Capitol Notebook: Iowa AG’s Office demands Sheriff retract Facebook post or lose funding

DES MOINES — A County Sheriff in Iowa was found in violation of state law and is in danger of losing state funding to his department, according to a report published Wednesday by Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird’s office.

The report came from an investigation into a February social media post by Winneshiek County Sheriff Dan Marx, a Republican, in which he criticized federal immigration enforcement measures.

State law requires local law enforcement agencies to comply with federal immigration officials’ requests to detain individuals. Those detainer requests from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement were the subject of Marx’s post on the Facebook page for the Winneshiek County Sheriff’s Office.

Bird’s office investigated the post and the Winneshiek County Sheriff’s Office’s compliance with federal immigration officers. The investigation found that Marx’s office has complied with all 21 detainer requests from ICE since November 2018.

However, Bird’s office also determined that “fixing the legal violation requires action,” and instructed Marx to delete the original post and replace it with a new, “remedial” post that will “fix” the initial post and confirm to the public that the Winneshiek County Sheriff’s Office is complying with state law.

In the report, distributed to media at 4:49 p.m. Wednesday, Bird gave Marx until 5 p.m. Wednesday to comply, after which the AG’s office will file an enforcement action as required by state law: to file a motion in District Court to stop all state funding to the Winneshiek County Sheriff’s department in the next fiscal year.

As of Wednesday evening, Marx’s post still appeared on Facebook, and there was no other post addressing the topic.

A spokeswoman for the AG’s office did not reply to a request for comment after the 5 p.m. deadline.

Meantime, in the Iowa Legislature, House Republicans approved legislation that would subject any Iowa law enforcement officer who fails to comply with federal immigration officials to the revocation of the officer’s certification.

The bill was introduced as a reaction to Marx’s post.

Any officer found to have violated the law could be investigated by the Iowa Attorney General and may have the case referred to the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy Council.

The bill, House File 946, passed the House on a 61-35 vote with one Democrat joining most Republicans in support and four Republicans joining most Democrats in opposition.

The bill is now eligible for consideration in the Iowa Senate.

House passes batch of pipeline policies

State lawmakers in the Iowa House passed a pair of bills — including one that combined a half-dozen policies — dealing with carbon capture pipelines.

The bills represent the last legislative flag planted by House legislators — House Republicans, in particular — who have spent the past three years advancing legislation designed to rein in carbon capture pipelines, the use of eminent domain to build them, and landowners’ property rights.

One bill, House File 943, would place in state law the statement that hazardous liquid pipelines are not a public use, purpose or improvement for the purposes of condemnation of farm land by a utility. That bill passed the House by an 81-12 vote.

The series of bills, which were amended into one, catchall bill Wednesday, would:

The massive bill, which Iowa Rep. Steve Holt, R-Denison, dubbed, “the no eminent domain for private gain omnibus,” passed the House on an 85-10 vote.

Holt and other House lawmakers — both Republican and Democrat — criticized the Iowa Senate for not passing any similar bills in recent years. No pipeline-related bills survived the first legislative “funnel” deadline of this year’s session, last month. The second “funnel” deadline is next week.

Gov. Kim Reynolds’ rural health care bill advances

House lawmakers advanced Gov. Kim Reynolds’ proposed legislation aimed at addressing the state’s health care workforce shortage with a 95-1 vote Wednesday.

House File 972 would consolidate five student loan repayment programs into one program, repeal existing residency and fellowship programs and direct the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services to partner with University of Iowa Health Care and Broadlawns Medical Center in Des Moines to secure $150 million in federal money to train medical residents in hospitals across the state.

The proposal also would request federal approval for a health care hub and spoke partnership funding model to establish regional collaboration between health care providers in rural areas.

Similar to other states, Iowa is experiencing a physician shortage. Iowa ranked 44th in the nation for patient-to-physician ratio per 100,000 population in 2024, according to the Iowa Medical Society.

“This bill will help us build on our strong health care system, increasing the number of physicians in Iowa and ensuring rural communities across our state have the care they need,” Reynolds said in a social media post Wednesday afternoon.

The companion bill in the Senate, Senate File 575, was unanimously advanced out of a ways and means subcommittee in mid-March.

“This is something that is sorely needed in the state of Iowa,” Democratic Rep. Austin Baeth of Des Moines said. “We need to better support our health care professionals with loan repayment, and we need more doctors trained, homegrown right here in the state of Iowa. This is an investment worth investing in.”

Gazette-Lee Des Moines Bureau

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