Articles Tagged: Iowa Legislature

Capitol Notebook: Rep. Cecil Dolecheck and Sen. Janet Petersen have received the 2022 Hoover Uncommon Public Service Award.

Iowa Senate Republicans say their plan would breathe new life into the state recycling program, while Senate Democrats say the plan would strangle the program to death.

More than 100 people attended a Sierra Club sponsored public hearing Tuesday in the Capitol rotunda on the use of eminent domain for pipeline construction.

Higher than projected gambling revenue will make it possible for the Legislature to bump up the Rebuild Iowa Infrastructure Fund (RIIF) by $87 million in the coming year to nearly $290 million in fiscal 2023.

Fewer international students have been enrolling in Iowa’s public universities for years – even before COVID-19 locked down travel and crippled the campus’ global reach – and lawmakers on Monday probed the Board of Regents for an answer to why.

Concerned by what they see as a lack of action by lawmakers, landowners and others who oppose the use of eminent domain to construct pipelines across Iowa will have a public hearing at the Statehouse on Tuesday.

Jessica Wiskus, who has also been organizing against the Navigator CO2 Ventures carbon pipeline after learning her property was in the corridor, is running as a Democratic in Senate 42. The district covers rural Linn County, wrapping around the Cedar Rapids metro area, and eastern Benton County.

On this week’s edition of the On Iowa Politics Podcast: who’s running for public office this year, Chuck Grassley and another Supreme Court nomination, and the legislative session begins to wind down.

“Service has been central to my life,” said Colman Silbernagel, one of three candidates in the June 7 primary for the Republican nomination. He looks forward to representing the district “to defend life, protect our Second Amendment rights and fight for family-supporting jobs.”

The proposed moratorium, which now goes to the state Senate, would not change the rules regarding the use of eminent domain or stop the construction of the three carbon pipelines proposed in Iowa. But it would provide 11 months of a level playing field for negotiations between landowners and companies hoping to construct pipelines, according to its sponsor.

Sen. Dan Dawson says a proposal to swap taxes in order to fund conservation and water quality could still pass the Iowa Legislature

Iowa is donating 146 protective helmets and 714 ballistic vests to Ukraine. They are excess expired equipment from the Department of Public Safety and 18 other law enforcement agencies.

The state’s share of the health and human services budget would be $53.6 million more than current spending, a 2.6 percent increase, according to Legislative Services Agency. It’s also $39.5 million more than Gov. Kim Reynolds recommended.

The bill “ensures that we have added protections for Iowans who need it,” Hite said. It was amended by the House, so it will return to the Senate, which previously approved it 47-0, before going to the governor.

Iowa state park rangers who had been told they had to move out of state-owned housing by Nov. 30, would get an eviction extension to at least 2024 under a budget approved Wednesday by the Iowa House.