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Capitol Notebook: Iowa AG Brenna Bird touts court-ordered pause of California climate change law
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DES MOINES — Republican Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird on Wednesday celebrated that a California climate reporting law was paused by a U.S. appeals court after she filed a brief alongside 24 other GOP-led states urging the U.S. Supreme Court to issue a stay on the law.
On Tuesday, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals paused a California law passed in 2023 requiring large companies to report which risks their businesses would face due to climate change. The court did not pause another law requiring California companies to report greenhouse gas emissions.
The brief filed last Friday by Bird and the coalition of GOP-led states said the California laws would “require companies to express a certain viewpoint on climate change” and “embrace controversial statements about climate change.”
“We’re celebrating a big win in the Ninth Circuit for Iowa and all states when the court agreed that California should stay in California and stop telling other states what to do,” Bird said in a statement Wednesday. “I am happy to lead 25 states in this effort.”
The other states that joined the brief were Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming.
Iowa Economic Development Authority announces $23 million in Historic Preservation Tax Credit program awards
Eleven historic properties across Iowa have been selected to receive a combined $23 million in preservation grants through the Iowa Economic Development Authority’s Historic Preservation Tax Credit.
The program, which provides a state income tax credit to encourage the rehabilitation of historic buildings while maintaining significant architectural features, opened its most recent application round in July. The IEDA ended up receiving 23 applications requesting $49 million in tax credits.
“Historic preservation is economic development,” Debi Durham, director of IEDA and the Iowa Finance Authority, said in a statement. “When we restore these buildings, we’re protecting the stories and craftsmanship that shaped Iowa while creating new opportunities for housing, business growth and community vitality.”
Here are some of the recipients of the tax credit:
- Cedar Rapids — Brucemore, Iowa’s only National Trust Historic Site, is restoring three early 1900s Servants’ Village structures — Servants’ Duplex, Lord & Burnham Greenhouse, and Bookbindery — to stabilize the buildings, repair exteriors and support ongoing public education, tours and cultural programming.
- Davenport — Completed last year, the rehabilitation of the 1910 J.F. Kelly Co. Warehouse transformed the building into Bucktown Lofts, offering 21 upper-story apartments and nine ground-floor commercial spaces. The project also addressed earlier restoration issues and ensured long-term structural stability.
- Jefferson — The former Jefferson High School, built in 1921, is being adapted into 25 modern apartments to provide a mix of affordable and market-rate units to support workforce needs and downtown revitalization.
- Waterloo — The long-vacant 1925 Rath Packing Co. administration building, once the corporate headquarters for one of the nation’s largest meatpacking operations, is being rehabilitated into 87 affordable apartments.
Applications for the next round of grants for large projects open in January, with applications due in mid-March.
Reynolds appoints Thomas Ogden as Iowa district associate judge
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds appointed Assistant Polk County Attorney Thomas Ogden as a district associate judge in Iowa Judicial District 5A, which covers Dallas, Guthrie, Jasper, Madison, Marion and Warren counties.
Ogden, of Indianola, has an undergraduate degree from Hillsdale College and a law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law. He will fill a vacancy following the retirement of Judge Kevin Parker.
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