CAPITOL NOTEBOOK: Voting age constitutional change headed to ballot in Iowa

Iowans will have the opportunity to weigh in on changing the state constitution to codify the voting age as 18 — not 21 — in the 2024 election after the Legislature passed a resolution to amend the constitution on Tuesday.

The proposed amendment, Senate Joint Resolution 9, would make no changes to the status quo, but it would change Iowa's Constitution to define an "elector," someone eligible to vote, as a citizen and resident of the state who is at least 18 years old.

And for primary elections, the amendment would define an elector as someone who will be 18 by the next election.

Though 18-year-olds have had the right to vote in Iowa for decades, the state constitution still says citizens age 21 and older have the right to vote under an amendment ratified in 1970.

In 1971, the 26th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution set the voting age at 18 nationally, overruling the Iowa Constitution — but the wording has not changed.

The bill passed the Legislature last year, meaning it is now eligible to go to a vote for ratification. Iowa constitutional amendments must be passed by two separate General Assemblies before going to Iowans for a vote.

Reynolds issues disaster proclamation for six more counties

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds on Tuesday issued a disaster proclamation for six more counties after tornado-producing storms tore through Eastern Iowa on Friday evening, causing damage in several communities.

The counties are Appanoose, Davis, Iowa, Jackson, Lucas and Monroe.

Reynolds on Saturday signed a disaster relief proclamation for 12 Eastern Iowa and south-central counties: Cedar, Clinton, Delaware, Des Moines, Dubuque, Grundy, Johnson, Keokuk, Linn, Mahaska, Wapello and Washington.

The governor's proclamation allows state resources to be used to recover from the effects of the severe weather.

It also activates the Iowa Individual Assistance Grant Program for qualifying residents, which provides grants of up to $5,000 for households with incomes up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level.

Grants can be used for home or car repairs, replacement of clothing or food and temporary housing expenses. Original receipts are required for those seeking reimbursement.

he grant application and instructions are available on the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services website. Applicants have 45 days to submit a claim.

For information, contact your local community action association or visit  iowacommunityaction.org.

AG to highlight opioid prevention program

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird plans to highlight a new program designed to reduce the prevalence of opioid painkillers.

Bird’s office has scheduled an April 11 joint news conference with St. Anthony Regional Hospital and Goldfinch Health in Carroll to highlight the Billion Pill Pledge, a program launched by the health care company that the AG’s office said is “designed to support patients through surgery and recovery by implementing and delivering advanced, opioid-minimizing surgery.”

The goal of the Billion Pill Pledge is to remove 1 billion opioid pills from Americans’ homes, according to the program’s website.

Iowa senator files pipeline objection

State Sen. Sandy Salmon, R-Janesville, filed an objection with the Iowa Utilities Board about companies that want to use eminent domain to force easements to build carbon dioxide pipelines.

“Iowa law says the proposed services must ‘promote the public convenience and necessity,’ ” Salmon wrote in the letter filed with the board Tuesday. “It is a huge stretch of the imagination to say that the carbon pipeline project promotes public convenience and necessity because it is needed to fight climate change and therefore it is a public necessity.”

Salmon opposes pipeline projects by Summit Carbon Solutions and Navigator CO2 Ventures. Wolf Carbon Solutions, the third company to propose a pipeline to transport CO2 from Iowa ethanol plants, says it will not need eminent domain because it plans to secure voluntary leases.

The Iowa Legislature this year has considered several bills that would restrict CO2 pipeline development, but none of the bills survived funnel deadlines.