Capitol Notebook: Landowners, CO2 pipeline protesters stage die-in at Iowa Capitol

DES MOINES — Landowners and environmentalists staged a die-in Thursday at the Iowa Capitol as part of rally urging lawmakers to pass legislation to address growing concerns about safety and the use of eminent domain for proposed carbon capture pipelines.

Dozens of landowners expressed growing frustration in rural areas with Senate leadership and Gov. Kim Reynolds for failing to support efforts to limiting the pipelines in Iowa.

The Iowa House last March passed a bill that would require companies wanting to build a carbon dioxide pipeline to get voluntary easements for 90 percent of the pipeline’s route before being granted the right to force sale through eminent domain.

Senate Republicans, thus far, have refused to take up the bill.

House Republicans, frustrated that Senate hasn’t taken up the bill, advanced another bill in recent weeks that would allow the Iowa Legislature to intervene in the permitting process of a pipeline or other energy project seeking to use eminent domain.

The Iowa Utilities Board is considering a permit application from Summit Carbon Solutions to build more than 680 miles of pipeline in Iowa to transport carbon dioxide from ethanol plants to an underground storage site in North Dakota.

Summit has said it has voluntary easements on about three-quarters of the Iowa route, the Iowa Capital Dispatch reported, but still would need the board to grant eminent domain rights to force easements on the rest of the parcels.

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House Study Bill 608 would give the Legislature power to pause an Iowa Utilities Board proceeding and creates a new process for landowners to seek a declaratory order from a judge. The bill, however, would not be retroactive, so the review of Summit’s proposal would not be disrupted.

The bill is set to be heard in front of the House Judiciary Committee soon.

Another bill, Senate File 2097, would give counties the right to enact zoning ordinances that would set restrictions for carbon pipelines.

Several counties have passed ordinances that would hamper CO2 pipelines in various ways. Summit has sued many of them.

The bill also includes the 90 percent threshold before eminent domain can be issued, requires the company to obtain other permits before approval, increases transparency re­­quirements for pipeline investors and allows landowners and farm tenants to refuse access for land surveys.

Landowners during Thursday rally showed video of a test rupture of a carbon pipeline and read news reports and described the health impacts of pipeline ruptures in other states.

Bill would allow more medical marijuana dispensaries

An Iowa Senate subcommittee advanced a proposal that would double the number of medical cannabis dispensaries in Iowa to 10.

About 18,000 Iowans are currently registered to purchase CBD products approved for medical use.

Iowa has five state-licensed medical marijuana dispensaries, located in Coralville, Council Bluffs, Sioux City, Waterloo and Windsor Heights.

The Iowa Cannabis Co. operates three of the five dispensaries. MedPharm Iowa operates the other two.

A lobbyist for Iowa Cannabis Co. raised concerns about a section in Senate Study Bill 3100 that says if the number of dispensaries expands to 10, one company could only operate three of them. The restriction, they said, would stifle growth and opportunities for companies with the resources to expand and compete.

Tim Coonan, a lobbyist for Green Leaf Cannabis Company, which seeks to apply for a state license to operate a dispensary, said the provision would provide enhanced competition, “rather than have the market entirely dominated and monopolized by a certain few entities.”

“This is a tightly controlled process … and the numbers show there is demand for more,” Coonan said.

Sen. Mike Bousselot, R-Ankeny, voted to advance the bill, but expressed reservations.

“Is this a program that needs to be expanded? And, if so, is this the right way to expand it?” Bousselot said, noting a proliferation of products that produce a “high” are being sold elsewhere.

“We have a program that has been around for a while now, and I don’t know if it’s accomplishing what it’s intended to,“ he said. ” … I think we ought to take a broader look at the program in light of all of the different facets of weed and hemp and THC and lack of action at the federal level.“

Sen. Janice Weiner, D-Iowa City, said Iowa is “dancing around the issue of the fact that neighboring states have recreational marijuana and we’re losing out on a lot of revenue.”

Democrats propose regulating animal feeding operations

A group of Iowa House Democrats proposed a bill Thursday intended to improve water quality in the state by requiring large agricultural operations to obtain environmental permits.

The bill, House File 2354, requires that medium and large concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, obtain a federal water pollution permit from the state.

The permit would require the operations to monitor and report the pollutants that are discharged into nearby water sources.

In an emailed statement provided by Food & Water Watch, Rep. Art Staed, a Democrat from Cedar Rapids, said the bill was required to address pollution coming from factory farms.

“Voluntary approaches have proven that Iowa’s corporate agriculture industry will not regulate itself,” he said. “We must act urgently to rein in factory farm pollution and clean up Iowa’s water.”

As Republicans hold majorities in both chambers of the Iowa Legislature, the bill is not likely to advance.

Version of ‘personhood’ legislation advances

The term “human pregnancy” in Iowa state law would be replaced with “unborn person,” and individuals who end a pregnancy without the pregnant person’s consent would face stronger penalties, including the possibility of life without parole, under legislation advanced this week by Iowa House Republicans.

Proponents of the bill said it would give unborn children stronger legal protections.

“It deems an unborn baby to be a person as offenders attack a pregnant person,” said Tom Chapman, with the Iowa Catholic Conference.

Critics called it an attempt by conservatives to enshrine the concept of personhood — the belief that life starts at fertilization — into state law, and expressed concerns with how such a law might impact access to contraception.

“There is no need for this bill, and it will only further stigmatize abortion patients and providers,” said Mazie Stillwell, with Planned Parenthood of the Heartland.

The two House Republicans on the subcommittee panel — Reps. Skyler Wheeler, of Hull, and Charley Thomson, of Charles City — signed off on the proposal, House Study Bill 621, making it eligible for consideration by the full House Judiciary Committee.

Democratic Rep. Beth Wessel-Kroeschell, D-Ames, declined to sign off on the bill.

Public hearing Monday on gender identity bill

House lawmakers will hold a public hearing Monday on Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds' proposal to change how the state addresses sex and gender identity.

Reynolds’ bill would define “man” and “woman” based on a person’s sex at birth. House File 2389 was amended and advanced by Republicans on the House Education Committee on Tuesday.

They removed the part of the bill that would have required transgender Iowans to include their sex assigned at birth on their driver’s licenses. Sex change information would still be required on transgender Iowans’ birth certificates.

Transgender Iowans call the proposal discriminatory.

The one-hour public hearing is scheduled for 5 to 6 p.m. Monday in Room 103, Supreme Court Chamber, at the Iowa State Capitol.

Speakers will be limited to 2 minutes each and will alternate between those in favor of the bill and those opposed, for as long as time allows. Written testimony is encouraged but not required.

Those who sign up to speak must speak in person and arrive 30 minutes before the start of the meeting to check in with the event coordinator by Room 103.

The meeting will be livestreamed via YouTube. The link to the meeting will be provided before the meeting starts on the Iowa Legislative website at www.legis.iowa.gov.

Those wishing to speak at the public hearing can sign up here: https://bit.ly/3wkJpzC.

More details are here: https://www.legis.iowa.gov/committees/publicHearings.