116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Capitol Notebook: Longest-serving Iowa senator, Democrat Bill Dotzler, announces retirement
Also in the notebook, a bipartisan duo of Iowa senators pitches a constitutional amendment to limit corporate spending on Iowa elections
The Gazette offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
DES MOINES — Iowa Democratic state Sen. Bill Dotzler, of Waterloo, who is currently the longest serving member of the Iowa Senate, will retire after his current term ends in 2027, he announced Wednesday.
Dotzler, who represents Iowa Senate District 31, was first elected to represent the Cedar Valley in the Iowa Legislature 30 years ago. He served three, two-year terms in the Iowa House and is on his sixth, four-year term in the Iowa Senate.
“I originally ran for office to make a positive difference for the Cedar Valley and my community,” Dotzler said in a statement. “After 30 years in Des Moines, including 10 in the majority in the Senate, I’m confident I’ve made life better not just for residents of the Cedar Valley but for Iowans all across our state, including with the Historic Tax Credit Program to save historic buildings and programs that enhance the quality of life and promote economic development in our communities.”
Dotzler, a veteran and retired machine operator and labor representative at Deere & Co., endorsed Democratic state Rep. Timi Brown-Powers of Waterloo, who announced Wednesday she will run for Dotzler’s seat in the November election.
“Now it’s time to pass on the torch. My good friend Timi Brown-Powers will be a truly excellent senator for our community and all of Waterloo,” Dotzler said in a statement.
Brown-Powers, an outpatient therapist at Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare/Mercy One who has served in the Iowa House since 2015 and represents House District 61, said Dotzler approached her over the summer about running for his seat. She said it has been an “honor and privilege” to represent her district in the Legislature.
“Bill Dotzler was always my mentor,” Brown-Powers told the Gazette-Lee Des Moines Bureau. “I'm excited to follow in Bill's footsteps … I’m excited to keep serving Iowans. I’m excited to just expand my constituency.”
Bipartisan Senate duo proposes limits on corporate campaign spending
A bipartisan duo of state senators is proposing a state constitutional amendment designed to limit corporate spending on Iowa elections.
Sens. Zach Wahls, D-Coralville, and Dave Sires, R-Cedar Falls, introduced the proposed amendment to the Iowa Constitution, which they described as a state-level response to the 2010 Citizens United U.S. Supreme Court ruling that opened the floodgates to corporate spending on campaigns.
The proposal, Senate Joint Resolution 2004, would amend the Iowa Constitution to clarify that the people of Iowa “do not intend … the powers and privileges of corporations to include participation in election activity …”
In a press release, the two senators noted their proposal is not a campaign finance regulation, but rather a clarification of corporate powers that would make businesses subject to limits defined by the Iowa Constitution. The practical effect, Wahls said, is the amendment would prohibit corporations from spending unlimited funds on Iowa elections.
To amend the Iowa Constitution, language must be approved by two, separate meetings of the Iowa Legislature separated by an election, then by Iowa voters during a general election.
“Here’s the problem that we’re here to confront today: corruption,” Wahls said. “For too long, unlimited contributions and dark money warped our politics. After the disastrous Citizens United ruling 16 years ago today, the floodgates opened and it became easier for corporate interests and anonymous groups to spend unlimited amounts to influence our elections, often without voters even knowing who was behind it.
“The consequence is simple: when special interests dominate the agenda, it is everyday Iowans who pay the price. People who can write the biggest checks or hide the biggest checks get the biggest say.”
Sires called the proposal, “a common-sense, conservative idea: The government should answer to citizens, not special interests.”
The resolution has not yet been scheduled for a legislative hearing.
State board recommends requiring disclosure of AI in campaign material
Use of “synthetic materials” — essentially, artificial intelligence — in campaign materials would require a disclosure notice under legislation recommended by the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board.
The bill, Senate Study Bill 3039, received its first legislative hearing Wednesday, where a three-member subcommittee unanimously advanced it to the Senate State Government Committee.
Erika Eckley, executive director and legal counsel of the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board, spoke at the subcommittee hearing and said the legislation is modeled after similar efforts in other states to inform voters when AI-created materials are used in campaign advertisements and other materials.
Sen. Mike Bousselot, R-Ankeny, said he supports the bill’s goal but added that he feels it is important to mind the balance between informing the public and free political speech.
Under the bill, failure to properly disclose AI use in campaign materials would result in a serious misdemeanor, which in Iowa is punishable by up to one year in jail with a fine between $430 and $2,560.
Bill would allow for 5 more medical cannabidiol dispensaries in Iowa
Iowa lawmakers are returning to legislation that would allow more medical cannabidiol dispensaries to open in the state after approving the proposal in previous sessions.
House File 990, which advanced unanimously out of an Iowa Senate Commerce subcommittee Wednesday, would increase the maximum number of medical cannabidiol dispensary licenses in the state from five to 10.
A similar bill passed the Iowa Senate in 2024 and it passed the Iowa House in 2025.
Jeff Boyd, representing the Iowa Cannabis Co., supported the license expansion but said there needs to be broader changes made to the state’s medical cannabis program to ensure the dispensaries can stay afloat.
“We would likely participate in any kind of an application process, but the program does need some substantial reforms in order to make it healthy so that these facilities can stay open, so that you will get the access that people are looking for,” Boyd said.
Sen. Scott Webster, R-Bettendorf, said he recognizes more changes need to be made to the state program, adding that he’s open to having those conversations in the future.
Get the latest Iowa politics and government coverage each morning in the On Iowa Politics newsletter.
Daily Newsletters