to press his case before the text of his bill was published;
• This commentary by the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa after the bill text finally appeared;
• A guest post by the ACLU of Iowa’s policy counsel Daniel Zeno, focusing on how voter ID requirements would discriminate against African-Americans.

Pate and other Republicans have tried mightily to push this bill as a way to protect “election integrity” in Iowa. But as Ryan Foley reported for the Associated Press on February 12, voter fraud is virtually non-existent in Iowa.

Iowa’s top elections official, who is pushing for a voter identification requirement that could make it harder for some to vote, has only been informed of 10 votes that were potentially improper out of nearly 1.6 million counted statewide in the November election.

Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate’s office learned of a handful of cases of alleged double votes and votes cast by ineligible felons on Election Day that were counted, according to a summary of “general election irregularities” obtained by The Associated Press under the open records law.

Further review by the AP showed that most of the instances were mistakes rather than fraud, and may not have been stopped by an identification requirement. They included a non-English speaking citizen who mistakenly voted when he registered and again on Election Day, a felon whose voting rights had been restored in Wisconsin but not Iowa, and a non-citizen who turned herself in after learning later she shouldn’t have been eligible to vote. […]

Asked which, if any, of the known irregularities the identification requirement would prevent, [Pate spokesperson Kevin] Hall was non-specific: “Secretary Pate’s Election Integrity Act is a comprehensive, technology-driven proposal aimed at streamlining the system, reducing human error and protecting against fraud.”

Johnson County Auditor Travis Weipert has been a leading critic of Pate’s efforts. He released this statement on February 20:

Iowa’s election administrators are opposed to Secretary Of State Paul Pate’s Voter ID bill, which is an unnecessary solution to a nonexistent problem. The Iowa State Association of Auditors (ISACA) voted earlier this month to oppose the bill.

Iowa Voters Are Already Identified – At Registration

Every Iowan who registers to vote needs to provide a correct name and date of birth, a valid ID number (Iowa license or Social Security), and a current, valid address. If the auditor’s office can’t verify a voter’s name, birthdate, and ID number against the license or Social Security database, the voter is on Pending status. If mail to the voter’s address is undeliverable, the voter is placed on Inactive status. Inactive and Pending voters must resolve these issues before they are allowed to vote.

Voter “Fraud” Is Rare

Just last week, Secretary of State Pate’s Office acknowledged they have “only been informed of 10 votes that were potentially improper out of nearly 1.6 million counted statewide in the November election.” None of these cases were a voter impersonating another voter, the only type of fraud an ID law could potentially stop. http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/2017/02/12/iowa-aware-only-handful-improper-votes/97821298/

Additional Voter Restrictions Are Being Considered

Multiple bills restricting voter rights are under consideration by the legislature, including shorter periods to request absentee ballots (in Pate’s bill), an end to election day registration (HF 150), and a stricter, narrower ID proposal (SF 47). These items could easily be amended into the “Voter Integrity” bill, or passed along with it.

Deeth, who has worked in the Johnson County Elections Office for nineteen years, took a close look at amendments unveiled last week.

The 11 page amendment by GOP Rep. Ken Rizer, chair of the State Government Committee, would among other things:

• Close the polls for primary and general elections an hour earlier at 8 PM
• Cut the early voting window from 40 days to 29
• Make auditors wait an extra week to mail ballots
• Make all election day registration voters in some precincts cast provisional ballots
• Eliminate the still very popular straight ticket voting option.

None of those provisions would promote the “integrity” of Iowa elections, but several of them could reduce the number of ballots cast. Deeth explained how Rizer’s amendment would affect Johnson County, the most Democratic (by far) of Iowa’s 99 counties. UPDATE: Deeth notes Republicans moved early voting window “back to the current 40 days.”

The Iowa House Democratic staff prepared this analysis of House File 516 on March 3:

House File 518, which would decimate the workers’ compensation system

Public hearing: 6 pm to 7:30 pm on Tuesday, March 7 in room 103 (Supreme Court Chamber)

Points to raise when submitting a public comment about House File 518 (or its companion Senate Study Bill 1170) when speaking directly to GOP representatives and senators:

• Iowa’s workers’ compensation system already works well and received an “A” grade from the Insurance Journal in 2015.
• The bill is one-sided, giving employers many new advantages while taking rights away from injured workers.
• Sweeping changes to a system affecting thousands of people should be thoroughly discussed, not rammed through the legislature in little more than a week.
• The bill is unfair to workers who become disabled for life on the job.
• The bill is especially unfair to older workers or those who are overweight.
• Although many shoulder injuries occur in meatpacking plants, this bill would make it almost impossible for injured workers to file successful workers’ compensation claims.
• By creating grounds to deny many legitimate workplace injury claims, this bill would shift costs onto taxpayers, who ultimately pay for Medicaid and Social Security disability programs.

House File 518 is on the same fast track as the collective bargaining bill Republican lawmakers sent to the governor’s desk last month, less than ten days after its contents were revealed. First published on the legislature’s website on February 27, the workers’ compensation legislation moved through Iowa House and Senate committees within days. Notably, GOP leaders referred the bill to each chamber’s Commerce Committee, rather than the panel that would normally handle labor issues.

Side note: House Commerce Committee Chair Peter Cownie is rumored to be on the short list of candidates whom Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds might appoint as lieutenant governor after Branstad leaves the scene. Ramming through a wide-ranging bill to hurt Iowa workers may be his way of auditioning for the job. Eldon Roth, the CEO of the meat processing company Beef Products Inc., was also one of the largest donors to the Reynolds campaign committee in 2015 and 2016.

Speaking to the Des Moines Register’s Kevin Hardy last week, Democratic State Senator and labor attorney Nate Boulton said the dramatic” and “far-reaching” workers’ compensation bill resembled “a corporate and insurance company wish list, in terms of not aiming at a balanced system, but really fixing the system for one-sided outcomes.”

Dennis McElwain warned in a guest column for today’s Sioux City Journal, the “safety net that exists to protect you and your family is soon to be shredded.”

This new law includes over a dozen changes that, taken together, gut your entitlement to fair compensation. (I only have space here to discuss a few of these changes.)

It raises the burden of proof, making it harder if not impossible for an employee with a pre-existing condition to prove her injury is a cause of disability. […] Now, the vast majority of currently legitimate injury claims will be denied, shifting the burden of expense onto you, your group insurance, or Medicaid and Social Security disability programs.

Next, HF 518 targets those of you who are older workers. If a work injury leaves you totally disabled, weekly benefits end at age 67, even if you’re totally disabled for life. If you suffer an injury after you reach 67, you will not draw benefits for more than 150 weeks, even if you’re totally disabled for life. So, if a 66-1/2 year-old construction worker falls through a roof, and is now left quadriplegic for life, he will receive weekly benefits for six months, not a nickel more. If he’d waited and had the injury at age 67, he would receive weekly benefits for 150 weeks.

Next, HF 518 drastically shrinks benefits for shoulder injuries. Under current law, for example, a rotator cuff tear requiring surgery is compensated as industrial disability. You receive weekly benefits equal to your lost earning capacity (a percentage) multiplied times 500 weeks. The new law would compensate a shoulder injury as a scheduled member: the most you will ever receive is the doctor’s impairment rating (usually 5 to 10 percent) multiplied by the value of your arm (250 weeks). No more, even if your injury causes you to lose your job or ends your career. Even if you undergo shoulder replacement surgery, the usual functional impairment rating of 22 percent will pay out no more than one year in benefits, even if you are now disabled for life. Gutting benefits as such for shoulder injuries will be a windfall to heavy industry, like meatpacking, where workers are at high risk for shoulder injuries.

Hardy’s story had more to say on that angle:

A provision of the bill specifically mentions shoulder injuries, which West Des Moines attorney Mark King said appears to be aimed at appeasing meatpacking companies. He previously represented defendants in workers’ compensation cases, but now represents injured workers.

He said shoulder injuries are common in meatpacking plants.

“These meatpackers are going right at their workers, saying, ‘OK, the shoulder is the biggest part of the body we have to pay for. Let’s make those claims worth nothing,’” King said. “It’s a grand design.”

That grand design is sure to bring a smile to Eldon Roth’s face. Maybe the CEO of Beef Products, Inc. will write an even larger check to the Reynolds campaign for governor in 2017.

Nate Willems, a former Iowa lawmaker and labor attorney, e-mailed me to highlight another harmful aspect of the bill:

Look at Section 17 (end of page 10 into page 11). This goes to the heart of the question of “is it a workers’ compensation claim?” The standard has always been “material contributing factor.” This bill changes that to “the predominant factor.”

So, you would now have the burden to show that most of the medical evidence shows that it was the work injury, standing alone, that was the predominant factor in causing a current disability.

In other words, an insurance company or employer may simply deny claims because they believe the worker was old or fat. It may be true that the 53-year old, 240 lb., construction worker heard a pop in his back when he lifted a pallet. However, the MRI shows some age-related degenerative change in his lumbar spine and he does have a body mass index of 37, so we can’t say that the traumatic event was the predominant factor.

If it’s not a workers’ compensation injury, the worker is on their own insurance for medical care. If they cannot work or have any degree of permanent disability, they are on their own for income. If they cannot work at all, they are also ineligible for unemployment benefits.

Workers’ compensation is complicated for the public and for legislators. This bill is also complicated. However, the worst part of the bill is incredibly easy for anybody to understand. This bill in Peter Cownie’s committee allows insurance companies to deny an injured worker’s claim for medical care and benefits simply because they are old or overweight.

Despite an enormous number of public comments urging lawmakers not to destroy collective bargaining rights, Republicans moved that bill rapidly through the Iowa House and Senate. Democrats don’t have the votes to stop them from doing the same with the workers’ compensation bill, but Republicans may hesitate if they hear from thousands of constituents this week.

UPDATE: This two-page analysis by the Iowa Association for Justice shows that “Average premium costs in Iowa’s workers’ compensation system are low, and are some of the steadiest rates in the nation.”

Top image: Cartoon by Joe Stutler, used with permission.

The post What you need to know to fight the next four terrible Iowa Republican bills appeared first on Bleeding Heartland.

Iowa Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Charles Schneider has pledged not to include language dismantling the Des Moines Water Works in any spending bill this year.

Legislative action to transfer authority over the Des Moines Water Works from an independent board of trustees to area city councils was once seen as nearly a sure thing, thanks to strong support from the Iowa Farm Bureau. But Republican leaders never brought House File 484 up for debate before a legislative deadline in late March. The bill now sits on the “unfinished business” calendar, fueling speculation that it may rise from near-death before lawmakers adjourn for the year.

Governor Terry Branstad has been an outspoken critic of Des Moines Water Works leaders since the utility sued three northwest Iowa counties in 2015, demanding better enforcement of the Clean Water Act to reduce agricultural runoff. At the Waukee legislative forum on April 8, I asked Schneider about a rumor that Branstad has told House and Senate leaders to get the Water Works bill on his desk, and that such language may be attached to the “standings” bill in order to accomplish that end. The standings bill is typically among the last pieces of legislation considered each year and can become a grab bag of provisions power-brokers demand. Would Schneider commit not to add Water Works language to the standings bill or any other appropriations bill coming out of his committee?

Schneider: That’s the first I’ve heard of the standings rumor. It’s not going to go in my standings bill, and I’m not going to support a Water Works bill unless the Des Moines Water Works, West Des Moines Water Works, and Urbandale Water Works themselves–the utilities, not the cities, the utilities–tell me they would like to see some language in there to give them the ability to regionalize on their own.

Bleeding Heartland: So, you won’t put that in any appropriations bill.

Schneider: I’m not putting it in my standings bill.

Republican State Representative Rob Taylor responded to my question as well:

And I also sit on Appropriations on the House side now. I’m not the chair, but I wouldn’t support putting it in that standings bill either. I think that a bill with that kind of substance–although I will say, that the original bill, and the House version with the amendments from Representative [Jarad] Klein have changed substantially from the original bill–I think that’s a, that’s a critical enough bill for or against that it needs to stand on its own. And putting it on an appropriation is not appropriate, and I would fight tooth and nail to prevent it.

I enclose below the official video from yesterday’s Waukee forum. The relevant response from Schneider begins at 1:20:00.

Here’s hoping Schneider has the clout to keep Water Works language out of any final spending bills. He also serves as majority whip, the third-ranking Senate GOP leadership position. The three independent utilities Schneider mentioned oppose the Water Works bill. The city of Des Moines is still registered in favor of House File 484, but the city of West Des Moines changed its stance last month from “for” to “undecided.”

To my knowledge, most of the Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee have taken no public position on this legislation. I’m wary because Appropriations Chair Pat Grassley formerly chaired the Agriculture Committee, where the Water Works bill originated. Assisting the Farm Bureau’s revenge mission could bring political benefits to Grassley, who is widely expected to run for Iowa secretary of agriculture if Bill Northey does not seek re-election in 2018. A front group for the Farm Bureau called the Iowa Partnership for Clean Water ran radio ads supporting the Water Works legislation.

UPDATE: On Iowa Public Television’s “Iowa Press” program this weekend, O.Kay Henderson asked Senate President Jack Whitver, “Will the Iowa legislature dismantle the Des Moines Water Works?” After hesitating for a moment, Whitver answered simply, “No.”

SECOND UPDATE: William Petroski reported for the Des Moines Register on April 10,

With the 2017 session scheduled to adjourn as early as next week, Senate President Jack Whitver, R-Ankeny, said Monday the Republican-sponsored legislation probably won’t pass this year. But the issue is not dead long-term, he added.

“I would like to see some sort of regionalization done” to allow more cooperation with suburban officials, Whitver told The Des Moines Register. “But that doesn’t mean that you blow up Des Moines Water Works in the process. So we are continuing to work on the details. But I think it will be difficult to get done this session.” […]

Sen. Dan Zumbach, R-Ryan, chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, said he met Monday morning with representatives of the Urbandale and West Des Moines water utilities. If the legislation fails to win approval this year, it’s possible it could resurface in the 2018 session, he said, although he believes the issues could also be addressed voluntarily.

“I think all interested parties are trying to work towards a good solution, and get rid of some of the hoopla and get down to the reality of what it is and what it isn’t, and to get to a solution,” Zumbach said.

The Iowa legislature doesn’t need to be involved in any “solution,” Senator Zumbach. A Harper Polling survey commissioned by the Water Works showed that 68 percent of respondents living in the Water Works service area oppose the goal of House File 484, and 88 percent said “people who live in the community” (not the state legislature) should have “the final say” on municipal utilities.

I’m encouraged to hear more Republican lawmakers say publicly that the Water Works bill won’t move this year. But Grassley hasn’t committed to leaving this language out of his standings bill, and Branstad has reportedly made clear that he wants to sign this legislation. No one should take anything for granted until lawmakers have gone home for the year.

Waukee Chamber of Commerce legislative forum, April 8, 2017:

APRIL 19 UPDATE: True to his word, Schneider did not include Water Works language in the standings bill.

Top image: screen shot from Waukee Chamber video of the April 8 legislative forum.

The post Top Iowa Senate appropriator: No Water Works language in my spending bills appeared first on Bleeding Heartland.

A comprehensive medical cannabis bill received strong bipartisan support in the Iowa Senate Appropriations Committee today and could pass the full chamber as early as tomorrow.

The big question now is whether key House Republicans will accept a giant step toward relief for thousands of sick and suffering Iowans.

When a broad medical cannabis bill last came before the Iowa Senate in April 2015, it barely passed with 26 votes (all but one of the Democrats, joined by GOP Senator Brad Zaun). That bill, championed by Democratic Senator Joe Bolkcom, would have permitted the use of some cannabis derivatives (but not smokeable marijuna) for any of the following “debilitating medical conditions”:

Cancer
Multiple sclerosis
Epilepsy
AIDS or HIV
Glaucoma
Hepatitis C
Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (often known as Lou Gehrig’s disease)
Ehlers-danlos syndrome
Post-traumatic stress disorder
“Severe, chronic pain caused by an underlying medical condition that is not responsive to conventional treatment or conventional treatment that produces debilitating side effects”
“Any other chronic or debilitating disease or medical condition or its medical treatment” approved by the Iowa Department of Public Health

That bill didn’t advance in the House in 2015. The following year, it was scaled back in one House committee before dying in another. Democratic efforts to bring it to the House floor failed, as Bleeding Heartland discussed in detail here.

Although Senator Charles Schneider voted against Bolkcom’s bill two years ago, he has repeatedly promised this year to push for medical cannabis legislation that covers more Iowans and is more workable than the current law. As chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Schneider can bring up bills that did not make it through the legislature’s “funnel,” and he has been consulting with lawmakers from both parties.

The fruit of their labor appeared on the legislature’s website on April 11. Senate Study Bill 1190 would reclassify “marijuana, including tetrahydrocannabinols, from a schedule I controlled substance to a schedule II controlled substance.” It would allow Iowans to use medical cannabis in more forms than the cannabis oil permitted under current law (but still not smokeable marijuana). It would expand the number of diseases or conditions for which a doctor could prescribe medical cannabis even further than the 2015 bill:

Cancer, if the disease or its treatment produces intractable pain, nausea or severe vomiting, or cachexia or severe wasting
Multiple sclerosis
Epilepsy or seizure disorders
AIDS or HIV
Glaucoma
Hepatitis C
Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Ehlers-Danlos syndrome
Post-traumatic stress disorder
Tourette’s syndrome
Any terminal illness, with a probable life expectancy of under one year, if the illness or its treatment produces intractable pain, nausea or severe vomiting, or cachexia or severe wasting
Intractable pain
Parkinson’s disease
Muscular dystrophy
Huntington’s disease
Alzheimer’s disease
Complex regional pain syndrome, type I and II
Rheumatoid arthritis
“Any other chronic or debilitating disease or medical condition or its medical treatment” approved by the Iowa Department of Public Health.

The bill also spells out conditions for in-state medical cannabis manufacturers and dispensaries, subject to regulation, and would allow Iowans with a medical cannabis registration card to use dispensaries in Minnesota.

Under the new legislation, health care professionals could not be prosecuted for possession or administration of marijuana arising from providing treatment to people with debilitating medical conditions. Patients with a valid medical cannabis registration card would have an affirmative defense to any prosecution for unlawful possession of marijuana.

The new bill contains a couple of provisions designed to placate skeptics. First, as mentioned above, patients would still be prohibited from smoking marijuana. Second, employers would be allowed to enforce zero-tolerance policies on cannabis, including medical cannabis, and those policies could not be considered unfair or discriminatory.

The bill would take effect immediately upon enactment, rather than at the start of the next fiscal year.

This morning, a Senate Appropriations subcommittee approved Senate Study Bill 1190, and later today, the full Appropriations Committee passed the bill, with eleven Republicans voting in favor (Schneider, Tim Kraayenbrink, Craig Johnson, Mark Lofgren, Mark Chelgren, Julian Garrett, Tom Greene, Dennis Guth, Ken Rozenboom, Tom Shipley, and Dan Zumbach) and only one opposed (Mark Costello). Senator Rick Bertrand was absent.

Bolkcom and fellow Democrats are confident a strong bipartisan vote will send this bill to the House in the next few days. After clearing the committee, the bill was renamed Senate File 506.

Why are so many more Republican lawmakers willing to support a comprehensive medical cannabis bill now, compared to two years ago? Speaking after today’s committee hearing, Democratic State Senator Bill Dotzler attributed the “astounding turnaround” to people speaking directly to senators about why they or their loved ones need access to this medical treatment. Bolkcom and State Senator Matt McCoy urged Iowans to contact House members now.

Getting this bill through the lower chamber will be a heavy lift. Some House Republicans resist expanding the allowable use of cannabis to cover conditions like PTSD and chronic pain. Republican State Representative Clel Baudler, who introduced a much more limited cannabis bill earlier this year, commented today, “I think the chance of that passing is very, very, very nil at least in the House. Some time three days after hell freezes over that bill will pass in the House.”

Speaker Linda Upmeyer, seen as the primary obstacle to broad medical cannabis legislation (despite being a nurse practitioner by training), told reporters today that the new Senate bill is “a bit too much.” She indicated House Republicans are open to some expansion of the current law, including in-state production and sales. William Petroski and Brianne Pfannenstiel reported for the Des Moines Register,

A bill is still alive in the House that would extend the sunset date of the current cannabis oil program and make available a cannabis-based product called Epidiolex once it’s approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

“Those two things would, I think, be done either way,” Upemeyer said. “But I think there’s an opportunity to do more. I’m just not sure (the Senate’s legislation) is the bill.”

Rep. Jarad Klein, R-Keota, who has had a lead role in drafting medical marijuana legislation in the House, agreed with Upmeyer that the House Republicans favor a more limited approach than offered in the Senate bill. For example, he said he wants to avoid a loosely-regulated system where almost anyone could claim to have an illness in an effort to obtain medical marijuana.

“We are focused on the oil, focused on science,” Klein said. “We want something that cannot be abused. We are definitely opposed to recreational use, so we are trying to not let much through.”

With the latest Des Moines Register poll showing 80 percent support for medical marijuana and the current medical cannabis law due to expire July 1, Republicans are under pressure to do something on this issue before adjourning for the year. I expect the House to take up Senate File 506 but significantly reduce its scope. Then we’ll see whether senators insist on something close to Schneider’s bill or go along with whatever Upmeyer can stomach.

Any relevant thoughts are welcome in this thread.

UPDATE: I forgot to mention the lobbyist declarations. Several health advocacy organizations are registered in favor of the new Senate bill, including the Brain Injury Alliance of Iowa, Easter Seals Iowa, the Epilepsy Foundation, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society-Upper Midwest Chapter, and the Veterans National Recovery Center. The Iowa Medical Society and the Iowa Pharmacy Association are registered against, even though the only two pharmacists who serve in the legislature (House Democrat John Forbes and Senate Republican Tom Greene) support comprehensive medical cannabis reform.

SECOND UPDATE: The Senate Ways and Means Committee approved the medical cannabis bill on April 13 by fourteen votes to one. Republicans Randy Feenstra, Jerry Behn, Bill Anderson, Mike Breitbach, Waylon Brown, Jeff Edler, Jason Schultz, and Roby Smith joined the six committee Democrats to send the bill to the Senate floor. Republican Dan Dawson was the only no vote.

Remarkably, nineteen of the 29 Senate Republicans voted this week for comprehensive medical cannabis reform–and that doesn’t include Brad Zaun, who hasn’t voted on the bill yet because he doesn’t serve on either Appropriations or Ways and Means.

P.S.- Some opponents of medical cannabis worry that marijuana will fall into the wrong hands. Note that no one ever suggests banning any prescription medications for that reason, despite a large and growing opioid addiction problem. Erin Miller, whose son benefits from cannabis oil to treat his rare genetic condition, responded to that argument in a guest column for the Cedar Rapids Gazette last month.

In states with medical cannabis laws, opiate abuse actually declines. According to a study published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine in October 2016, opiate-related deaths decreased by 33 percent within six years in states that legalized cannabis from 1999-2010. According to the “Healthy Kids Colorado Survey” (conducted by the Colorado Department of Health), teen marijuana use has actually stayed flat and is just below the national average. In fact, 62 percent of middle and high school students in CO say they have never used marijuana at all.

With the 2014 Medical Cannabidiol Bill set to repeal on July 1, 2017, I worry that my son’s medicine will be stripped away in fear of the “what ifs” vs the reality that many sick and suffering Iowans are out of options. Our doctors are recommending cannabis and our lawmakers are standing in the way. […]

Before Cannabis — my son was a regular at the Emergency Rooms and Urgent Care Clinics. We had multiple hospital stays annually with lengthy (and very expensive) stays at out-of-state specialty hospitals. Not to mention the cost of his anti-epileptic drugs which led to increased hospital stays, subspecialty clinic visits and repeat follow-ups for seizure related issues.

After cannabis, my son is going on 600 days seizure-free. He hasn’t had an ambulance ride or a hospital stay due to an emergency since 2015. We have been able to wean him 100 percent off the dangerous anti-epileptic pharmaceuticals and he is thriving on medical cannabis oil thanks to the Legislature that put the 2014 Medical Cannabidiol Bill into place.

The post Broad medical cannabis bill moving fast in Iowa Senate appeared first on Bleeding Heartland.

Times won’t be equally tough all over when Republican cuts take effect in the justice systems budget.

The Attorney General’s Office receives only about 3 percent of state funding in this area (totaling some $559 million for the next fiscal year) but will absorb about 84 percent of the $2.9 million in cuts Republican lawmakers agreed on behind closed doors. The Department of Corrections, which consumes about three-quarters of justice systems spending, will face a net reduction only $1.6 million, and the Department of Public Safety, which costs six times more to run than the Attorney General’s Office, will see a small increase despite the bleak revenue forecast for the state as a whole.

Justice Systems Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Gary Worthan commented on April 12, “We would have liked to have done better with a lot of areas, but we’re forced to work with the realities of the budget.”

Fiscal constraints didn’t force anyone to inflict the deepest cuts on Iowans who have already experienced some of this world’s harshest realities. Republicans who put together this bill chose to spend 25 percent less next year on grants supporting survivors of sexual violence and domestic abuse.

According to a joint statement from the Iowa Coalition Against Sexual Assault and the Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence, “victim services funding served nearly 47,000 children, women, and men impacted by violence in 2016.” Grants provided through this program pay for a wide range of resources:

• Providing support, referrals, and crisis counseling to survivors and their families
• Accompaniment by advocates to hospital exams following abuse, court proceedings, reporting to law enforcement, and more
• Housing assistance, including emergency, transitional, and permanent housing
• Linguistic and culturally specific assistance to diverse communities
• Safety planning for families, including children and pets
• Civil legal assistance and court advocacy to survivors, services that are often necessary to secure a sense of safety and well-being
• Sexual violence prevention programs for schools, colleges, youth-based organizations, faith-based organizations, and more
• Transportation assistances and childcare assistance, especially in rural communities
• Job search coaching, employment assistance, and financial literacy education

Since a 2013 restructuring of statewide victim services—a collaborative effort between both coalitions, comprehensive sexual violence and domestic abuse programs, and state legislators— Iowa now serves as a national model for service delivery to other states. Since then, Iowa victim service programs have seen a 125% increase in the number of sexual violence survivors served, and a 45% increase in the number of domestic abuse survivors served.

State lawmakers allocated $6,734,400 for victim assistance during the 2016 legislative session. The mid-year budget shortfall reduced actual spending for the current fiscal year to $6,466,708. Governor Terry Branstad’s revised budget for fiscal year 2018 proposed spending $6,448,188 on victim assistance grants.

The joint House and Senate Republican justice systems appropriations bill unveiled on April 12 allocates $5,016,708 to those grants, more than 25 percent below the original 2017 appropriation and 22 percent below actual spending on victim services this year.

James Q. Lynch reported for the Cedar Rapids Gazette,

In considering the Judicial Systems budget, Democrats were concerned that $2.45 million — or more than 80 percent of the cuts — came from the attorney general’s budget. That’s $1.45 million less for the victims’ assistance fund and $1 million less for the general office fund, which supports core functions.

Sen. Nate Boulton, D-Des Moines, pointed out that the attorney general generates revenue for the state. For example, this year the office turned over more than $12 million in consumer protection settlements.

“It brought in millions that helped us survive budget cuts this year,” Boulton said.

Cuts to victim assistance grants would damage the programs that helps more than 46,000 Iowans, said Rep. Marti Anderson, D-Des Moines.

“I don’t see that anywhere else in the budget,” she said about the 22 percent cut. The funds come from criminal fines and penalties, not tax dollars. “The cut speaks volumes about the state’s priorities about a problem that affects one in four women.”

In their statement, the Iowa Coalition Against Sexual Assault and the Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence warned,

“This kind of significant cut to victim service agencies will create immediate and harmful consequences for survivors,” says Beth Barnhill, Executive Director for IowaCASA. “A reduction in state funds greatly limits access to services and options for some of our most vulnerable community members. Rural offices are most at risk for being shut down under the proposed budget cuts, leaving potentially 10,000 survivors without crisis and advocacy services. Supporters of victim services need to contact their legislators and implore them to protect our communities and to help secure the safety and well-being of survivors. Funding for victim services must be a top priority.”

“Cuts to funding will have a devastating and detrimental impact on Iowa survivors,” adds Laurie Schipper, Executive Director for ICADV. “Victim services funding served nearly 47,000 children, women, and men impacted by violence in 2016. With previous support and funding from our elected officials, we’ve seen a 66% increase in the total number of survivors served since 2013. Funding cuts to victim service programs, as proposed in this budget, would shamefully roll back these gains, and threaten the capacity for advocates to provide emergency and post-crisis services to survivors. Without state dollars, agencies can’t pay their rent or keep their lights on. This means fewer offices, fewer advocates, and fewer services. This is unacceptable. Survivors deserve better.”

Survivors won’t get what they deserve from this Republican legislature. The joint Justice Systems Appropriations subcommittee approved the bill along party lines on April 12, and the Senate Appropriations Committee followed suit the next day, without amendment to victim services or any other line item.

What a way to mark Sexual Assault Awareness Month and National Child Abuse Prevention Month.

UPDATE: I forgot to list the lawmakers who have already voted for these cuts. Worthan and State Senator Mark Chelgren were the lead negotiators. Other Republicans who approved the justice systems budget in subcommittee: State Senators Dan Dawson and Julian Garrett, and State Representatives David Sieck, Jim Carlin, Ashley Hinson, and Chuck Holz. Republicans who voted for the bill in the Senate Appropriations Committee on April 13: Chelgren, Garrett, Charles Schneider, Tim Kraayenbrink, Mark Costello, Tom Greene, Dennis Guth, Craig Johnson, Mark Lofgren, Ken Rozenboom, Tom Shipley, and Dan Zumbach.

SECOND UPDATE: Democratic State Senator Kevin Kinney recorded a video urging Iowans to contact Chelgren before Monday, April 17, to demand that victims assistance funding be restored. Excerpts:

For 30 years I was a deputy sheriff for the Johnson County Sheriff’s Department. I worked hundreds of domestic [violence] and sexual assault investigations. Survivors are often forced to leave their home, lose their job, or even leave their community. Now that I’m a state senator, I can’t believe Iowa Republicans plan to cut Iowa victims assistance grants by 22 percent. This is the only help the state of Iowa provides victims of sexual assault and domestic violence.

This money helps victims and their children stay safe path to recovery. It would be very wrong to take away this help. Many people will be denied services, and it is likely shelters will close.

The post Iowa Republicans slash funds for sexual violence and domestic abuse survivors appeared first on Bleeding Heartland.

Governor Kim Reynolds is considering at least four Republican farmers–all current or former state lawmakers– to replace Bill Northey as Iowa secretary of agriculture, James Q. Lynch reported for the Cedar Rapids Gazette today. In addition to State Representative Pat Grassley and former State Representative Annette Sweeney, whom Bleeding Heartland discussed here, State Senators Dan Zumbach and Tim Kapucian are in the running, according to Lynch’s story.

“I’ve had a couple conversations with governor about it,” Zumbach, 56, said Wednesday between meetings on housing development and soybean production. “I’d certainly be available and honored” if appointed to fill out Northey’s term that runs through early 2019. The position will be on the statewide ballot in 2018.

Zumbach, whose “heart, soul and passion has always been in agriculture,” said serving as state secretary of agriculture would be an “opportunity to share my lifetime of experience to guide Iowa agriculture in a good direction.”

Zumbach chairs the Iowa Senate Agriculture Committee, having previously served as its ranking Republican. Kapucian, who has long served on the Senate Agriculture committee, “could not immediately be reached for comment” by Lynch. As the top Republican on the chamber’s Transportation Committee, he was a strong voice for raising the gasoline tax in order to fund better maintenance of farm-to-market roads. Grassley and Sweeney are both former leaders of the Iowa House Agriculture Committee and confirmed their interest in Northey’s job to Lynch.

Iowa law gives Reynolds the authority to fill Northey’s current position after he resigns upon confirmation to a senior U.S. Department of Agriculture post. The person she selects will be heavily favored–if challenged at all–in next year’s GOP primary for secretary of agriculture.

Choosing a relatively low-profile lawmaker like Zumbach or Kapucian would allow the governor to avoid taking sides between Republican power-broker Bruce Rastetter (a major donor to Reynolds and decades-long friend of Sweeney’s) and Senator Chuck Grassley (Pat Grassley’s grandfather). The downside for Reynolds: that path could anger both Rastetter and the elder Grassley.

UPDATE: Jason Noble reported for the Des Moines Register on the possible secretary of agriculture candidates on September 13, after Senator Grassley confirmed during a conference call that he supports his grandson for the job.

In interviews Wednesday [September 13], Iowa Farm Bureau President Craig Hill and state Sen. Tim Kapucian, R-Keystone, each said they’re aware of a half-dozen or more people across the state who have publicly or privately signaled interest in succeeding Northey.

That includes Grassley but also state Sen. Dan Zumbach, R-Ryan, Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig, former Farm Bureau and Iowa Board of Regents President Craig Lang, and American Soybean Association Chairman Ray Gaesser, among others.

Reached on Wednesday, Zumbach confirmed his interest and said he has reached out to Reynolds. If appointed to replace Northey, he said he would run for a full term in November, but would not otherwise challenge a Reynolds appointee.

“If the governor chooses someone that she feels is the best person or that job, I would respect her decision,” he said.

Kapucian said he is not actively seeking the office, but would be receptive if the governor reached out to him.

Noble’s story did not mention Sweeney.

Appointing Deputy Secretary Naig would leave the GOP primary race in 2018 wide open. It would also antagonize Pat Grassley, who as Iowa House Appropriations Committee chair could make trouble for Reynolds when state lawmakers debate tax reform and the budget for fiscal year 2019.

The post More names surface as contenders for Iowa secretary of agriculture appeared first on Bleeding Heartland.

“There’s not one Republican in this state that could win an election under the rules they gave us,” asserted AFSCME Council 61 President Danny Homan after the first round of public union recertification elections ended this week.

He was only slightly exaggerating.

A review of the last two general election results shows that Iowa’s capitol would be mostly devoid of office-holders if candidates for statewide and legislative races needed a majority vote among all their constituents–rather than a plurality among those who cast ballots–to be declared winners.

ANATOMY OF AN UNFAIR ELECTION SYSTEM

Iowa’s new collective bargaining law was a multifaceted Republican assault on public employees and labor unions. One provision requires recertification elections in every bargaining unit before every new contract negotiation.

In a creative twist, the law stipulates that in order to be recertified, unions must receive “yes” votes from a majority of covered employees in each bargaining unit. Anyone who does not participate in the election is counted as a vote against the union.

Thirty-two of the 468 bargaining units that held elections this month failed to recertify the union to handle the next contract negotiation. In most of them, a clear majority of employees who voted by phone or online were in favor of continuing the union representation. Only five bargaining units recorded more “no” votes than “yes.”

No one would propose counting every non-participant as a vote for one side in any real election. Still, I wondered how our state lawmakers would have fared if this idiotic and unfair system were applied to Iowa’s other campaigns.

HOW THE UNION RECERTIFICATION RULES WOULD HAVE PLAYED OUT IN 2016

I compared the 2016 results for state legislative races to the number of registered voters living in each Iowa House and Senate district, as of November 2016. (Looking at the number of eligible voters would be a better analogy, but there are no reliable statistics on Iowans who are eligible but unregistered.)

Across the 25 state Senate districts that were on the ballot last year, only three candidates would have been elected. All were running unopposed. Republicans Randy Feenstra and Ken Rozenboom received 27,522 votes and 23,768 votes, respectively. That’s more than half of the 41,269 registered voters in Senate district 2 and 42,543 registered voters in Senate district 40.

Democratic Senator Janet Petersen received 20,388 votes, representing far more than half of the 37,206 registered voters in Senate district 18.

Every other senator elected last year failed to clear the 50 percent threshold among all registered voters in their districts. They included five GOP senators who received more than 20,000 votes (Mark Segebart, Jake Chapman, Mark Costello, Brad Zaun, and Dan Zumbach). Amy Sinclair would have been a narrow loser under the recertification rules. With no Democratic challenger and one independent opponent, she received 19,482 votes in Senate district 14 but would have needed 19,872 votes to claim a majority of registered voters.

I was surprised to learn that 20 of the 100 current Iowa House members received affirmative support in 2016 from more than half the number of registered voters in their districts. The following twelve Republicans were running unopposed.

John Wills: 14,627 votes in House district 1 (23,135 registered voters)
Megan Jones: 12,756 votes in House district 2 (21,923 registered voters)
Dan Huseman: 12,096 votes in House district 3 (21,454 registered voters)
Mike Sexton: 13,063 votes in House district 10 (21,212 registered voters)
Steven Holt: 10,603 votes in House district 18 (18,699 registered voters)
Tom Moore: 11,716 votes in House district 21 (21,176 registered voters)
Cecil Dolecheck: 11,702 votes in House district 24 (20,054 registered voters)
Joel Fry: 9,478 votes in House district 27 (18,813 registered voters)
House Speaker Linda Upmeyer: 12,675 votes in House district 54 (21,158 registered voters)
Bobby Kaufmann: 12,388 votes in House district 73 (21,548 registered voters)
Guy Vander Linden: 12,615 votes in House district 79 (21,826 registered voters)
Gary Mohr: 14,696 votes in House district 94 (27,323 registered voters)

Three Republicans who had Democratic challengers still managed to win enough votes to be elected under the GOP-mandated approach to union recertifications.

Chuck Holz: 11,774 votes in House district 5 (21,799 registered voters)
Matt Windschitl: 10,712 votes in House district 17 (20,092 registered voters)
Pat Grassley: 11,493 votes in House district 50 (21,317 registered voters)

Under the same rules, five Democrats would have been elected to the Iowa House in 2016. None had a general election opponent.

Jo Oldson: 13,363 votes in House district 41 (23,327 registered voters)
Art Staed: 11,669 votes in House district 66 (21,977 registered voters)
Kirsten Running-Marquardt: 10,730 votes in House district 69 (21,079 registered voters)
Dave Jacoby: 12,839 votes in House district 74 (22,731 registered voters)
Curt Hanson: 10,488 votes in House district 82 (20,550 registered voters)

You may have noticed that the registered voter total varies quite a bit among Iowa legislative districts. Aren’t those supposed to represent roughly equal numbers of people? In theory, yes. But over the course of a decade between the drawing of political maps, some districts in larger metro areas gain population, while others lose residents.

Demographic factors are important too. Districts with large numbers of immigrants, or lower-income neighborhoods, or many families with young children, will have fewer registered voters. Conversely, affluent districts tend to have more adults with a college degree, who are more likely to register to vote. Districts covering state university campuses have large numbers of adult residents with no children, so a larger percentage of people living there can vote.

If results had been tabulated like the Iowa Public Employment Relations Board calculated this month’s union recertification votes, a bunch of Republicans representing booming suburban areas would have lost last year, including rising star Zach Nunn in House district 30 (Altoona area), John Landon in House district 37 (Ankeny), and Jake Highfill in House district 39 (Grimes, Johnston). In Iowa’s fastest-growing county, Rob Taylor ran unopposed in House district 44 (Waukee) and gained 13,818 votes–not good enough in an area with 29,170 registered voters.

Another striking example: State Representative Vicki Lensing represents parts of Iowa City, including the University of Iowa campus. Even though the 15,213 votes for her exceeded every other House candidate’s showing, Lensing’s total was below 50 percent of the 31,454 registered voters in House district 85.

Not convinced yet that the GOP’s union recertification rules are a monumentally dumb way to determine election winners?

Consider: Iowans gave U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley a seventh term with an impressive 926,007 votes out of 1,581,371 ballots cast. Trouble is, the Secretary of State’s office says Iowa had 2,171,161 registered voters last November. Grassley would have needed 1,085,581 votes to reach support from a majority of all voters statewide.

HOW THE UNION RECERTIFICATION RULES WOULD HAVE PLAYED OUT IN 2014

Iowa’s collective bargaining law doesn’t just require public-sector unions to jump through the recertification hoop once for each bargaining unit. The union must keep winning under those circumstances before every contract period. I wondered how such rules might alter the outcome for other Iowa office-seekers.

Voter participation in Iowa’s midterm elections typically is about a third lower than in a presidential year. Examining the 2014 results, we see how a lower-turnout environment would create almost insurmountable hurdles for candidates.

Iowa had 2,142,304 registered voters in November 2014, so candidates running statewide would have needed at least 1,071,153 votes (one more than 50 percent) to be elected.

No one on the statewide ballot came close. Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey won by the largest margin with 675,781 votes. But that was almost 400,000 short of the level needed for an absolute majority among Iowa registered voters.

Other candidates who would have been losers under the recertification system: Governor Terry Branstad and Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds (666,032 votes), Attorney General Tom Miller (616,711 votes), State Auditor Mary Mosiman (604,103 votes), U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (588,575 votes), State Treasurer Michael Fitzgerald (576,942 votes), and Secretary of State Paul Pate (529,275 votes).

If every non-voter had been counted as opposing the choice on the ballot, no one would have been elected in any of the 25 Iowa Senate districts up for grabs in 2014. Even the candidates with no opponents were all at least 3,000 votes below the 50 percent level. Then Senate Minority Leader Bill Dix came the closest, receiving 18,267 votes in Senate district 25. A majority of all voters living in his district would work out to 21,295 people.

The Iowa Senate district with the largest number of registered voters in November 2014 (58,601) was Senate district 43, covering much of Iowa City and the university campus. Taking the approach Republicans mandated for recertification elections, Democratic Senator Joe Bolkcom would have needed 29,301 people to check the box next to his name–hard to manage when just 23,142 people cast ballots in his district.

Only one of the 100 state representatives could have been elected to the Iowa House in 2014 under these rules. Lacking a challenger in the state’s most Republican seat, long-serving incumbent Dwayne Alons received 11,125 votes, more than half of the 19,193 registered voters living in House district 4.

The 99 losers under this system would have included then House Speaker Kraig Paulsen (9,405 votes in House district 67, which had 22,673 registered voters) and then House Majority Leader Upmeyer (9,569 votes in House district 54, which had 21,531 registered voters).

To sum up, Democrats and labor leaders who have claimed Republicans couldn’t win elections under the rules they forced on public-sector unions are mostly correct. Some contenders in politically lopsided legislative districts might clear that threshold in a presidential year, especially when running unopposed. But in a midterm with lower turnout across the board, even popular candidates would find it nearly impossible to win if all the non-participants were counted against them.

The post If all Iowa candidates had to win under rules Republicans forced on unions appeared first on Bleeding Heartland.

State Representative Pat Grassley tweeted this afternoon that he will seek re-election in Iowa House district 50. The six-term Republican lawmaker was widely seen as a likely 2018 candidate for Iowa secretary of agriculture, since the current office-holder Bill Northey will leave the state upon confirmation to a senior U.S. Department of Agriculture post. Grassley doesn’t seem to have been laying the groundwork for a statewide campaign, though. He reported just $31,900 in campaign contributions during 2017. About three-quarters of his haul came from political action committees that give to many state legisators.

The House Appropriations Committee chair represents what should be a safe GOP seat, even in a less favorable election climate. House district 50 contains just 3,773 active registered Democrats, 8,953 Republicans, and 7,244 no-party voters, according to the latest figures from the Iowa Secretary of State’s office. Donald Trump outpolled Hillary Clinton here by 64.4 percent to 30.4 percent. I enclose below a map of the district, covering Grundy County and parts of Hardin and Butler counties.

Another prospective secretary of agriculture candidate, former State Representative Annette Sweeney, accepted a federal job in November as state director for USDA Rural Development.

At least two Republicans will seek to succeed Northey. Former Iowa Farm Bureau Federation President Craig Lang announced his candidacy in October. He is keeping his cards close to the chest; his campaign financial disclosure showed only $5,600.00 in contributions, including a $5,000 check from himself.

American Soybean Association Chairman Ray Gaesser created a campaign committee last week. Scroll to the end of this post for background on the latest GOP candidate.

Governor Kim Reynolds has not said whom she will appoint to lead the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship through 2018. Recent rumors have centered around a placeholder with no plans to run for the office: Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig.

I’m happy to announce I’m running for re-election to HD 50. It’s been an honor serving the people of Butler, Grundy and Hardin Counties. Get your parade shoes ready kids! #HD50 pic.twitter.com/0ZQQ8e5eLk

— Pat Grassley (@PatGrassley) January 22, 2018

KMA Radio published Gaesser’s January 19 press release. Excerpts:

His goals include

· Stewardship of land, air and water quality that also grows farm profitability

· Open doors of trade for farmers’ livelihood, jobs and to feed the world’s hungry

· Long-term policies and innovative practices

· Ensuring food safety while protecting farmers’ rights

Gaesser began managing his family farm in Indiana at the age of 15 to support his mother and six younger siblings after his father passed away 50 years ago. Today, after 40 years in Iowa, Gaesser, his wife Elaine and son Chris, an agronomist, own 650 acres and rent or custom farm approximately 5,400 acres near Corning in Adams County, growing soybeans and corn. On their 6,050-acre farm, they grow 3,000 acres in corn for a nearby ethanol plant while most of their 3,000 acres of soybeans are seed production for the Stine Seed Company. Their daughter Jennifer is a school music teacher and rents another 165 acres with her brother, Chris.

Throughout the agriculture industry, Gaesser Farms is recognized for incorporating the latest technology and innovations in equipment and seeds and for continuing to research and test new practices to conserve and enhance Iowa’s natural resources. An early adopter of conservation practices, Gaesser Farms has been nearly 100% no-till since 1991 and nearly 3,100 acres contain cover crops, with continuous expansion of cover crops since 2010, such as cereal rye. His family’s goal is a cover crop on every acre.

Gaesser’s expertise and volunteer leadership are evidenced worldwide by his role over the years as:

· American Soybean Association , Chairman and President, among other positions

· Iowa Soybean Association President, among other positions

· International Soybean Growers Alliance Co-Chair and American representative, representing producers of more than 90% of the soybeans grown in the world.

· 50+ agricultural trade/education missions over 25 years in Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, China, Canada, Europe, Japan, Korea, Singapore, South Africa and other countries and hosting international leaders at his own farm.

· Testimony/presentations to the US Department of Justice and Congress on the Farm Bill, biotechnology, renewable fuels, weed resistance management, seed and technology patents, and mergers and acquisitions. Volunteer Consultant to the US Environmental Protection Agency, USDA, US Food & Drug Administration.

· Co-Chair, with Bill Northey, Iowa Conservation Infrastructure Initiative, representing a cross-section of leaders identifying economic development in achieving Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy goals.

· North American Climate Smart Agriculture Alliance Outcomes Team Chairman.

· Iowa Master Farmer Award recipient in 2012, Wallaces Farmer.

· National and Iowa Farm Bureau member and active in various Adams County activities.

LATER UPDATE: Chad Ingels announced on January 25 that he will also seek the Republican nomination for this office.

Chad is an Iowa State University alumnus two-fold with a Bachelors and Masters of Agriculture from the university. Ingels has dedicated more than half his lifetime to farming, with nearly 3 decades in the field, and received various awards including the Iowa Farm Environmental Leader award and is a past Niman Ranch Meat Quality winner.

Chad is also a committed advocate for improving Iowa’s water quality. Starting in 1999 until 2016, Ingels served as an Extension Watershed Specialist for Iowa State Extension where he worked with over 300 farmers on several farmer-led watershed improvement projects. In addition to his Extension work, Ingels has been a member of Iowa’s Environmental Protection Commission since 2013, and is currently the acting commission chair. Nationally, Ingels also leads The American Farm Bureau Water Advisory Committee, where he provides direction to the American Farm Bureau Federation board of directors on water related issues. During the past year, he has been a part of the Iowa Nutrient Research and Education Council’s efforts to measure the progress of Iowa’s Nutrient Reduction Strategy.

If elected to the position, Ingels says he is excited to continue his work improving Iowa’s water quality, which will serve as one of his main platforms.

“I’ve been working on water quality issues for nearly two decades and the important thing I’ve found is farmers are exceptionally willing to work to improve water if they’re looked at as part of the solution and part of the problem solving process,” says Ingels “and I want to help facilitate that even more than it has been currently.”

Ingels does not seem to have a campaign website, but he is on Facebook and Twitter.

Naig told the Des Moines Register on February 1 that he’s exploring the race.

“If Bill is not confirmed and decides to run for re-election, I would not run,” Naig said. But “we are still very hopeful that he will be confirmed.” […]

Naig said it’s “been an honor to partner with Secretary Northey to help lead the Iowa Department of Agriculture … and there is still important work to be done.”

The Cylinder native said he’s “proud of Iowans for taking on the challenge of improving water quality,” and he believes “in continuing to embrace science and technology to better care for our state’s natural resources.”

LATER UPDATE: Iowa Senate Agriculture Committee chair Dan Zumbach announced on February 2 that he will run for secretary of agriculture, assuming Northey does not seek another term. Zumbach can try for higher office without giving up his legislative seat, because he won’t be up for re-election in Iowa Senate district 48 until 2020.

The post Pat Grassley not running for Iowa secretary of agriculture appeared first on Bleeding Heartland.

Iowa will soon have its first new secretary of agriculture since 2007. The U.S. Senate confirmed Bill Northey on February 27 as undersecretary for farm production and conservation at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He should have been confirmed months ago; senators on the Agriculture Committee unanimously endorsed his nomination in October. But Senator Ted Cruz of Texas held the nomination over a Renewable Fuel Standard dispute that has nothing to do with Northey’s portfolio.

Once Northey resigns as Iowa secretary of agriculture, Governor Kim Reynolds will appoint his longtime deputy Mike Naig to fill that post for the rest of this year, the governor’s office announced on March 1. I enclose Naig’s official bio below. One of five Republicans who have said they will run for Northey’s job, Naig formally launched his campaign for that office on March 2. At this writing, only Craig Lang has qualified for the primary ballot. Other declared GOP candidates are Ray Gaesser, Chad Ingels, and Dan Zumbach. UPDATE: Northey posted on Twitter March 6, “I heartily endorse Mike Naig as our next Iowa Ag Secy. Mike has been a great partner as my Deputy Secy of ag for 4+ yrs. Mike is ready to lead. Let’s elect Mike in June & Nov!”

State Representative Pat Grassley was long seen as likely to run for secretary of agriculture when Northey retired, but he announced in January that he will seek a seventh term in the Iowa House. Another Republican viewed as a potential candidate for this office, Annette Sweeney, now serves as the USDA’s state director for rural development.

Tim Gannon is the only Democrat running for secretary of agriculture.

The filing period for major-party candidates began on February 26 and runs through March 16. The Iowa Secretary of State’s office is updating the candidate list daily. Lang and three others seeking statewide office have qualified for the ballot so far: Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ross Wilburn, Attorney General Tom Miller, and Rob Sand, Democratic candidate for state auditor. Fred Hubbell, another of the seven Democrats running for governor, submitted his nominating petitions on March 2.

I haven’t heard of any Republican planning to run for attorney general this year. Miller was re-elected easily in 2010 and 2014, both GOP landslide years. His last challenger, Adam Gregg, is now acting lieutenant governor. His previous opponent, Brenna Findley (now Brenna Bird) announced on March 2 that she will run for Guthrie County attorney this year. She has been serving as Fremont County attorney. Last year I heard talk of former Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz running for attorney general in 2018, but he may sit tight as Madison County attorney until Miller retires.

The Republican Attorney General’s Association commissioned a poll testing negative messages against Miller last summer, but either the findings weren’t promising or they failed to recruit a candidate for some other reason. As of December 31, Miller’s campaign had $208,166.15 cash on hand.

This is an open thread: all topics welcome.

Official bio for deputy secretary of agriculture Mike Naig:

Mike Naig grew up on a farm near Cylinder, Iowa in the Northwest corner of the state. He is a graduate of Buena Vista University in Storm Lake with degrees in biology and political science. Naig is married to his wife Jamie and together they have three boys.

Naig has spent his entire career working in agriculture, having served in public policy roles for state and national agribusiness trade associations as well as in private industry.

As Deputy Secretary of Agriculture, Naig assists in management responsibilities for the Department, focused on the areas of Policy, Budget and Personnel. He also supports the Department’s efforts to be accessible for Iowans by traveling regularly to represent Secretary Northey at meetings and events across the state.

Top image: Mike Naig, newly-appointed Iowa secretary of agriculture.

UPDATE: The Democratic Activist Women’s Network is honoring its 2018 award recipients in Des Moines on March 4. DAWN’s List was created in 1993 to support gender equity in politics and “the election of Democratic pro-choice women to public office.” Kirsten Anderson was the guest speaker at this year’s reception. The award-winners:

Rising Star Award Kyrstin Delagardelle Shelley, Des Moines
Activist Award Reyma McCoy McDeid, Des Moines
DAWN Local Elected Official Award Patricia Sass, Waterloo
DAWN Local Elected Official Award RRS Stewart, Dubuque
DAWN State Elected Official Award Representative Jo Oldson, Des Moines
Barbara Boatwright Lifetime Achievement Award Kris Bell, Des Moines

Past winners of DAWN’s List awards:

2017 HONOREES

DAWN Special Recognition Award: Megan Flynn Bickel, of Des Moines
DAWN Rising Star Award: State Representative Abby Finkenauer, of Dubuque
Barbara Boatwright Lifetime Achievement Award: State Representative Ruth Ann Gaines, of Des Moines
DAWN Local Elected Official Award: Peggy Smalley of Audubon
DAWN State Elected Official Award: Liz Mathis, of Cedar Rapids

2016 HONOREES

DAWN Special Recognition Award: Virginia Rowen, of Des Moines
DAWN Activist Award: Maureen Wilson, of Kingsley
DAWN Local Elected Official Award: Monica McCarthy, of Creston
DAWN State Elected Official Award: Senator Janet Petersen, of Des Moines
DAWN Rising Star Award: Maria Dickmann, of Davenport
Barbara Boatwright Lifetime Achievement Award: Miriam Tyson, of Waterloo

2015 HONOREES

DAWN State Elected Official Award: Representative Deb Berry
DAWN Local Elected Official Award: Polk County Public Hospital Trustee Som Baccam
Barbara Boatwright Lifetime Achievement Award: Bonnie Campbell
Rising Star Award: Mazie Stilwell

2014 HONOREES

DAWN State Elected Official Award: Representative Mary Mascher
DAWN Local Elected Official Award: Linn County Supervisor Linda Langston
DAWN Special Recognition Award from DAWN’s List: O’Brian County Democrats Chair Kim Weaver
Barbara Boatwright Lifetime Achievement Award: Ruth Scharnau
Barbara Boatwright Lifetime Achievement Award: Ann Michalski
Rising Star Award: Katherine Valde

2013 HONOREES

DAWN State Elected Award: Senate President Pam Jochum
DAWN Local Elected Award: Pottawattamie County Democrats Chair Linda Nelson
DAWN Special Recognition Award from DAWN’s List: Sue Dvorsky
Barbara Boatwright Lifetime Achievement Award: Charlotte Nelson
Rising Star Award: Demaree Donaghu

2012 HONOREES

State Elected Official Award: Representative Beth Wessel-Kroeschell
Local Elected Official Award: Polk County Treasurer Mary Maloney
Special Recognition Award: Professor Maura Strassberg
Barbara Boatwright Breaking Glass Award: Mary Campos
Lifetime Achievement Award: Cheryll Jones
Rising Star Award: Allie Panther
Activist Award: Coni Samsel

2011 HONOREES

State Elected Official Award: Representative Kirsten Running-Marquardt
Local Elected Official Award: Johnson County Recorder Kim Painter
Special Recognition Award: Lieutenant Governor Patty Judge
Lifetime Achievement Award: Maggie Rawland
Rising Star Award: Representative Anesa Kajtazovic
Activists Award: Margo McNabb
Breaking Glass Award (nominated by DAWN): Marcia Nichols

2010 HONOREES

Elected Official Award (Former Award): State Senator Amanda Ragan
Lifetime Achievement Award: Peggy Huppert
Rising Star Award: Andrea Jansa
Activist Award: Clara Oleson
Special Recognition Award: Rachael Grimes
Breaking Glass Award (nominated by DAWN): Roxanne Conlin
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The post Weekend thread: Statewide candidate edition appeared first on Bleeding Heartland.

Matt Chapman reports on the lengthy Iowa Senate debate over a bill that is terrible on many levels. You can watch the proceedings on video here, beginning around 9:07:30. -promoted by desmoinesdem

Republicans approved Senate File 2311, the omnibus energy bill, on March 6 after yet another late-into-the-evening debate this session. I guess the logic is the later it gets, the worse the legislation seems to be.

Commerce Committee chair Jake Chapman claimed in subcommittee that he wrote this legislation, so it was a little odd when Senator Michael Breitbach managed the bill on the floor. His opening comments were rather weak, but considering the realities of this bill I understand why Breitbach wanted to keep a low profile.

Minority Leader Janet Petersen then called for a caucus. After senators returned, the chamber began considering more than a dozen amendments.

Democratic Senator Rob Hogg, the author of several amendments, kicked off debate by stating, “This bill is a big piece of legislation, so it is appropriate that we’re here prime time having this debate.” Citing energy analyst Bob Latham, the brother of former Republican U.S. Representative Tom Latham, Hogg said that “this bill alone” would cost Alliant Energy Customers $139 million a year more. Hogg then offered an amendment that would strike every major part of Senate File 2311 dealing with energy efficiency.

He reminded colleagues that when then-Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds led the committee that developed the Iowa Energy Plan, they cited research showing 97 percent of Iowans supported energy efficiency. For that reason, efficiency became a pillar of the plan.

Senator Hogg related many facts demonstrating the success of Iowa’s energy efficiency programs. He read a letter from business leaders urging senators to oppose any bill that undermined such programs. Every dollar invested in efficiency returns two dollars. Iowa consumers save millions of dollars a year and have avoided the cost of constructing new power plants.

The majority party’s refusal to push back on this issue was not surprising. What can you do when you’re on the wrong side of a bill that is obviously not in the people’s best interest? You sneak it through in the evening and make sure to pass a flurry of bills before and after to obfuscate it.

Breitbach countered he hadn’t heard Democrats mention “who actually pays for these energy efficiency program? It’s the customers! […] These people don’t come out and give you this money for nothing.” (How this legislation would affect ratepayers’ energy bills had been addressed very clearly. Iowa’s Office of Consumer Advocate and a number of groups representing consumers have been lobbying against Senate File 2311.)

He kept grandstanding along those lines, never once addressing the two to one return on every dollar spent on efficiency. Maybe that’s because to Breitbach, the customer is big energy and the consumers exist only to be squeezed a bit more. He summed up arguing that it is morally wrong not to itemize everything the consumer pays on utility bills. Please remember that for later, because that position seemed to shift with the wind.

Democratic Senator Joe Bolkcom came out firing against “one of the dumbest bills this session.” (His speech begins around 9:18:00 of this video). Bolkcom pointed out that this bill would raise the utility bills of every Iowan and would kill thousands of jobs. Among the sorely needed knowledge he brought to the table:

• Iowans have saved $2 billion to $3 billion dollars by not having to build massive power plants, because of “our historic investment in energy efficiency.” That’s about $400 million dollars a year.
• Electricity costs in Iowa are some of the lowest in the country because we have invested in energy efficiency.

Republican Senator Mark Chelgren spoke next (around 9:21:00), asking Breitbach if he could explain what percentage of the contributions go to managing the energy efficiency programs. Breitbach said about 20 percent of the funds are spent on administration.

There was some theater between them, and Chelgren drove the point home that folks could opt out of efficiency programs if they wanted to. The Republicans talked a lot about siphoning money off here, but they said nothing about returns on investment or Iowa’s low-cost electricity.

Senator Chelgren then went on a tangent about how he needed a new washing machine. He said his old Maytag washer was on the fritz and the appliance guy told him all the new washers were from Mexico or China and wouldn’t last five years. He then name dropped a couple of old timey brands like Kenmore and Sears. That really muddied things up for a populist twist on his comments and I am sure as far as a distraction, it worked like a charm. The last bit he pulled was “trusting Iowans is better than trusting utility companies.”

Hogg rose to give closing remarks in support of his amendment (around 9:25:15).

Well, sometimes I don’t know what alternate universe I live in, but it’s always good to hear from the official spokesperson for the Senate Republicans. Um, wow! Um, it’s hard to know how to respond to some of those things.

Let me say this: these are proven programs that work. If you vote no on this amendment, you’re voting against 20,000 jobs in Iowa, 20,000 jobs in Iowa, and you’re voting to throw away a program that saves two dollars for every dollar that’s spent, raising rates. Don’t take my word for it [holds up a stack of papers from companies against this legislation], you’ve listened to the companies, you’ve listened to the Utilities Board. It saves all consumers money, whether you participate in the programs or not. That’s why Iowa has the lowest electrical rates in the region. […]

And you are proposing a bill that throws that away, throws away 20,000 jobs, and jeopardizes Iowa customers to the tune of over 130 million dollars a year. […]

Hogg’s amendment to remove the bad energy efficiency provisions from Senate File 2311 failed on a 22 to 28 vote. GOP Senator Rick Bertrand joined all 20 Democrats and independent Senator David Johnson to support it.

There were quite a few other amendments. Hogg offered another one designed to preserve a policy that has helped make “Iowa a renewable energy leader.” Breitbach argued that policy should be struck to conform with an Iowa Supreme Court ruling that cited federal law. Hogg countered that the future of that federal law is in doubt, and our state should retain policies to promote renewable energy leadership. The amendment went down on a party-line 21 to 29 vote.

After Breitbach offered an amendment that passed on voice vote, Hogg was back up: “Now that Senator Breitbach has created this exemption system where some customers will be energy efficiency customers, and some customers will not be energy efficiency customers, that will create a whole series of new administrative costs for our utilities.” They will ask for recovery of costs associated with the “new bureaucratic scheme.”

This amendment will make sure those who participate in the efficiency programs “shall not be assessed any costs associated with construction, capital investment, energy, or any other costs that the board determines the utility could have reasonably avoided by energy efficiency or demand response investments not made by the utility.”

Breitbach responded that it would be “a bookkeeping nightmare” for a utility to determine what costs could be recovered and from whom.

Bolkcom explained that this amendment would make sure that customers who opt out of efficiency programs pay the costs associated with new energy generation.

Hogg said in his closing remarks, “Why would you say to people who are enrolled in the energy efficiency program that they have to pay the costs because a bunch of customers left the program? That’s wrong. That’s wrong.” The amendment failed on a 20 to 30 vote.

Breitbach offered the next amendment, saying, “This amendment will require a utility to expose the Energy Efficiency and Demand Response Program charges on a customer’s bill. It was revealed at the subcommittee of this bill that the reason why this restriction was put in the Iowa code was because utility customers were not happy with this charge on their bill and did not want it. That was back in 1987.”

Yes it was “revealed” in some grandstanding by the bill’s purported author, Chapman. That piece of theater can be seen in my previous post about this legislation, “The bill that was absolutely written by Jake Chapman, not MidAmerican Energy.”

Hogg proposed an amendment to Breitbach’s amendment, calling for utilities to “also represent estimated savings from customer participation in previous energy efficiency or demand response programs in customer billings as a separate item, in an amount approved by the board.” He explained (9:47:00) that only showing the cost to customers is “only showing half the equation.” The amendment would show people how much they’ve saved due to the energy efficiency programs, which “as we’ve discussed at length,” saves two dollars for every dollar invested and helped us avoid building two and a half 500 megawatt power plants just in the last nine years. So that’s a lot of savings, “and it would be unfair” to not show that savings on their bills. “Let’s show both halves.”

Opposing Hogg’s amendment, Breitbach argued,

I can appreciate that, wanting to show the customers that. Normally I wouldn’t have a problem with that, except that this bill goes back to 1990.That’s 27 ears. I’ve been in business longer than that, but I know that I would not be able to go back through my bills and find out what every customer saved over the past 27 years. Just impossible.

This would be the double standard I was referring to earlier when Breitbach’s claim was “it is morally wrong not to itemize everything the consumer pays on utility bills.” Apparently, that excludes the benefits from the program. It’s also notable that the floor manager of such a large bill would not be aware that the data of the savings exists because of the same legislation he is railing against.

Breitbach repeated several times that Iowa consumers had contributed $2.6 billion to efficiency programs, never acknowledging that the math then proved $5.2 billion was returned. When a contribution returns $2 to every $1 contributed, that means that 2.6 billion dollars in consumers bills were saved. Senator Hogg pointed out the omission in his closing remarks.

Well, Senator Breitbach, if you had asked the Iowa Utilities Board, you would have known that the utilities board have been tracking all these energy efficiency programs for 28 years. Why? Because it’s been their legal duty to make sure that those programs are cost effective and in the public interest. […]

So you’re hiding something, Senator Breitbach, by not taking this amendment, and I would ask the body in the interests of transparency, let’s vote yes for this. Let’s make sure if we’re going to tell customers one half of the story, that we tell them, in Paul Harvey’s words, the rest of the story, which is the extraordinary savings that Iowa customers have received from 28 years of some of the best energy efficiency programs in our country.

Hogg’s amendment went down on a party-line 21 to 29 vote.

Breitbach’s amendment then passed by 40 to 10, with the following Democrats joining all 29 Republicans to support it: Chaz Allen, Tony Bisignano, Tod Bowman, Jeff Danielson, Rita Hart, Kevin Kinney, Jim Lykam, Liz Mathis, Matt McCoy, Amanda Ragan, and Rich Taylor.

Hogg’s next amendment would keep the bill from gutting rebates for consumers who buy energy efficient appliances.

Breitbach expressed concern: where was the money going to come from? He never once acknowledged the fact that it came from the savings generated by energy efficiency contributions. Once again, he was hiding something.

Chelgren spoke to convey that he wasn’t a fan of the rebates, since he has had such bad luck with appliances.

Hogg had noted in dialogue with Chelgren that the rebate programs are very popular with consumers. In closing remarks for this amendment, he added,

Well, thank you once again, the official spokesperson for the Senate Republicans. […] Here’s the deal, Senator Chelgren, whatever anecdote may have happened in your life, I think consumers across this state would be shocked to learn that these new appliances only last five years. I think they would be shocked to learn that because it’s simply not the case. Certainly not the case.

The amendment lost by 20 votes to 30.

Breitbach’s next amendment was important. Renewable energy advocates have pushed back hard against language from the bill that would “allow utilities to discriminate against solar customers and charge them separate and higher rates.”

Offering this amendment, Breitbach explained to senators,

This amendment strikes section 17 from the bill in regards to solar energy. It would have codified current practice in regard to solar projects, but there was enough concern that I decided I would pull this section out of the bill.

Senators approved that change by voice vote.

The last manager’s amendment would strike section 21 of Senate File 2311. Breitbach explained, “Section 21 dealt with emerging technology and we felt, or a lot of entities were interested in possibly exploring these in a private level, rather than having our utilities provide that, and so this will allow further discussion on that.”

That change also passed by voice vote.

That those last two amendments were needed point to how reckless and pro monopoly this bill is. I will leave it to those who dedicate themselves to environmental law to explain it, as Josh Mandelbaum did here. I’m here to witness the ridiculous arguments that have propelled this legislation.

Next, it was time for closing remarks on SF 2311. Democratic Senator McCoy noted, “Facts really didn’t matter tonight.” He quoted Governor Reynolds stating that Google, Facebook, Apple and Microsoft joined together in a coalition, coming to Iowa because of renewable energy. He read the long list of organizations and corporations that have registered against this bill. (You can read the lobbyist declarations here.) A few other choice quotes:

The reality is, this is an anti-consumer, job-killing monument to companies who run legal monopolies in the state of Iowa […]

We are shifting the cost of cheap energy now onto the consumers, and we’re going to pass a bill for Aliant Energy, whose bill they brought down here tonight, and this is their bill, […]

Make no mistake about it. This is, the monopolies coming in and they’re going to drink our milkshake. […] Hundreds of millions of dollars, annually. This is what this is going to cost us. […] Major data centers chose Iowa because of our green energy. […]

We’re throwing the Buick into reverse, and we’re headed back to the 1950s, which is where I think so many of you want to live. Well, I don’t want to live there. … I don’t think Iowans want to live in the 1950s. […] Why would we come here and vote against Iowa consumers? It makes no sense to me […]

When McCoy was nearly done, a fire alarm went off. He said, “They’re gonna shut our lights off.” This was a reference to last year’s collective bargaining bill, when Senate majority leaders turned off the lights and microphones and forced a vote after 28 hours of debate.

After the debate resumed, Hogg commented that the way the bill was amended, SF 2113 would cost Iowans around half a billion dollars annually, hurting companies and consumers.

Republican Senator Dan Zumbach lamented that there had been no discussion of getting natural gas out to rural areas. He jabbed at Hogg’s “rest of the story” quip. There were plenty of opportunities for Zumbach to address that during debate, but he waited till the end of debate (when there would be no opportunity for rebuttals). So did the bill’s self-styled author Chapman.

Bolkcom said it’s unbelievable that Republicans were able to write a bill that would not only raise utility bills by $500 million a year, but would kill thousands of jobs at the same time. “That is quite a feat.”

Chapman challenged Bolkcom and said he would “set the record straight.” He shared some alternative facts, but who cares. You can learn everything you need to know about him by going to his xenophobic and inciting Facebook page.

In his closing comments (after taking the bill away from Chapman so he didn’t blow it during the floor debate), Breitbach hammered on the supposed “hidden tax” of energy efficiency. He used his best indignant voice to point out that consumers paid into it to the tune of $240 million in 2016 alone. Naturally, there was no mention of the return on that investment: saving consumers $240 million dollars on their utility bills.

Yet again, we heard that since 1990, energy efficiency contributions had cost just shy of $2.6 billion.

But consumers have received $5.2 billion in returns, saving themselves $2.6 billion since 1990.

Because math.

To quote Senators Hogg, Zumbach, and Paul Harvey, now you know the rest of the story.

The vote on final passage was 27 to 23. Republicans Rick Bertrand and Charles Schneider joined all the Democrats and independent Johnson to oppose it.

Top image: Senator Michael Breitbach, floor manager of Senate File 2311, during Senate debate on March 6.

The post Terrible Iowa Senate energy bill returns – Michael Breitbach edition appeared first on Bleeding Heartland.

Despite support from his predecessor Bill Northey, Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig needed four ballots to secure his party’s nomination at the June 16 Republican Party of Iowa state convention. Governor Kim Reynolds appointed Northey’s longtime deputy to serve out his term in March. Naig finished far ahead of the other four Republicans running for secretary of agriculture on June 5 but fell 0.3 percent short of the 35 percent threshold needed to win the primary outright.

All of the secretary of agriculture candidates emphasized their experience when seeking support from state convention delegates. O.Kay Henderson reported on the last public candidate forum, where Naig said he was best positioned to “maintain conservative leadership” in the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship.

State Senator Dan Zumbach, who finished second in the primary with 21.3 percent, talked about his work as chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee.

Third-place finisher Craig Lang (18.6 percent) highlighted his “past performance of fighting and winner the fights that matter” as leader of the Iowa Farm Bureau for ten years and a member of the Iowa Board of Regents. (Democratic Governor Chet Culver appointed Lang to that board; Governor Terry Branstad nominated him for a second term in 2013, but the Democratic-controlled Iowa Senate did not confirm him.)

Ray Gaesser, former president of the Iowa Soybean Association as well as the American Soybean Association, said he had worked with members of Congress and was familiar with export markets because of that background. The fourth-place candidate in the primary (16.2 percent) joined President Donald Trump’s Agricultural Advisory Committee earlier this year.

Chad Ingels, a former member of the state Environmental Protection Commission and former watershed specialist for Iowa State Extension, finished fifth in the primary with 8.9 percent.

I expected Naig to win the nomination easily and thought his toughest competition would come from Zumbach, who was backed by dozens of Iowa Republican lawmakers and former presidential candidate Marco Rubio. However, Gaesser was the last one standing against the incumbent, in part because other contenders endorsed him after being eliminated from the race. Shane Vander Hart summarized the balloting in his liveblog of the GOP convention. (Note: the convention organizers misspelled Ingels’ name on the screen showing delegate voting results.)

1:47p – Naig squeaks out the win in the 4th ballot, beating Gaesser 54.1% to 45.9%.

1:45p – Third ballot still no winner. 1. Naig 48.7 2. Gaesser -26.9% 3. Zumbach – 24.4%, Zumbach throws support behind Gaesser.

1:41p – 2nd ballot still no winner, 1. Naig – 47.4% 2. Zumbach – 24.6% 3. Gaesser – 18.0% 4. Lang – 10%, Lang throws support behind Gaesser.

1:38p – First ballot: 1. Naig – 46.1% 2. Zumbach – 24.2% 3. Gaesser – 17.8% 4. Lang – 9.4% 5. Ingles – 2.5%. Ingles is dropped and will address delegates to say who he supports. He said Lang and then Gaesser.

Although the results were far from a resounding vote of confidence in Naig, I expect Republicans to unite around his candidacy this fall, when he faces Democrat Tim Gannon.

To follow Naig’s campaign: website, Facebook, Twitter

To follow Gannon: website, Facebook, Twitter

After settling the secretary of agriculture nomination, the GOP convention turned to other state offices. No one was nominated for attorney general–shocking when you consider that Republican and conservative groups spent heavily supporting Brenna Findley in 2010. Although the Iowa GOP didn’t wage a full-court press against Attorney General Tom Miller four years ago, state convention delegates nominated Adam Gregg, a former staffer to Governor Terry Branstad.

Jeremy Davis was the only candidate proposed for state treasurer. The former Ames City Council member and district office employee for U.S. Representative Steve King now works for the National Pork Producers Council. He was the GOP challenger to State Senator Herman Quirmbach in 2014. Davis told state convention delegates the governor had asked him to run for treasurer. Former Iowa GOP State Central Committee member John Thompson had been campaigning for that office for much of 2017 but did not file nomination papers this March. Last year, a judge granted a request from Thompson’s former fiancee for a temporary restraining order (later dismissed).

Davis will be an extreme long-shot against Michael Fitzgerald, the country’s longest-serving state treasurer. Having been re-elected comfortably in three GOP landslide years (1994, 2010, and 2014), Fitzgerald should not have any trouble in a midterm election where Democrats are more highly engaged.

To follow Davis: website, Facebook, Twitter

To follow Fitzgerald: Facebook, Twitter

Top photos: Mike Naig (left) and Jeremy Davis (right).

The post GOP nominates Mike Naig for ag secretary, Jeremy Davis for treasurer appeared first on Bleeding Heartland.

The Iowa Senate convened for its 2019 session on January 14 with 32 Republicans and 18 Democrats. A record eleven senators are women (six Democrats and five Republicans), up from six women in the chamber at the start of the last legislature’s work.

I enclose below details on the majority and minority leadership teams, along with all chairs, vice chairs, and members of standing Iowa Senate committees. Where relevant, I’ve mentioned changes since last year’s legislative session. Note that Democratic Senator Nate Boulton will serve on committees after all. Minority Leader Janet Petersen had declined to assign him to any committees last month.

A few words about demographics: all current state senators are white. To my knowledge, the only African American ever to serve in the Iowa Senate was Tom Mann, elected to two terms during the 1980s. No Latino has ever served in the Iowa legislature; in 2014, Nathan Blake fell 18 votes short of becoming the first. No Asian American has served in the Iowa Senate since Swati Dandekar resigned in 2011.

Some non-political trivia: the 50 Iowa senators include two Smiths (a Democrat and a Republican) and two Taylors (both Democrats). As for first names, there are three Marks, three Zachs, and two men each named Dan, Jim, Tim, Tom, and Jeff.

Senate Republicans

First elected in 1996: Jerry Behn

First elected in 2004: Brad Zaun

First elected in 2008: Randy Feenstra, Tim Kapucian

First elected in 2010: Roby Smith

First elected in a 2011 special election: Jack Whitver

First elected in 2012: Dennis Guth, Mark Segebart, Jake Chapman, Amy Sinclair, Ken Rozenboom, Dan Zumbach, Michael Breitbach

First elected in a 2012 special election: Charles Schneider

First elected in a 2013 special election: Julian Garrett (three years service in the Iowa House)

First elected in 2014: Tom Shipley, Jason Schultz (six years in Iowa House), Tim Kraayenbrink

First elected in a 2014 special election: Mark Costello

First elected in 2016: Waylon Brown, Dan Dawson, Jeff Edler, Tom Greene, Craig Johnson, Mark Lofgren

First elected in a 2017 special election: Jim Carlin

First elected in a 2018 special election: Annette Sweeney
First elected in the 2018 general election: Chris Cournoyer, Carrie Koelker, Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Zach Nunn, Zach Whiting

Senate Democrats

First elected in 1998: Joe Bolkcom

First elected in a 2002 special election: Amanda Ragan

First elected in 2002: Bill Dotzler (six years in Iowa House), Herman Quirmbach

First elected in 2004: Jeff Danielson

First elected in 2006: Rob Hogg (four years in Iowa House)

First elected in 2008: Pam Jochum (sixteen years in Iowa House)

First elected in a 2011 special election: Liz Mathis

First elected in 2012: Janet Petersen (twelve years in Iowa House), Rich Taylor

First elected in 2014: Tony Bisignano (six years in Iowa House and four in Iowa Senate during 1980s and 1990s), Kevin Kinney
First elected in 2016: Nate Boulton
First elected in a 2016 special election: Jim Lykam (fourteen years in Iowa House)
First elected in 2018: Claire Celsi, Jackie Smith, Todd Taylor, Zach Wahls

Iowa Senate Republican leadership team

Majority Leader Jack Whitver took on that role in March 2018, after his predecessor Bill Dix resigned unexpectedly after Iowa Starting Line exposed his apparent romantic relationship with a lobbyist. He represents Senate district 19, covering Ankeny and other parts of northern Polk County.

Senate President Charles Schneider moved up from majority whip last March. Since 2013, he has represented Senate district 22, covering Windsor Heights, Clive, Waukee, and parts of West Des Moines in Polk and Dallas counties.

Senate President Pro-Tem Jerry Behn preceded Dix as minority leader and returned to the GOP leadership team after the 2016 election. He represents Senate district 24, covering all of Boone, Hamilton, and Greene counties and part of Webster.

Majority whip Amy Sinclair was the only woman in the 29-member Senate GOP caucus after the 2016 election. She represents Senate district 14, covering Clarke, Decatur, Lucas, and Wayne counties, along with most of Marion County and part of Jasper County.

Three of the four assistant majority leaders also held that position last year.

Waylon Brown is new to the leadership team. He is serving his first term in Senate district 26, covering Worth, Floyd, Chickasaw, Mitchell, and Howard counties, and parts of Cerro Gordo and Winneshiek counties.

Jake Chapman is serving his second term Senate district 10, covering most of Dallas County, a little bit of Polk and Cass counties, and all of Adair and Guthrie Counties.

Randy Feenstra is serving his third term and represents Senate district 2, covering Sioux, O’Brien, and Cherokee counties. He announced last week that he will challenge U.S. Representative Steve King in the fourth Congressional district in 2020.

Dan Zumbach has since 2013 represented Senate district 48, covering Delaware County and parts of Jones, Linn, and Buchanan counties.

Iowa Senate Democratic leadership team

Minority Leader Janet Petersen replaced Rob Hogg in that role in October 2017. First elected to the Senate in 2012 after serving six terms in the Iowa House, she represents Senate district 18, covering parts of northern and eastern Des Moines in Polk County.

Minority Whip Amanda Ragan is serving her fourth term and represents Senate district 27, which includes Mason City and most of Cerro Gordo County as well as Franklin County and most of Butler County.

Four of the six assistant minority leaders served in the same role last year; the other two replace colleagues who did not seek re-election in 2018.

Joe Bolkcom is serving his sixth term and represents Senate district 43, covering most of Iowa City in Johnson County.

Bill Dotzler is serving his fifth term and represents Senate district 31, covering a large area in Waterloo in Black Hawk County.

Pam Jochum returns to leadership, having been Senate president when Democrats were last in the majority. She is serving her third term and represents Senate district 50, covering Dubuque.

Liz Mathis helped Democrats retain control of the chamber by winning a 2011 special election and has since been re-elected twice in Senate district 34, covering some surburban areas in Linn County.

Herman Quirmbach is serving his fourth term and represents Senate district 23, covering Ames and some rural areas in Story County.

Rich Taylor is new to the leadership team. He is serving his second term and represents Senate district 42, covering Lee and Henry Counties and parts of Jefferson and Washington.

Iowa Senate Standing Commitees

Agriculture

Chair: Dan Zumbach (see above)

Vice Chair: Annette Sweeney represents Senate district 25, covering Hardin and Grundy counties and parts of Story and Butler counties. Last year Waylon Brown was vice chair of this committee.

Ranking member: Kevin Kinney was first elected in 2014 and represents Senate district 39, covering Washington and Keokuk counties and a large area in Johnson County.

Other members: Ken Rozenboom (R), Jeff Edler (R), Tom Shipley (R), Tim Kapucian (R), Waylon Brown (R), Mark Costello (R), Amanda Ragan (D), Zach Wahls (D), Rich Taylor (D), Liz Mathis (D)

Appropriations

Chair: Michael Breitbach was first elected in 2012 in Senate district 28, covering all of Allamakee and Clayton counties, most of Winneshiek County, and about half of Fayette County. Last year Charles Schneider chaired this committee.

Vice Chair: Tim Kraayenbrink was first elected in 2014 and represents Senate district 5, covering Calhoun, Humboldt, and Pocahontas counties, as well as most of Webster County.

Ranking member: Joe Bolkcom (see above)

Other members: Charles Schneider (R), Julian Garrett (R), Dennis Guth (R), Mark Lofgren (R), Ken Rozenboom (R), Tom Shipley (R), Mark Costello (R), Marriannette Miller-Meeks (R), Thomas Greene (R), Craig Johnson (R), Mark Chelgren (R), Claire Celsi (D), Jim Lykam (D), Bill Dotzler (D), Todd Taylor (D), Liz Mathis (D), Zach Wahls (D), Amanda Ragan (D)

Appropriations Subcommittees

Administration and Regulation

Chair: Dennis Guth was first elected in 2012 and represents Senate district 4, covering Emmet, Kossuth, Winnebago, Hancock, and Wright counties.

Vice Chair: Dan Zumbach (see above) Last year Jake Chapman was vice chair.

Ranking member: Claire Celsi was just elected for the first time in 2018 and represents Senate district 21, covering parts of Des Moines, West Des Moines, and Cumming in Polk and Warren counties. Last year Liz Mathis was ranking member of this subcommittee.

Other members: Zach Whiting (R), Rich Taylor (D)

Agriculture/Natural Resources

Chair: Tom Shipley was first elected in 2014 and represents Senate district 11, covering Adams and Union counties, most of Cass County, and most of Pottawattamie County outside the Council Bluffs city limits.

Vice Chair: Ken Rozenboom was first elected in 2012 and represents Senate district 40, covering Mahaska, Monroe, and Appanoose Counties, and parts of Marion and Wapello Counties. Last year Waylon Brown was vice chair of this subcommittee.

Ranking member: Liz Mathis (see above) Last year Rita Hart was ranking member, but she ran for lieutenant governor instead of for re-election to the Senate.

Other members: Annette Sweeney (R), Kevin Kinney (D)

Economic Development

Chair: Mark Lofgren was first elected in 2016 in Senate district 46, covering parts of Muscatine and Scott Counties.

Vice Chair: Thomas Greene was first elected in 2016 in Senate district 44, covering Des Moines and Louisa counties and part of Muscatine County. Last year Mike Breitbach was vice chair of this subcommittee.

Ranking member: Bill Dotzler (see above)

Other members: Chris Cournoyer (R), Jackie Smith (D)

Education

Chair: Tim Kraayenbrink (see above)

Vice Chair: Amy Sinclair (see above) Last year Jim Carlin was ranking member on this subcommittee.

Ranking member: Zach Wahls was just elected for the first time in 2018 in Senate district 37, covering Cedar County and part of Johnson County. Last year Jeff Danielson was ranking member on this subcommittee.

Other members: Carrie Koelker (R), Herman Quirmbach (D)

Health and Human Services

Chair: Mark Costello was first elected in a 2014 special election to replace Joni Ernst and represents Senate district 12, covering Mills, Montgomery, Fremont, Page, Taylor, and Ringgold counties.

Vice Chair: Jeff Edler was first elected in 2016 and represents Senate district 36, covering Marshall and Tama counties and a small area in Black Hawk County. Last year Mark Segebart was vice chair of this subcommittee.

Ranking member: Amanda Ragan (see above)

Other members: Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R), Joe Bolkcom (D)

Justice Systems

Chair: Julian Garrett was first elected in 2013 and represents Senate district 13, covering Madison County and most of Warren County. Last year Mark Chelgren chaired this subcommittee, but he retired.

Vice Chair: Zach Nunn gave up a leadership position in the Iowa House last year to run for Senate district 15, covering most of Jasper County and eastern areas of Polk County. Last year Dan Dawson was vice chair of this subcommittee.

Ranking member: Rob Hogg was first elected in 2006 and represents Senate district 33, covering part of Cedar Rapids in Linn County. Last year Bob Dvorsky was ranking member of this subcommittee, but he retired.

Other members: Jim Carlin (R), Todd Taylor (D)

Transportation, Infrastructure, and Capitals

Chair: Craig Johnson was first elected in 2016 in Senate district 32, covering Bremer County and parts of Fayette, Buchanan and Black Hawk.

Vice Chair: Roby Smith is serving his third term in Senate district 47, covering parts of Scott County. Last year Tim Kapucian was vice chair of this subcommittee.

Ranking member: Jim Lykam gave up a seat in the Iowa House in late 2016 to run for Senate district 45, covering part of Scott County. Last year Matt McCoy was ranking member of this subcommittee, but he retired.

Other members: Dan Dawson (R), Nate Boulton (D)

Commerce

Chair: Jake Chapman was first elected in 2012 and represents Senate district 10, covering most of Dallas County, a little bit of Polk and Cass counties, and all of Adair and Guthrie Counties.

Vice Chair: Carrie Koelker was just elected for the first time in 2018 in Senate district 29, covering Jackson County and Dubuque County outside the city of Dubuque. Last year Michael Breitbach was vice chair of this committee.

Ranking member: Jim Lykam (see above) Last year Chaz Allen was ranking member of this committee, but he retired.

Other members: Michael Breitbach (R), Dan Dawson (R), Amy Sinclair (R), Craig Johnson (R), Randy Feenstra (R), Zach Nunn (R), Waylon Brown (R), Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R), Roby Smith (R), Janet Petersen (D), Tony Bisignano (D), Joe Bolkcom (D), Liz Mathis (D), Herman Quirmbach (D)

Education

Chair: Amy Sinclair (see above)

Vice Chair: Chris Cournoyer was just elected for the first time in 2018 and represents Senate district 49, covering Clinton County and part of Scott County. Last year Jeff Edler was vice chair of this committee.

Ranking member: Herman Quirmbach (see above)

Other members: Jerry Behn (R), Tim Kraayenbrink (R), Jeff Edler (R), Annette Sweeney (R), Ken Rozenboom (R), Mark Lofgren (R), Craig Johnson (R), Brad Zaun (R), Claire Celsi (D), Jeff Danielson (D), Jackie Smith (D), Zach Wahls (D)

Ethics

This committee has three members from each party in accordance with Iowa law.

Chair: Mark Costello (see above) Last year Jerry Behn chaired this committee.

Vice Chair: Jerry Behn (see above) Last year Dennis Guth was vice chair of this committee.

Ranking member: Pam Jochum (see above) Last year Wally Horn was ranking member, but he retired.

Other members: Annette Sweeney (R), Liz Mathis (D), Kevin Kinney (D)

Government Oversight

Chair: Amy Sinclair (see above) Last year Michael Breitbach chaired this committee.

Vice Chair: Mark Lofgren (see above) Last year Amy Sinclair was vice chair.

Ranking member: Tony Bisignano was elected in 2014 and represents Senate district 17, covering parts of downtown Des Moines and the south side. He previously served six years in the state House and four years in the Senate during the 1980s and 1990s. Last year Matt McCoy was ranking member, but he retired.

Other members: Zach Whiting (R), Claire Celsi (D)

Human Resources

Chair: Mariannette Miller-Meeks was just elected for the first time in 2018 and represents Senate district 41, covering much of Wapello County and all of Davis and Van Buren counties. She previously made three attempts to defeat U.S. Representative Dave Loebsack. Last year Mark Segebart chaired this committee.

Vice Chair: Mark Segebart was first elected in 2012 and represents Senate district 6, covering Buena Vista, Sac, Carroll, and Audubon counties, plus part of Crawford County. Last year Mark Costello was vice chair of this committee.

Ranking member: Liz Mathis (see above)

Other members: Julian Garrett (R), Jim Carlin (R), Thomas Greene (R), Craig Johnson (R), Mark Costello (R), Tom Shipley (R), Joe Bolkcom (D), Pam Jochum (D), Herman Quirmbach (D), Amanda Ragan (D)

Judiciary

Chair: Brad Zaun was first elected in 2004 and represents Senate district 20, covering Urbandale, Johnston, Grimes, and other areas in northwest Polk County.

Vice Chair: Dan Dawson was first elected in 2016 in Senate district 8, covering Council Bluffs and Carter Lake in Pottawattamie County.

Ranking member: Kevin Kinney was first elected in 2014 and represents Senate district 39, covering Keokuk County, most of Washington County, and part of Johnson County. Last year Rich Taylor was ranking member on this committee.

Other members: Julian Garrett (R), Tom Shipley (R), Amy Sinclair (R), Zach Nunn (R), Jason Schultz (R), Amy Sinclair (R), Annette Sweeney (R), Zach Whiting (R), Tony Bisignano (D), Rob Hogg (D), Janet Petersen (D), Rich Taylor (D)

Labor and Business Relations

Chair: Jason Schultz was first elected in 2014 and represent Senate district 9, covering Ida, Monona, Harrison, and Shelby counties, along with parts of Crawford and Woodbury counties. He is the only state lawmaker who has called me a traitor.

Vice Chair: Zach Whiting was just elected for the first time in 2018 and represents Senate district 1, covering Lyon, Osceola, Dickinson, Clay, and Palo Alto counties. Last year Brad Zaun was vice chair of this committee.

Ranking member: Todd Taylor served for more than 20 years in the Iowa House and was just elected in 2018 to represent Senate district 35, covering part of Cedar Rapids in Linn County. Last year Nate Boulton was ranking member on this committee.

Other members: Jim Carlin (R), Waylon Brown (R), Mark Costello (R), Dennis Guth (R), Carrie Koelker (R), Zach Nunn, Bill Dotzler (D), Rich Taylor (D), Tony Bisignano (D)

Local Government

Chair: Jeff Edler (see above) Last year Julian Garrett chaired this committee.

Vice Chair: Thomas Greene (see above) Last year Mark Lofgren was vice chair.

Ranking member: Jackie Smith was just elected for the first time in 2018 and represents Senate district 7, covering most of Sioux City in Woodbury County. Last year Rob Hogg was ranking member on this committee.

Other members: Tim Kraayenbrink (R), Julian Garrett (R), Dennis Guth (R), Mark Lofgren (R), Mark Segebart (R), Herman Quirmbach (D), Nate Boulton (D), Rob Hogg (D)

Natural Resources and Environment

Chair: Ken Rozenboom was first elected in 2012 and represents Senate district 40, covering Mahaska, Monroe, and Appanoose Counties, and parts of Marion and Wapello Counties. He was previously ranking member on this committee.

Vice Chair: Tom Shipley was first elected in 2014 and represents Senate district 11, covering Adams and Union counties, most of Cass County, and most of Pottawattamie County outside the Council Bluffs city limits.

Ranking member: Rob Hogg (see above) Last year Bob Dvorsky was ranking member, but he retired.

Other members: Chris Cournoyer (R), Jerry Behn (R), Tim Kapucian (R), Mark Segebart (R), Annette Sweeney (R), Dan Zumbach (R), Claire Celsi (D), Nate Boulton (D), Jim Lykam (D), Jackie Smith (D)

Rules and Administration

Chair: Jack Whitver (see above)

Vice Chair: Charles Schneider (see above)

Ranking member: Janet Petersen (see above)

Other members: Jerry Behn (R), Jake Chapman (R), Roby Smith (R), Randy Feenstra (R), Amy Sinclair (R), Joe Bolkcom (D), Amanda Ragan (D), Pam Jochum (D)

State Government

Chair: Roby Smith (see above)

Vice Chair: Craig Johnson (see above) Last year Jake Chapman was vice chair of this committee.

Ranking member: Tony Bisignano (see above)

Other members: Jake Chapman (R), Brad Zaun (R), Randy Feenstra (R), Jason Schultz (R), Dan Dawson (R), Chris Cournoyer (R), Zach Whiting (R), Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R), Claire Celsi (D), Jeff Danielson (D), Todd Taylor (D), Pam Jochum (D)

Transportation

Chair: Tim Kapucian was first elected in 2008 and represents Senate district 38, covering Benton, Iowa and Poweshiek counties.

Vice Chair: Waylon Brown (see above) Last year Michael Breitbach was vice chair.

Ranking member: Last year Tod Bowman was ranking member, but he lost his re-election bid.

Other members: Dan Zumbach (R), Michael Breitbach (R), Chris Cournoyer (R), Tom Shipley (R), Zach Whiting (R), Carrie Koelker (R), Kevin Kinney (D), Jackie Smith (D), Todd Taylor (D), Jim Lykam (D)

Veterans Affairs

Chair: Dan Dawson was first elected in 2016 and represents Senate district 8, covering Council Bluffs in Pottawattamie County. Last year Mark Costello chaired this committee.

Vice Chair: Mariannette Miller-Meeks (see above) Last year Ken Rozenboom was vice chair.

Ranking member: Rich Taylor was first elected in 2012 and represents Senate district 42, covering Lee and Henry Counties and parts of Jefferson and Washington. Last year Wally Horn was ranking member, but he retired.

Other members: Jim Carlin (R), Mark Lofgren (R), Jeff Edler (R), Carrie Koelker (R), Mark Costello (R), Jeff Danielson (D), Bill Dotzler (D), Amanda Ragan (D)

Ways & Means

Chair: Randy Feenstra (see above)

Vice Chair: Dan Dawson (see above) Last year Jerry Behn was vice chair.

Ranking member: Pam Jochum (see above)

Other members: Waylon Brown (R), Jerry Behn (R), Jim Carlin (R), Jake Chapman (R), Jason Schultz (R), Roby Smith (R), Jeff Edler (R), Annette Sweeney (R), Zach Nunn (R), Bill Dotzler (D), Joe Bolkcom (D), Jeff Danielson (D), Zach Wahls (D), Herman Quirmbach (D)

Administrative Rules Review Committee

Five Iowa House and five Iowa Senate members serve on this committee. The Senate’s five representatives on this committee are Waylon Brown (R, chair), Mark Costello (R), Zach Whiting (R), Rob Hogg (D), Pam Jochum (D)

The post Who’s who in the Iowa Senate for 2019 appeared first on Bleeding Heartland.

U.S. Representative Steve King’s clout has taken big hits lately. He won his ninth term in Congress by only a 3.3 percent margin in Iowa’s most conservative district (partisan voter index of R+11). Once-staunch allies like Governor Kim Reynolds sought to distance themselves from his toxic racism. The leader of his caucus stripped him of all House committee assignments.

Three other Republicans announced plans to seek the 2020 nomination in the fourth district, and campaign finance reports filed on April 15 confirmed that many heavy hitters are backing King’s best-known challenger, State Senator Randy Feenstra.

The incumbent’s recent fundraising and campaign spending would suggest that he’s not concerned about his re-election prospects.

But in other ways, King is working diligently to maintain support among the conservatives he needs to continue his political career. Fortunately for him, taxpayers are bankrolling much of that outreach.

LITTLE DISCERNIBLE EFFORT TO RAISE MONEY

King’s never been a strong fundraiser, other than in 2012, when he faced Christie Vilsack in a substantially redrawn district. The Center for Responsive Politics’ OpenSecrets database shows that King raised and spent more than $3.7 million for his 2012 re-election bid, far more than he had spent on any previous Congressional race. He spent less than $1 million during the 2018 election cycle, when Democratic challenger J.D. Scholten spent more than $3 million.

Even by King’s standards, his first-quarter 2019 filing with the Federal Election Commission was embarrassing. His campaign reported $61,666.52 in contributions, a remarkably low number for an entrenched Congressional incumbent. Most of the money came from individuals; $37,081.52 was unitemized (gifts of less than $200) and $20,585.00 represented itemized contributions. Only one donor maxed out to King, and a handful of others (including Don Lamberti) gave $2,000 or more. Two political action committees affiliated with other far-right House Republicans each gave $2,000.

I’ve heard of high burn rates, but I can’t recall seeing an incumbent’s campaign spend more than it raised this early in an election cycle. King reported $68,476.99 in expenditures during the first three months of the year. Wages for his son and daughter-in-law, Jeff and Lindsay King, were the largest expense. As has been his practice every cycle but 2012–when he hired pros to manage his race against Vilsack–King has relied primarily on relatives to run his campaigns.

King ended the quarter with just $18,385.34 cash on hand. I wonder whether any House members seeking re-election have less money in the bank.

Feenstra filed a more impressive FEC report: $260,442 in contributions, of which $252,942.00 came from individuals and $7,500 came from three corporate PACs.

Noteworthy donors to Feenstra included:

Many “usual suspect” Iowa GOP donors maxed out to Feenstra, such as Joe Crookham, Kyle Krause, and John Smith. Oddly, Bruce Rastetter (a prominent supporter of Bertrand in the 2016 primary) has not donated yet.

Feenstra’s campaign spent $20,631.42 during the first quarter and reported $239,683.77 cash on hand as of March 31.

Worth noting: many contributors gave Feenstra more than the $2,800 maximum amount for a primary election. By my count, $42,850 in his campaign account is restricted for use during the 2020 general election, meaning Feenstra can’t spend it to win the primary and will have to refund it if he does not win the nomination. That leaves the challenger with nearly $197,000 available, more than ten times King’s cash on hand.

Woodbury County Supervisor Jeremy Taylor reported raising $57,728.85, all from individuals. Regina Roth, who along with her husband has been a major donor to many Iowa Republican candidates, gave Taylor $2,700. The campaign spent $7,663.58 during the first quarter, leaving $50,065.27 cash on hand. Taylor can spend all of that before the primary election.

UPDATE: Gavin Aronsen posted a more comprehensive look at the candidates’ fundraising at Iowa Informer, with a focus on former King donors who have given to either Feenstra or Taylor this year. A source in Sioux City speculates that some of Taylor’s contributors may be King loyalists who want to split the opposition vote in the primary.

The other declared Republican candidate in IA-04 is Bret Richards, an Army veteran and former business owner. FEC records show Richards loaned his campaign $48,000, donated $2,145 of his own funds, and raised $17,556.05 from other contributors, mostly relatives. The campaign spent $28,416.96 during the reporting period, including $22,500 for “market testing,” and had $37,139.09 cash on hand as of March 31.

That’s right: not one, not two, but all three Republican challengers ended the first quarter with more cash on hand than the nine-term incumbent.

Will it matter? Feenstra supporter Kochel put his best spin on the numbers.

I'm told if you include un-itemized contributions, @RandyFeenstra has 525 contributions from 490 donors. I'm assuming the un-itemized are almost all in-district since they're usually small donors coming to events. @SteveKingIA has a real problem on his hands. #IA04

— David Kochel (@ddkochel) April 16, 2019

Having a few hundred more donors doesn’t strike me as significant, given that 45,000 people cast ballots in the 2016 primary to represent IA-04. If two or three challengers file, King can win the nomination with only a plurality of votes.

Even if Feenstra scares off the competition and manages to position himself as King’s sole rival, he will need to work hard and spend heavily just to raise his name ID. The 39 counties in IA-04 span a huge geographical area and six media markets. Feenstra is barely known outside his own Iowa Senate district, and he is the opposite of battle-tested, having never faced a competitive primary or general election.

The irony is that Feenstra’s financial advantage could play into King’s preferred narrative: he is the brave truth-teller, while his critics are part of the politically correct establishment in Des Moines and Washington, DC. It’s a pretty good shtick for conservatives, who will cast most of the votes in the Republican primary. King is already taking that message on the road.

SHORING UP SUPPORT IN REDDEST COUNTIES

Scholten frequently criticized King last year for not showing up around the district. Whereas the Democratic nominee held at least three public events in each IA-04 county, the incumbent was less accessible to constituents.

King’s polling numbers declined in October as his bigotry and links to racist politicians in other countries made national headlines, and Scholten and an outside group were running unanswered television commercials. The incumbent had to scramble to get a recycled spot from 2014 on the air for the last few days before the election. In a district with 70,000 more registered Republicans than Democrats, King ended up winning by 157,676 votes to 147,246 (50.3 percent to 47.0 percent).

Click on any county on this interactive map to see how IA-04 residents voted for Congress and governor in 2018. King underperformed everywhere, receiving about 30,000 fewer votes than Reynolds district-wide.

Bleeding Heartland continues to catch up on the legislature’s significant actions during the session that ended on April 27. Previous posts related to the work of the Iowa House or Senate can be found here.

Republicans showed little interest in amending the Iowa Constitution during the 2019 session. Only one amendment passed both chambers. If and when that proposal appears on a statewide ballot, it will spark a costly and divisive campaign about gun rights and regulations.

The Senate and House debate over the pro-gun amendment is the focus of the first half of this post. Arguments raised on both sides will surely return in future television commercials and mass mailings.

The rest of the post reviews this year’s unsuccessful attempts to change the constitution. One amendment (backed by Governor Kim Reynolds) made it through the Iowa House, and four others advanced from a House or Senate committee but did not come up for a floor vote. The rest did not get through a committee, even though some of the same ideas went further last year.

THROUGH BOTH CHAMBERS AND HALFWAY TO APPEARING ON A STATEWIDE BALLOT

Altering Iowa’s constitution is a lengthy process. Two separately elected legislatures must approve identical language. Then the proposed amendment must receive a majority vote on a statewide ballot.

Any amendment approved this year or during the 2020 legislative session will need to clear the Iowa House and Senate again in 2021 or 2022 in order to go before voters in 2022.

Expansive pro-gun amendment

Senate Joint Resolution 10, later renamed Senate Joint Resolution 18, represents the second attempt to add the right to keep and bear arms to Iowa’s constitution.

The right of an individual to acquire, keep, possess, transport, carry, transfer, and use arms to defend life and liberty and for all other legitimate purposes is fundamental and shall not be infringed upon or denied. Mandatory licensing, registration, or special taxation as a condition of the exercise of this right is prohibited, and any other restriction shall be subject to strict scrutiny.

Republicans approved the same language in 2018, so in theory, the amendment should have been on the 2020 general election ballot. However, Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate’s staff failed to publish the amendment in newspapers around the state before the 2018 election, forcing the legislature to start the process over. (The same thing happened during the last decade, delaying adoption of a less controversial amendment.)

This year’s debates on the pro-gun amendment played out just like last year. Democrats in both chambers advocated replicating language from the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Republicans insisted on wording that would require courts to subject any firearms regulations to heightened scrutiny.

The Senate took up the resolution on March 13 (video here). State Senator Brad Zaun, the floor manager, dodged questions from Democratic Senator Herman Quirmbach about whether his intent was to prevent the state legislature from regulating bump stocks or bazookas.

Democratic State Senator Tony Bisignano offered two amendments, which were voted down along party lines. The first would have added the Second Amendment language identically to the Iowa Constitution. The second would have kept most of the Republican-proposed amendment, striking the words “Any and all restrictions of this right shall be subject to strict scrutiny.”

Democratic Senator Bill Dotzler gave one of the most compelling speeches during the floor debate. He began by describing himself as an Army veteran and “owner of pistols, shotguns, crossbows, rifles” who is a “firm defender of the Second Amendment.”

My partial transcript:

What we’re talking about here is basically what strict scrutiny means. […]

So, my experience in the legislature has taught me this: words matter, and the words that you put into law can be interpreted different from what legislators think.

In the late 1990s, an Iowa House bill created an incentive for businesses to locate in “enterprise zones.” Dotzler asked in committee: what if a business from outside the enterprise zone moves into one of those zones, creating a depressed area in the former location? Would the state of Iowa be giving them extra incentives to move?

“And they [Republicans] said, well no, that’s not our intent, and we don’t mean that at all. And I said, well, this isn’t defined very well.”

After Governor Terry Branstad signed that bill into law, a company called Waterloo Industries left a depressed area and received incentives for moving into an enterprise zone.

And it was challenged [in court]. The Attorney General’s office went and said no, that was the intent of the legislature. It was ok to do that. It was fine.

That isn’t what the discussion was in committee!

That’s what attorneys do. They look at the words and they–I don’t think it makes a lot of difference here what you’re saying, unless you define it. And Senator Zaun, you didn’t define it. You just said, well, it isn’t your intent, it’s up to the people of Iowa to decide.

Dotzler expressed doubt that the people who could be voting on this amendment in 2022 will understand what strict scrutiny means, because “it’s too complicated to explain in a 30-second ad.”

So, if you know what it is and what your intent is, then let us know, because I’m deeply concerned.

Before retiring from John Deere, Dotzler worked with some people who had alcohol problems or mental illness or were abusing their wives. Like convicted felons, such people shouldn’t have weapons, he said. Under current law, we can stop that from happening.

Now, there are plenty of people in Iowa that are looking at the terminology “strict scrutiny” and thinking that your intent is that every person has a right to a weapon no matter what. That’s what I think it means. Every person. We don’t need background checks. We aren’t going to check to see if there’s a record on somebody. You can just buy a weapon anywhere. That’s what I believe it means. I haven’t heard anybody say any different. […]

What we do here matters, and I think you’re just throwing a jump ball up in the air to get my fellow gun owners worked up about something that makes them believe that this Democrat sitting in this seat don’t care about their inalienable rights to have a weapon, which I do. Because I own more than most. I don’t hunt, but I enjoy going to the range and utilizing them. Because I believe in my right of freedom, and I believe in protecting myself.

But I also believe that there are people that shouldn’t have weapons, and they shouldn’t have a right to them. And that’s what this debate’s about, and this is where I think you’re wrong. Because you haven’t really clarified what you mean. And I think you better.

In his closing remarks, Zaun denied that the resolution would allow domestic abusers or people with felony convictions to own firearms. He denied that there are “loopholes” at gun shows in Iowa. He goes to them regularly and always has to show his ID and permit to purchase a weapon.

Why demand strict scrutiny language? “We’re trying to give the power to the citizens of the state of Iowa to decide how important their Second Amendment rights are,” Zaun said.

Senators approved the constitutional amendment by 33 votes to 16, with Democrat Rich Taylor joining all the Republicans to support it.

Later the same day, the Iowa House took up the companion bill, House Joint Resolution 3. I clipped the relevant part of opening remarks by Republican State Representative Matt Windschitl, the floor manager.

Windschitl acknowledged that in the three other states with strict scrutiny language, there have been some lawsuits challenging restrictions. But he claimed courts in those states have not overturned the regulations.

It’s not overturned their permitting process. It’s not allowed felons to have firearms. It’s not putting firearms in the hands of domestic abusers. None of that. It has not happened. What makes us think that somehow in the great state of Iowa, our judiciary is going to view it any differently? […]

The strict scrutiny standard is simple, and here’s why I believe that we need it. We are on a constant endeavor to protect Iowans. We are on a constant endeavor to make sure they’re taken care of. Let’s give them the fundamental protections for this natural right that they need so that they can protect themselves, and let’s make sure that the government does not infringe upon that right.

Several House Democrats spoke against the amendment. State Representative Scott Ourth–who voted for a major pro-gun bill in 2017–warned that the GOP’s preferred language would make the issue needlessly controversial. Iowans might vote down Windschitl’s proposal, but they would overwhelmingly approve of the Democratic alternative: replicating Second Amendment language ing our state constitution.

It’s rare for members of the majority to speak against their own party’s bill. But State Representative Andy McKean, who was still a Republican in March, laid out the most detailed case against the GOP version. Like Ourth, he said he supported the Second Amendment. At the same time, he had “strong reservations about forcing judges to apply the strict scrutiny language to any and all gun-related legislation.”

Of the 44 states that have some version of a right to keep and bear arms in their constitutions, only three (Louisiana, Alabama, and Missouri) call for strict scrutiny, McKean noted. Eight states have rejected adding such language to their constitutions in recent years (South Dakota, Oklahoma, Illinois, Minnesota, Montana, Indiana, Florida, and Tennessee). Why?

Number one is the expense. The three states that require strict scrutiny for firearm legislation have become testing grounds for challenges to existing regulations, an expensive experiment for taxpayers. Laws that have challenged at considerable expense to the taxpayer including the following: felon and possession laws, a state law imposing a sentencing enhancement for the use of a firearm during kidnapping, a law prohibiting the possession of firearms while distributing drugs, and a law prohibiting possession by parolees with felony convictions.

Litigating such cases has cost millions of dollars. The fiscal note on Tennessee’s proposed law found that each lawsuit would cost the state $100,000. Criminal defendants have brought numerous frivolous suits.

Public safety was another concern, McKean said. Some of the lawsuits caused criminal prosecutions to be put on hold.

Another concern is treating the Second Amendment differently from our other Bill of Rights. Varying degrees of scrutiny are applied to all the other fundamental Bill of Rights protections. The Fourth Amendment is the most obvious example. Search or seizure has to be reasonable, not necessary to serve a compelling state interest.

The Eighth Amendment bars cruel and unusual punishment, but doesn’t require the government to justify the punishment as necessary to serve a compelling state interest.

And reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions are placed on speech in public areas where the rights of the speaker may come into conflict with the rights of others.

Requiring strict scrutiny for the review of all firearm legislation fails to recognize that there are a wide variety of matters touching the Second Amendment that call for different levels of scrutiny and fly in the face of

In the landmark Heller decision recognizing individual Second Amendment rights, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the idea that strict scrutiny should apply to all gun laws. In fact, Justice Scalia’s opinion identified many reasonable gun safety laws, like those that prevent dangerous people from accessing guns, and keeping guns out of the hands of felons, as presumptively lawful–a very different standard from strict scrutiny.

Noting that Windschitl had expressed concern for self-defense, McKean said courts had already determined that any law burdening the right to defend oneself in the home was subject to strict scrutiny.

But as we move outside the home, intermediate scrutiny–which is also a tough standard to satisfy–is appropriate, because public safety interests merit increased protection.

By way of example, McKean mentioned permitting requirements for carrying a concealed weapon, minimum age requirements for buying or carrying firearms, barring people with felony convictions or domestic abusers from owning firearms, sentencing enhancements for using a firearm in the commission of another crime. These have nothing to do with self-defense and should not be subjected to strict scrutiny. Iowans support reasonable regulations of firearms.

McKean joined Democrats to support Ourth’s amendment, which failed by 52 votes to 47. But the House vote on final passage went strictly along party lines, 53-46. (The following month, McKean joined the Democratic caucus.)

THROUGH ONE CHAMBER, STALLED IN THE OTHER

Restoring voting rights to Iowans who have completed felony sentences

Article II, Section 5 of Iowa’s constitution reads, “A person adjudged mentally incompetent to vote or a person convicted of any infamous crime shall not be entitled to the privilege of an elector.”

Governor Reynolds told state lawmakers in January,

Our constitution takes away the voting rights of anyone convicted of a felony. Forever.

Only two other state constitutions have a similar provision, and last November, the people of Florida voted to remove their ban.

Through the power of clemency, the governor can restore those rights, and I have done that 88 times since taking office.

But I don’t believe that voting rights should be forever stripped, and I don’t believe restoration should be in the hands of a single person. […]

Our founders gave us a process to amend the constitution, should the passage of time change our view. Let’s begin that process now. I believe Iowans recognize the power of redemption; let’s put this issue in their hands.

The governor’s office recommended the text later named House Joint Resolution 14. It would change Article II, Section 5 to read as follows:

Disqualified persons. A person adjudged mentally incompetent to vote or a person convicted of any infamous crime felony who has not discharged his or her sentence shall not be entitled to the privilege of an elector.

Democratic State Representative Mary Wolfe had introduced a different approach to reach the same goal. Her proposal was never assigned to a subcommittee, and Wolfe endorsed the governor’s preferred language.

The House Judiciary Committee unanimously approved the constitutional amendment in early March. A few weeks later, the full chamber approved changing the felon disenfranchisement language by 95 votes to 2. Republicans Dean Fisher and Jon Jacobsen were the only opponents.

Within days, an Iowa Senate subcommittee advanced the bill. But it went no further.

Senate Judiciary Committee chair Zaun was skeptical from the beginning about automatic restoration of voting rights for Iowans with felony convictions. He introduced a bill stating,

A person shall not be considered to have discharged a sentence for purposes of Article II, section 5, of the Constitution of the State of Iowa unless the person has paid all restitution, court costs, fines, surcharges, or penalties the person owes as a result of the person’s conviction and has been removed from the sex offender registry established in chapter 692A.

Zaun’s bill didn’t go anywhere, but his concerns carried the day. He declined to bring the constitutional amendment up for a full committee vote in time for the legislature’s second “funnel” deadline on April 5. Stephen Gruber-Miller and Barbara Rodriguez reported for the Des Moines Register,

Zaun, R-Urbandale, said he had told Reynolds on Thursday [April 4] that the Senate effort would be “an uphill climb” hampered by the lack of a second bill to clarify what it would mean for felons to have completed their sentences.

“This language, I believe, was not clear enough, and there was not any parameters in regards to what those restoration of those voting rights were,” he said.

Zaun said he expects to take up the issue again next year. He said he knows it was one of Reynolds’ top legislative priorities for the current session, but that it lacks support from Republicans on the Judiciary Committee.

“I’ve been down here a long time. There’s been many governors that didn’t get everything they wanted,” he said. “This is a process.”

Reynolds sounds willing to cut a deal during the 2020 session. After the legislature adjourned, the governor told KCCI-TV and WHO-TV she was disappointed the measure didn’t pass the Senate. She noted that some House members had said during the floor debate that there should be some restrictions–for instance, maybe people who had committed the most serious crimes would not qualify. She’d be willing to work with House and Senate Republicans before next year to find consensus language on “carve-outs” for people who should never get their right to vote back.

I hope the governor doesn’t agree to requirements that would be tantamount to a poll tax (such as denying voting rights to anyone with unpaid fees). She could increase her leverage by making clear that she will act unilaterally to create an automatic restoration process if the legislature does not act.

THROUGH ONE HOUSE OR SENATE COMMITTEE

Committees approved four other state constitutional amendments this year. Leaders didn’t bring any of these joint resolutions to a vote in the full chamber, but all will be eligible for House or Senate floor debate during the 2020 legislative session.

Allowing the governor to name a new lieutenant governor

The House and Senate both approved a constitutional amendment in 2018 with language on the gubernatorial line of succession. The concept was to clarify that if a governor leaves office before the end of the term, the lieutenant governor who assumes the governor’s powers may appoint a new lieutenant governor.

As with the pro-gun amendment, failure to publish the measure in newspapers around the state before last year’s election forced lawmakers to start the process from scratch.

House State Government Committee chair Bobby Kaufmann proposed House Joint Resolution 6 and shepherded the bill through his committee.

The Senate State Government Committee unanimously approved a companion measure, Senate Joint Resolution 19, in February.

No right to an abortion

In June 2018, the Iowa Supreme Court struck down a law mandating a 72-hour waiting period for abortions, on the grounds that it violated women’s due process rights and equal protection guaranteed under the state constitution.

Republicans drafted Senate Joint Resolution 9, later renamed Senate Joint Resolution 21, in response. The measure would add the following language to Article I:

Sec.26. No right to abortion or required funding of abortion. The Constitution of the State of Iowa does not secure or protect a right to abortion or require the funding of abortion.

This resolution came out of the Senate State Government Committee on a party-line 10 to 5 vote in early March. For reasons that remain unclear, it never came to the Senate floor.

Although the 29 Senate GOP co-sponsors represented more than enough to pass the resolution, the three Republicans who did not co-sponsor the abortion measure had huge clout: Majority Leader Jack Whitver, Senate President Charles Schneider, and Assistant Majority leader Dan Zumbach. Nothing comes to the Senate floor without the leaders’ blessing.

Perhaps political considerations were a factor. Whitver just came out of a tough re-election campaign in the northern suburbs of Des Moines, and Democrats will target Schneider’s seat in the western suburbs in 2020. Voters in those communities, especially women, are predominantly pro-choice and have been drifting toward Democrats in recent years.

Sixteen House Republicans introduced a similar amendment, House Joint Resolution 5 (Sandy Salmon, Dean Fisher, Jeff Shipley, Stan Gustafson, Terry Baxter, Anne Osmundson, Skyler Wheeler, Tom Moore, Jon Jacobsen, Cecil Dolecheck, Rob Bacon, Tedd Gassman, Phil Thompson, Tom Jeneary, Thomas Gerhold, and Steven Holt). No one on the House Republican leadership team co-sponsored that amendment, which is probably why it was referred to the House Judiciary Committee but never assigned to a subcommittee.

During a May 21 telephone interview, House Judiciary Committee chair Holt told Bleeding Heartland, “We haven’t checked to see if there’s the votes” to pass this measure in the House.

You know, obviously, as pro-life folks, we would like to see something done to somewhat negate what the [Iowa] Supreme Court had ruled, such as, basically an abortion neutrality amendment that would just make the constitution silent on the issue. But there hasn’t been a lot of discussion on it in the House this year.

I know that the Senate was working on it, and certainly I think it’s very possible it could come up next year. But there haven’t been any kind of discussions on it in the House.

Given that almost every Republican lawmaker voted for a near-total abortion ban in 2018, I’m surprised this constitutional amendment didn’t get more traction.

Super-majority requirement for tax increases

Republican Senator Jim Carlin introduced Senate Joint Resolution 16 (later renamed Senate Joint Resolution 22). It would require a two-thirds majority vote in both the Iowa House and Senate for any bill that alters individual income tax rates in a way that “results in a net increase in state tax revenue.” The Ways and Means Committee approved this resolution on a party-line vote during the second-to-last week of the legislature session.

Limiting state government spending

Zaun introduced Senate Joint Resolution 2, which would limit spending from the state’s general fund to the lesser of two numbers: 99 percent of the adjusted revenue estimate for the following fiscal year for the general fund, or 104 percent of the current fiscal year net revenue estimate for the general fund. Current law has a 99 percent general fund spending limitation, but not exactly like Zaun’s proposal. David Reynolds of the non-partisan Legislative Services Agency explained the differences in this fiscal note.

A Senate Appropriations subcommittee recommended passing this resolution. The full Appropriations Committee later approved it, renamed Senate Joint Resolution 20. All Republicans and two Democrats (Liz Mathis and Amanda Ragan) voted that resolution out of committee. Senate leaders never brought it up for a vote on the floor.

A different proposal to enshrine the 99 percent spending limit in Iowa’s constitution cleared the Iowa Senate with bipartisan support in 2017. Its champion was then Senate Majority Leader Bill Dix, who resigned in the middle of last year’s legislative session. For whatever reason, the current Senate leaders don’t share his passion for the issue.

THROUGH A SUBCOMMITTEE

Crime victims’ rights

Republican State Representatives Ashley Hinson and Megan Jones introduced House Joint Resolution 11, one version of the crime victims’ rights amendment known as “Marsy’s Law.” Although a House Judiciary subcommittee recommended passage with some changes, the full House committee never brought up the resolution.

A similar constitutional amendment made it through a House committee during the 2018 session but did not come up for a floor vote.

Democratic State Representative Marti Anderson introduced a different version of a crime victims’ rights amendment this year. As is typical for proposals from the minority party, Anderson’s legislation was never assigned to a subcommittee.

In the upper chamber, Republican Senator Zach Whiting introduced Senate Joint Resolution 8, a slightly different victims’ rights amendment. A Senate Judiciary subcommittee recommended amendment and passage, but it never came before the full Judiciary Committee.

DIDN’T MAKE IT THROUGH SUBCOMMITTEE

Home rule for school districts

Zaun is a prolific bill-filer. His Senate Joint Resolution 1 stated in part, “School districts are granted home rule power and authority, not inconsistent with the laws of the general assembly, to determine their local affairs and government, except that they shall not have power to levy any tax unless expressly authorized by the general assembly.” A subcommittee hearing was scheduled but there is no record of the bill passing that first stage.

Term limits for lawmakers

Republican Senator Dan Dawson introduced Senate Joint Resolution 3, limiting state legislators to sixteen years of service in the legislature (combined tenure in House and Senate). It was assigned to a State Government subcommittee but moved no further.

Whiting introduced Senate Joint Resolution 4, limiting Iowa House members to six two-year terms and state senators to three four-year terms. It also was assigned to a subcommittee but did not advance.

Republican Senator Jake Chapman introduced Senate Joint Resolution 7, would limit House members to four two-year terms, senators to two four-year terms, and most statewide elected offices (governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, state auditor, attorney general) to three four-year terms, For some reason Chapman didn’t deem it necessary to limit the tenure of the secretary of agriculture. Assigned to a subcommittee but never advanced.

Whiting also introduced Senate Joint Resolution 11, calling for an Article V convention to amend the U.S. Constitution to establish term limits for members of the U.S. House and Senate.

Republican Senator Jason Schultz introduced Senate Joint Resolution 15, calling for an Article V convention to “impose fiscal restraints on the federal government, limit the power and jurisdiction of the federal government, and limit the terms of office for its officials and for members of Congress.”

Term limits are never popular with incumbents. The proposals from Whiting and Schultz may have failed for an additional reason: the gun lobby opposes all Article V proposals, for fear a convention would produce unplanned changes to the Second Amendment.

Gender-neutral constitution

GOP Representative Hinson introduced House Joint Resolution 9, which would make references to the governor in our state’s founding document gender-neutral. It never was assigned to a subcommittee.

Democratic Senator Pam Jochum introduced Senate Joint Resolution 5, which would replace all male references in the Iowa Constitution with gender-neutral terms. This proposal was assigned to subcommittee but never got a hearing.

Campaign finance reform

Democratic Senator Kevin Kinney proposed Senate Joint Resolution 6, asking Congress to convene a convention under Article V of the U.S. Constitution “for the exclusive purpose” of proposing an amendment to respond to the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision on campaign finance. It was assigned to three different subcommittees but never advanced.

Democratic State Representative Dave Jacoby introduced the same proposal, but his House Joint Resolution 10 never was assigned to a subcommittee.

Hunting and fishing

Democratic State Senator Rich Taylor introduced Senate Joint Resolution 14, adding new language to establish a right “to hunt, fish, and harvest wildlife, including by the use of traditional methods, subject to reasonable laws enacted by the general assembly and reasonable rules adopted by the natural resource commission to promote wildlife conservation and management, to maintain natural resources held in trust by the state for public use, and to preserve the future of hunting, fishing, and harvesting wildlife.” It was assigned to a Senate Natural Resources and Environment subcommittee, which never met to consider it.

NEVER INTRODUCED

Privacy of electronic data

The Iowa House unanimously approved a constitutional amendment in 2017 that would add language protecting “electronic communications and data” against “unreasonable searches and seizures.” The measure died in the Senate two years ago and never got off the starting block this year. No one picked up the ball after this amendment’s sponsor, former Republican State Representative Ken Rizer, retired in 2018.

The post 2019 Iowa legislative recap: Constitutional amendments appeared first on Bleeding Heartland.

Emma Schmit is an Iowa organizer for Food & Water Watch. -promoted by Laura Belin

In December, U.S. Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey introduced a historic new vision for agriculture and food in the United States. The Farm System Reform Act would overhaul our unsustainable food and agriculture model and strengthen the Packers & Stockyards Act to give independent family farmers a fighting chance against monopolistic, corporate integrators. It restores mandatory Country of Origin Labeling, so consumers know where their food is coming from.

What makes it truly revolutionary, though, is that it calls for an end to factory farming. The Farm System Reform Act is the first ever national factory farm ban legislation.

To achieve this sweeping overhaul of our food system, Booker’s bill provides a $100 billion voluntary buyout program for contract farmers who want to transition away from factory farming. Through an immediate moratorium on the construction of new or expanding large factory farms, the bill initiates a phaseout of existing large factory farms by 2040.

The Farm System Reform Act also contains mechanisms to hold meat companies accountable for the harm caused by factory farms. Through the creation of new support programs, factory farms can transition to alternative agriculture production such as pasture-based livestock, specialty crop cultivation, or organic commodity production. This legislation is a huge first step in restructuring our food and agriculture system so that it works for our farmers, our communities, and our environment rather than a handful of multi-billion dollar corporations.

Senator Booker isn’t the only one challenging the factory farm industry. Over the past year, we have seen seven presidential candidates come out in support of a factory farm moratorium. It’s not hard to imagine why when they have spent so many hours traveling across Iowa, the land of 10,000 factory farms.

The harmful impacts of the industry are visible in every corner of the state. Factory farms have polluted our water resulting in more than 760 impaired waterways throughout the state. Factory farms have increased corporate control of our ag sector, pigeonholing independent family farmers and local meat processors and running them out of business. Factory farms have furthered the climate crisis, relying heavily on fossil fuels and generating vast quantities of greenhouse gases. The factory farm industry creates disastrous ramifications for our planet as a whole, but our local communities bear the brunt of this harmful industry.

In Iowa, ground zero of the factory farm crisis, state legislators have also taken notice. According to recent polling by John Hopkins Center for a Liveable Future, 63 percent of Iowans support a moratorium on factory farms. Democratic State Representative Sharon Steckman and State Senator Claire Celsi have responded to constituents’ concerns by once again introducing legislation calling for a moratorium on new and expanding factory farms until the impacts of the industry have been fully assessed. Both Steckman and Celsi introduced similar bills during the 2019 session.

Unfortunately, Republican State Representative Dean Fisher, who chairs the Iowa House Environmental Protection Committee, intentionally blocked the bill from being heard last year. Considering Fisher has taken nearly $10,000 from donors in the agriculture sector, and the Iowa Farm Bureau’s PAC is his third largest donor, his refusal to assign the moratorium bill to a subcommittee and allow the democratic process to work is not at all surprising.

State Senator Dan Zumbach, chair of the Iowa Senate Agriculture Committee, did assign Celsi’s moratorium bill to a subcommittee. However, he waited until the absolute last minute and stacked the committee against the bill, ensuring the legislation would not move past the first legislative funnel.

Since the end of the 2019 legislative session, support for a factory farm moratorium has steadily increased. Factory farms operate largely unregulated without regard for surrounding communities. Seaboard Triumph, ranked 2nd on the 2019 Pork Powerhouse list of largest producers, was accused of human trafficking and labor abuse at their Sioux City plant. Iowans saw 81 beach advisories related to E. Coli and toxic blue-green algae from factory farm pollution over the summer. Nearly 40 manure spills across the state befouled our soil and water.

Iowa’s number of polluted waterways continues to rise, with 767 rivers, lakes, and streams considered impaired. Over 10,000 private wells were also found to be contaminated with bacteria and high levels of nitrogen as a result of intensive industrial agriculture practices throughout the state.

Despite spending hundreds of millions of dollars, the state’s Nutrient Reduction Strategy, which is intended to reduce Iowa’s contribution of nitrogen and phosphorus pollution to the Dead Zone in the Gulf of Mexico, is also failing. It will take hundreds to thousands of years to clean up Iowa’s water at the rate of progress achieved under the current voluntary approach.

As corporate-owned factory farms continue to rapidly pollute and damage our state, people are no longer content to stay silent. Unprecedented numbers of people are rising up to demand that our elected officials support a moratorium on new and expanded factory farms to protect our water, our communities, and Iowa’s independent family-scale farms.

Our state deserves to be more than just a feedlot between two rivers. Our communities deserve clean water. Our farmers deserve to work without unjust contracts and monopolized markets. On Thursday, January 23, Iowans from across the state will be gathering for a Stop Factory Farms Lobby Day at the state capitol in Des Moines. We will spend the day urging our elected officials to support a statewide moratorium on factory farms. All are welcome to join us in the fight for a better future.

Photos from last year’s lobby day provided by the author and published with permission:

The post Iowa deserves to be more than just a feedlot between two rivers appeared first on Bleeding Heartland.

The Iowa Senate convened for its 2020 session on January 13 with 32 Republicans and 18 Democrats. Eleven senators are women (six Democrats and five Republicans), up from six women in the chamber before the 2018 elections.

I enclose below details on the majority and minority leadership teams, along with all chairs, vice chairs, and members of standing Iowa Senate committees. Where relevant, I’ve mentioned changes since last year’s legislative session. A few committees have new Republican leaders. On the Democratic side, Eric Giddens now represents the Senate district where Jeff Danielson resigned last year.

A few words about demographics: all current state senators are white. To my knowledge, the only African American ever to serve in the Iowa Senate was Tom Mann, elected to two terms during the 1980s. No Latino has ever served in the Iowa legislature; in 2014, Nathan Blake fell 18 votes short of becoming the first. No Asian American has served in the Iowa Senate since Swati Dandekar resigned in 2011.

Some non-political trivia: the 50 Iowa senators include two Smiths (a Democrat and a Republican) and two Taylors (both Democrats). As for first names, there are three Marks, three Zachs, and two men each named Dan, Jim, Tim, and Tom.

Senate Republicans

First elected in 1996: Jerry Behn

First elected in 2004: Brad Zaun

First elected in 2008: Randy Feenstra, Tim Kapucian

First elected in 2010: Roby Smith

First elected in a 2011 special election: Jack Whitver

First elected in 2012: Dennis Guth, Mark Segebart, Jake Chapman, Amy Sinclair, Ken Rozenboom, Dan Zumbach, Michael Breitbach

First elected in a 2012 special election: Charles Schneider

First elected in a 2013 special election: Julian Garrett (three years service in the Iowa House)

First elected in 2014: Tom Shipley, Jason Schultz (six years in Iowa House), Tim Kraayenbrink

First elected in a 2014 special election: Mark Costello

First elected in 2016: Waylon Brown, Dan Dawson, Jeff Edler, Tom Greene, Craig Johnson, Mark Lofgren

First elected in a 2017 special election: Jim Carlin

First elected in a 2018 special election: Annette Sweeney
First elected in the 2018 general election: Chris Cournoyer, Carrie Koelker, Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Zach Nunn, Zach Whiting

Senate Democrats

First elected in 1998: Joe Bolkcom

First elected in a 2002 special election: Amanda Ragan

First elected in 2002: Bill Dotzler (six years in Iowa House), Herman Quirmbach

First elected in 2006: Rob Hogg (four years in Iowa House)

First elected in 2008: Pam Jochum (sixteen years in Iowa House)

First elected in a 2011 special election: Liz Mathis

First elected in 2012: Janet Petersen (twelve years in Iowa House), Rich Taylor

First elected in 2014: Tony Bisignano (six years in Iowa House and four in Iowa Senate during 1980s and 1990s), Kevin Kinney
First elected in 2016: Nate Boulton
First elected in a 2016 special election: Jim Lykam (fourteen years in Iowa House)
First elected in 2018: Claire Celsi, Jackie Smith, Todd Taylor, Zach Wahls
First elected in a 2019 special election: Eric Giddens

Iowa Senate Republican leadership team

Majority Leader Jack Whitver took on that role in March 2018, when his predecessor Bill Dix resigned unexpectedly after Iowa Starting Line exposed his apparent romantic relationship with a lobbyist. He represents Senate district 19, covering Ankeny and other parts of northern Polk County.

Senate President Charles Schneider represents Senate district 22, covering Windsor Heights, Clive, Waukee, and parts of West Des Moines in Polk and Dallas counties.

Senate President Pro-Tem Jerry Behn preceded Dix as minority leader and returned to the GOP leadership team after the 2016 election. He represents Senate district 24, covering all of Boone, Hamilton, and Greene counties and part of Webster.

Majority whip Amy Sinclair was the only woman in the 29-member Senate GOP caucus after the 2016 election. She represents Senate district 14, covering Clarke, Decatur, Lucas, and Wayne counties, along with most of Marion County and part of Jasper County.

Three of the four assistant majority leaders also held that position last year.

Waylon Brown is serving his first term in Senate district 26, covering Worth, Floyd, Chickasaw, Mitchell, and Howard counties, and parts of Cerro Gordo and Winneshiek counties.

Jake Chapman is serving his second term in Senate district 10, covering most of Dallas County, a little bit of Polk and Cass counties, and all of Adair and Guthrie Counties.

Randy Feenstra is serving his third term and represents Senate district 2, covering Sioux, O’Brien, and Cherokee counties. He has said he will not seek re-election to the legislature this year and has been campaigning for the GOP nomination in the fourth Congressional district.

Dan Zumbach represents Senate district 48, covering Delaware County and parts of Jones, Linn, and Buchanan counties.

Iowa Senate Democratic leadership team

Minority Leader Janet Petersen replaced Rob Hogg in that role in October 2017. First elected to the Senate in 2012 after serving six terms in the Iowa House, she represents Senate district 18, covering parts of northern and eastern Des Moines in Polk County.

Minority Whip Amanda Ragan is serving her fourth term and represents Senate district 27, which includes Mason City and most of Cerro Gordo County as well as Franklin County and most of Butler County.

The six assistant minority leaders have not changed since last year.

Joe Bolkcom is serving his sixth term and represents Senate district 43, covering most of Iowa City in Johnson County.

Bill Dotzler is serving his fifth term and represents Senate district 31, covering a large area in Waterloo in Black Hawk County.

Pam Jochum was Senate president when Democrats were last in the majority. She is serving her third term and represents Senate district 50, covering Dubuque.

Liz Mathis helped Democrats retain control of the chamber by winning a 2011 special election and has since been re-elected twice in Senate district 34, covering some surburban areas in Linn County.

Herman Quirmbach is serving his fourth term and represents Senate district 23, covering Ames and some rural areas in Story County.

Rich Taylor is serving his second term and represents Senate district 42, covering Lee and Henry Counties and parts of Jefferson and Washington.

Iowa Senate Standing Commitees

Agriculture

Chair: Dan Zumbach (see above)

Vice Chair: Annette Sweeney represents Senate district 25, covering Hardin and Grundy counties and parts of Story and Butler counties.

Ranking member: Kevin Kinney was first elected in 2014 and represents Senate district 39, covering Washington and Keokuk counties and a large area in Johnson County.

Other members: Ken Rozenboom (R), Jeff Edler (R), Tom Shipley (R), Tim Kapucian (R), Waylon Brown (R), Mark Costello (R), Amanda Ragan (D), Zach Wahls (D), Rich Taylor (D), Liz Mathis (D)

Appropriations

Chair: Michael Breitbach was first elected in 2012 in Senate district 28, covering all of Allamakee and Clayton counties, most of Winneshiek County, and about half of Fayette County.

Vice Chair: Tim Kraayenbrink was first elected in 2014 and represents Senate district 5, covering Calhoun, Humboldt, and Pocahontas counties, as well as most of Webster County.

Ranking member: Joe Bolkcom (see above)

Other members: Carrie Koelker (R), Julian Garrett (R), Dennis Guth (R), Mark Lofgren (R), Ken Rozenboom (R), Tom Shipley (R), Mark Costello (R), Marriannette Miller-Meeks (R), Thomas Greene (R), Craig Johnson (R), Amy Sinclair (R), Claire Celsi (D), Jim Lykam (D), Bill Dotzler (D), Todd Taylor (D), Liz Mathis (D), Zach Wahls (D), Amanda Ragan (D)

Appropriations Subcommittees

Administration and Regulation

Chair: Dennis Guth was first elected in 2012 and represents Senate district 4, covering Emmet, Kossuth, Winnebago, Hancock, and Wright counties.

Vice Chair: Dan Zumbach (see above) Last year Jake Chapman was vice chair.

Ranking member: Claire Celsi was elected for the first time in 2018 and represents Senate district 21, covering parts of Des Moines, West Des Moines, and Cumming in Polk and Warren counties.

Other members: Zach Whiting (R), Rich Taylor (D)

Agriculture/Natural Resources

Chair: Tom Shipley was first elected in 2014 and represents Senate district 11, covering Adams and Union counties, most of Cass County, and most of Pottawattamie County outside the Council Bluffs city limits.

Vice Chair: Ken Rozenboom was first elected in 2012 and represents Senate district 40, covering Mahaska, Monroe, and Appanoose Counties, and parts of Marion and Wapello Counties. Last year Waylon Brown was vice chair of this subcommittee.

Ranking member: Liz Mathis (see above)

Other members: Annette Sweeney (R), Kevin Kinney (D)

Economic Development

Chair: Mark Lofgren was first elected in 2016 in Senate district 46, covering parts of Muscatine and Scott Counties.

Vice Chair: Thomas Greene was first elected in 2016 in Senate district 44, covering Des Moines and Louisa counties and part of Muscatine County.

Ranking member: Bill Dotzler (see above)

Other members: Chris Cournoyer (R), Jackie Smith (D)

Education

Chair: Tim Kraayenbrink (see above)

Vice Chair: Amy Sinclair (see above)

Ranking member: Zach Wahls was elected for the first time in 2018 in Senate district 37, covering Cedar County and part of Johnson County.

Other members: Carrie Koelker (R), Herman Quirmbach (D)

Health and Human Services

Chair: Mark Costello was first elected in a 2014 special election to replace Joni Ernst and represents Senate district 12, covering Mills, Montgomery, Fremont, Page, Taylor, and Ringgold counties.

Vice Chair: Jeff Edler was first elected in 2016 and represents Senate district 36, covering Marshall and Tama counties and a small area in Black Hawk County.

Ranking member: Amanda Ragan (see above)

Other members: Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R), Joe Bolkcom (D)

Justice Systems

Chair: Julian Garrett was first elected in 2013 and represents Senate district 13, covering Madison County and most of Warren County.

Vice Chair: Zach Nunn gave up a leadership position in the Iowa House last year to run for Senate district 15, covering most of Jasper County and eastern areas of Polk County.

Ranking member: Rob Hogg was first elected in 2006 and represents Senate district 33, covering part of Cedar Rapids in Linn County.

Other members: Jim Carlin (R), Todd Taylor (D)

Transportation, Infrastructure, and Capitals

Chair: Craig Johnson was first elected in 2016 in Senate district 32, covering Bremer County and parts of Fayette, Buchanan and Black Hawk.

Vice Chair: Roby Smith is serving his third term in Senate district 47, covering parts of Scott County.

Ranking member: Jim Lykam gave up a seat in the Iowa House in late 2016 to run for Senate district 45, covering part of Scott County.

Other members: Dan Dawson (R), Nate Boulton (D)

Commerce

Chair: Dan Dawson was first elected in 2016 in Senate district 8, covering Council Bluffs and Carter Lake in Pottawattamie County. Last year Jake Chapman chaired this committee.

Vice Chair: Carrie Koelker was elected for the first time in 2018 in Senate district 29, covering Jackson County and Dubuque County outside the city of Dubuque.

Ranking member: Jim Lykam (see above)

Other members: Michael Breitbach (R), Jake Chapman (R), Amy Sinclair (R), Craig Johnson (R), Randy Feenstra (R), Zach Nunn (R), Waylon Brown (R), Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R), Roby Smith (R), Janet Petersen (D), Tony Bisignano (D), Joe Bolkcom (D), Liz Mathis (D), Herman Quirmbach (D)

Education

Chair: Amy Sinclair (see above)

Vice Chair: Chris Cournoyer was elected for the first time in 2018 and represents Senate district 49, covering Clinton County and part of Scott County.

Ranking member: Herman Quirmbach (see above)

Other members: Jerry Behn (R), Tim Kraayenbrink (R), Jeff Edler (R), Annette Sweeney (R), Ken Rozenboom (R), Mark Lofgren (R), Craig Johnson (R), Brad Zaun (R), Claire Celsi (D), Eric Giddens (D), Jackie Smith (D), Zach Wahls (D)

Ethics

This committee has three members from each party in accordance with Iowa law.

Chair: Mark Costello (see above)

Vice Chair: Jerry Behn (see above)

Ranking member: Pam Jochum (see above)

Other members: Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R), Liz Mathis (D), Kevin Kinney (D)

Government Oversight

Chair: Amy Sinclair (see above)

Vice Chair: Mark Lofgren (see above)

Ranking member: Tony Bisignano was elected in 2014 and represents Senate district 17, covering parts of downtown Des Moines and the south side. He previously served six years in the state House and four years in the Senate during the 1980s and 1990s.

Other members: Zach Whiting (R), Claire Celsi (D)

Human Resources

Chair: Last year Mariannette Miller-Meeks chaired this committee, but she relinquished that role to focus on her campaign for the open seat in Iowa’s second Congressional district.

Vice Chair: Mark Segebart was first elected in 2012 and represents Senate district 6, covering Buena Vista, Sac, Carroll, and Audubon counties, plus part of Crawford County.

Ranking member: Liz Mathis (see above)

Other members: Julian Garrett (R), Jim Carlin (R), Thomas Greene (R), Craig Johnson (R), Mark Costello (R), Jeff Edler (R), Joe Bolkcom (D), Pam Jochum (D), Herman Quirmbach (D), Amanda Ragan (D)

Judiciary

Chair: Brad Zaun was first elected in 2004 and represents Senate district 20, covering Urbandale, Johnston, Grimes, and other areas in northwest Polk County.

Vice Chair: Julian Garrett (see above) Last year Dan Dawson was vice chair.

Ranking member: Kevin Kinney was first elected in 2014 and represents Senate district 39, covering Keokuk County, most of Washington County, and part of Johnson County.

Other members: Dan Dawson (R), Tom Shipley (R), Amy Sinclair (R), Zach Nunn (R), Jason Schultz (R), Amy Sinclair (R), Annette Sweeney (R), Zach Whiting (R), Tony Bisignano (D), Rob Hogg (D), Janet Petersen (D), Rich Taylor (D)

Labor and Business Relations

Chair: Jason Schultz was first elected in 2014 and represent Senate district 9, covering Ida, Monona, Harrison, and Shelby counties, along with parts of Crawford and Woodbury counties. He is the only state lawmaker who has called me a traitor.

Vice Chair: Zach Whiting was just elected for the first time in 2018 and represents Senate district 1, covering Lyon, Osceola, Dickinson, Clay, and Palo Alto counties.

Ranking member: Todd Taylor served for more than 20 years in the Iowa House and was first elected in 2018 to represent Senate district 35, covering part of Cedar Rapids in Linn County.

Other members: Jim Carlin (R), Waylon Brown (R), Dennis Guth (R), Carrie Koelker (R), Zach Nunn (R), Bill Dotzler (D), Rich Taylor (D), Nate Boulton (D)

Local Government

Chair: Jeff Edler (see above)

Vice Chair: Thomas Greene (see above)

Ranking member: Jackie Smith was elected for the first time in 2018 and represents Senate district 7, covering most of Sioux City in Woodbury County.

Other members: Tim Kraayenbrink (R), Julian Garrett (R), Dennis Guth (R), Mark Lofgren (R), Mark Segebart (R), Herman Quirmbach (D), Nate Boulton (D), Rob Hogg (D)

Natural Resources and Environment

Chair: Ken Rozenboom was first elected in 2012 and represents Senate district 40, covering Mahaska, Monroe, and Appanoose Counties, and parts of Marion and Wapello Counties.

Vice Chair: Tom Shipley was first elected in 2014 and represents Senate district 11, covering Adams and Union counties, most of Cass County, and most of Pottawattamie County outside the Council Bluffs city limits.

Ranking member: Rob Hogg (see above)

Other members: Chris Cournoyer (R), Jerry Behn (R), Tim Kapucian (R), Mark Segebart (R), Annette Sweeney (R), Dan Zumbach (R), Claire Celsi (D), Nate Boulton (D), Jim Lykam (D), Jackie Smith (D)

Rules and Administration

Chair: Jack Whitver (see above)

Vice Chair: Charles Schneider (see above)

Ranking member: Janet Petersen (see above)

Other members: Jerry Behn (R), Jake Chapman (R), Roby Smith (R), Randy Feenstra (R), Amy Sinclair (R), Joe Bolkcom (D), Amanda Ragan (D), Pam Jochum (D)

State Government

Chair: Roby Smith (see above)

Vice Chair: Craig Johnson (see above)

Ranking member: Tony Bisignano (see above)

Other members: Jake Chapman (R), Brad Zaun (R), Randy Feenstra (R), Jason Schultz (R), Ken Rozenboom (R), Chris Cournoyer (R), Zach Whiting (R), Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R), Claire Celsi (D), Eric Giddens (D), Todd Taylor (D), Pam Jochum (D)

Transportation

Chair: Tim Kapucian was first elected in 2008 and represents Senate district 38, covering Benton, Iowa and Poweshiek counties.

Vice Chair: Waylon Brown (see above)

Ranking member: Eric Giddens was first elected in a 2019 special election and represents Senate district 30, covering Cedar Falls and part of Waterloo in Black Hawk County. Last year Jeff Danielson was ranking member.

Other members: Dan Zumbach (R), Michael Breitbach (R), Chris Cournoyer (R), Tom Shipley (R), Zach Whiting (R), Carrie Koelker (R), Kevin Kinney (D), Jackie Smith (D), Todd Taylor (D), Jim Lykam (D)

Veterans Affairs

Chair: Jim Carlin was first elected in a 2017 special election and represents Senate district 3, covering most of Plymouth County and part of Woodbury County, including the south side of Sioux City. Last year Dan Dawson chaired this committee.

Vice Chair: Mariannette Miller-Meeks was first elected in 2018 and represents Senate district 41, covering much of Wapello County and all of Davis and Van Buren counties.

Ranking member: Rich Taylor was first elected in 2012 and represents Senate district 42, covering Lee and Henry Counties and parts of Jefferson and Washington.

Other members: Dan Dawson (R), Mark Lofgren (R), Jeff Edler (R), Carrie Koelker (R), Mark Costello (R), Eric Giddens (D), Bill Dotzler (D), Amanda Ragan (D)

Ways & Means

Chair: Jake Chapman was first elected in 2012 and represents Senate district 10, covering most of Dallas County, a little bit of Polk and Cass counties, and all of Adair and Guthrie Counties. Last year Randy Feenstra chaired this committee, but he gave up that role to focus on his Congressional campaign.

Vice Chair: Dan Dawson (see above)

Ranking member: Pam Jochum (see above)

Other members: Waylon Brown (R), Jerry Behn (R), Jim Carlin (R), Randy Feenstra (R), Jason Schultz (R), Roby Smith (R), Jeff Edler (R), Annette Sweeney (R), Zach Nunn (R), Bill Dotzler (D), Joe Bolkcom (D), Eric Giddens (D), Zach Wahls (D), Herman Quirmbach (D)

Administrative Rules Review Committee

Five Iowa House and five Iowa Senate members serve on this committee. The Senate’s five representatives on this committee are Waylon Brown (R, chair), Mark Costello (R), Zach Whiting (R), Rob Hogg (D), Pam Jochum (D)

Top photo of rotunda at the Iowa capitol by Amanda Rex-Johnson published with permission.

The post Who’s who in the Iowa Senate for 2020 appeared first on Bleeding Heartland.

Emma Schmit (Food & Water Action) and Ava Auen-Ryan (CCI Action): Certain Iowa leaders kept the factory farm moratorium from advancing this year, despite unprecedented support. -promoted by Laura Belin

Iowans kicked off 2020 with an unprecedented push to stop factory farms and address climate chaos, but this legislative session’s first deadline passed with no action. 

Once again, Republican leadership kept widely supported moratorium legislation from moving forward and instead worked in favor of corporate agribusiness, not the people of Iowa.

Meanwhile, leaders like Democratic State Representative Sharon Steckman and State Senator Claire Celsi, along with more than 20 co-sponsors, introduced legislation that would have been a first step in revolutionizing our food and agriculture system into a model that works for farmers, communities, and the environment, not just multi-billion dollar agribusinesses.

The bills – House File 2127 and Senate File 2254 – called for enacting a moratorium on new and expanding factory farms until the impacts of the industry have been assessed. 

Right now, Iowa has more than 760 impaired waterways and 10,000 polluted private wells. Agricultural runoff accounts for much of the contamination. As agribusiness has continued to decrease the number of small, independent family farms, our rural communities are deteriorating. We face more school consolidation, business closures, lower property values, and a shrinking tax base to fund necessary resources. The imminent threat of climate change just compounds our struggles. 

In order to address each of the harms caused by the factory farm industry, it is critical that we take time out to appraise the damage before it is too late. Our water, our communities, and our futures are on the line.

Unfortunately, during this session certain GOP leaders in the legislature were more focused on pushing failed measures like banning abortion access and ending daylight savings time than addressing Iowa’s factory farm crisis. And some Democrats didn’t respond to citizen pressure and still oppose a moratorium as well.

Despite new polling showing 63 percent of Iowans support a moratorium on factory farms, GOP leadership refused to even discuss it. They ignored legislation calling for a moratorium and they ignored the democratic process. House File 2127 languished on House Speaker Pat Grassley’s desk for days on end before he would assign it to a committee. Then House Agriculture Committee chair Ross Paustian followed Grassley’s lead and refused to assign the legislation to a subcommittee.

That was not surprising, since Paustian operates multiple factory farms himself. 

On the other hand, the Senate at least assigned the bill to a subcommittee. However, by doing so less than three full days before the “funnel” deadline and stacking the subcommittee with oppositional forces, Senate Agriculture Committee chair Dan Zumbach ensured the bill would die without debate.

With the Iowa Farm Bureau’s political action committee donating $348,676.19 to Republican legislators from 2014 to 2018, it’s no surprise GOP officials are choosing to represent large donors, industry insiders, and massive corporations rather than constituents, taxpayers, and Iowa residents.

Enough is enough. Clean water matters. Rural communities matter. Independent family farmers matter. The will of the people matters. As the 2020 legislative session carries on and with November elections only a few short months away, let’s remind our elected officials that Iowans want bold, visionary solutions to our water pollution crisis. We urgently need a moratorium on factory farms.

Top photo of an Iowa farm landscape by Emma Schmit, provided by the author and published with permission.

The post Iowa lawmakers chose corporate agriculture and factory farms again appeared first on Bleeding Heartland.