Capitol Ideas column: Iowa lawmakers run roughshod over local control

Skeptics suggest the only political party that truly cares about government spending, debt and deficits is the party that is out of power.

Given the Iowa Legislature’s recent history, it appears local control suffers from a similar ideological malleability.

In other words: Iowa lawmakers think local control is great — until they are in control and another government body is doing something they don’t like.

For recent evidence, look no further than the 2021 session of the Iowa Legislature.

With Republicans in complete command of the state-lawmaking process, local control was an oak leaf in a tornado as state lawmakers enacted new mandates that limited the governing options of local school boards, elections officials, county supervisors and city councils and mayors.

A bill that was passed in the 11th hour (and signed into law in the 12th) prohibits local governments from enacting public face mask requirements that exceed the state’s requirement, if any.

So if the COVID-19 pandemic flares up again in any corner of the state, those communities will not be allowed to enact face mask requirements unless the state has one.

School districts are similarly handcuffed.

A few weeks ago, a school in Iowa City experienced a significant outbreak with hundreds of cases. If that happens again anywhere in Iowa, that district will not be able to install a face mask requirement to slow the virus’ spread.

Neither can schools manage their student population in order to maintain diversity and avoid leaving at-risk students behind. State lawmakers removed that authority this session.

City councils no longer are able to ban discrimination by landlords since state lawmakers gave landlords the authority to reject rent vouchers from a federal low-income housing program.

Sweeping legislation that made myriad changes to how Iowa’s elections are conducted contained several ways to chip away at local control.

Under the new law, local election officials are permitted one drop box per county, regardless of population, for ballots cast early. They must meet more stringent criteria before creating satellite early voting locations. And they are prohibited from sending absentee ballot request forms to voters unless the voter asks for one.

The new law also makes it a felony if county auditors violate certain state elections laws.

Even private businesses were not immune.

With conservatives roiled over social media companies banning users that post false information about the 2020 presidential election, Republican state lawmakers responded this year by passing legislation to disqualify businesses for state grants or incentives if they violate an individual’s free speech.

Nor can most businesses require proof of vaccination for their customers, thanks to a new state law.

This is not a new phenomenon. Perhaps the most flagrant example came in 2017, when the Republican-controlled Legislature and then-Gov. Terry Branstad, a Republican, banned cities and counties from creating a minimum wage that exceeds the state’s.

Just like political parties spend like a Kardashian while in the majority, then suddenly find the purse strings while in the minority, local control — for the moment, at least — seems like a guiding star that is only visible to politicians in the minority party, engulfed by the majority’s bright light of political power.

Erin Murphy covers Iowa politics and government for the Gazette-Lee Des Moines Bureau. Comments: erin.murphy@lee.net; @ErinDMurphy on Twitter.