Iowa Democratic legislative leaders split on property tax relief approach ahead of 2026 session

DES MOINES — As property tax relief is expected to be a top priority for lawmakers in both parties during the 2026 Iowa legislative session, state Democratic leaders are split on how to address the issue.

During the annual Iowa Capitol Press Association Legislative Preview Forum on Thursday, Senate Minority Leader Janice Weiner, of Iowa City, said that while a property tax relief plan rolled out by House Democrats on Monday was “interesting,” she is hesitant about certain components, including a provision that would freeze property taxes for Iowans 65 and over.

“Not all retired people need … their property taxes frozen. And we want to make sure that younger people can get into the market right now,” Weiner said. “We want those who can afford it to continue paying the taxes. We want to make sure that we help those who really need it.”

The property tax relief plan announced by Rep. Dave Jacoby of Coralville, who serves as the top Democrat on the tax policy writing Ways and Means Committee, includes a 4 percent property tax cap, rebates for homeowners and renters and a property tax freeze for seniors.

Instead, Weiner said Senate Democrats will focus on providing property tax relief for Iowans, including those who are low-income, while ensuring local governments are adequately funded to continue providing services. During an interview in December, Weiner told the Gazette-Lee Des Moines Bureau that her caucus will mainly focus on “vetting” Republican property tax proposals in the chamber.

House Minority Whip Sean Bagniewski of Des Moines said that while he understands Weiner’s concern, something has to be done for seniors who are seeing their property taxes balloon.

“There are a lot of seniors throughout the state of Iowa who just cannot pay their mortgages, and what's happening is they're basically going on in the system,” Bagniewski said. “There's not a perfect response for it yet, a perfect solution, but it's something that we need to work on.”

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds and Republican leaders in both chambers are expected to release their own property tax relief proposals during the first month of session.

Invitations to attend the legislative preview forum were extended to party leaders in both chambers. Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds and Republican legislative leaders declined invitations to participate in the event.

Eminent domain

As the debate around eminent domain and landowner rights is expected to heat up again in 2026, Sen. Mike Klimesh announced plans to propose legislation early in the session that would allow pipeline projects to amend their planned and approved routes in order to enter into voluntary easements with landowners and avoid using eminent domain.

Summit Carbon Solutions has proposed a 2,500-mile CO2 pipeline through five states, including Iowa, to capture the greenhouse gas from ethanol plants and bury it in North Dakota.

Defenders of the pipeline project say it will boost Iowa’s ethanol industry and reduce carbon dioxide emissions, but landowners argue the use of eminent domain for the project would encroach upon their land, which in some cases has been in their family for generations.

Weiner said she isn’t opposed to the plan. She said it will be important to include multiple stakeholders in the conversation, including landowners, workers constructing the pipeline, farmers and Summit Carbon Solutions.

“It is a very difficult needle to thread, Weiner said.

Bagniewski said he has some hesitancy about how much power the proposal would give to carbon pipeline companies when using eminent domain for projects.

“To me, it's a lot of power for the power company to be resetting the policy for the Iowa Utilities Commission,” Bagniewski said. “So again, I haven't read it. I want to be open-minded about when I see it, but I do have some red flags about it.”

K-12 school funding

Both Weiner and Bagniewski expressed concern that the GOP school funding proposal for the 2026-27 school year will not be enough to keep K-12 public schools adequately funded.

Last year, House and Senate Republicans passed a bill to increase State Supplemental Aid by 2 percent, which increased per-pupil funding for K-12 students by $157.

Republicans have not yet announced a proposed SSA increase for K-12 school funding next year.

Weiner said an SSA increase of less than 2 percent would result in multiple school districts being on budget guarantee.

"Our caucus’ overriding concern on school funding is that not only has it been too low and that we're running way behind the rate of inflation for multiple years,” Weiner said. “That's going to result in the vast majority of Iowa school districts being on the budget guarantee. In other words, they'll be able to get property taxes raised to pay the gap, and if the goal of the majority party is to lower property taxes, that seems to be out of whack with that.”

IPERS and Iowa DOGE Task Force recommendations

While it remains to be seen how the recommendations from the Iowa DOGE Task Force — a group established by Reynolds to help find ways to make state government more efficient — will come up in the 2026 session, Iowa Democrats say they will remain firm on protecting the Iowa Public Employees' Retirement System, after changes to it were floated in the task force’s early meetings.

Ahead of the report’s public release in October, some of the task force’s in-progress recommendations sparked public controversy, including one focused on potentially replacing IPERS with a defined contribution system, similar to a 401(k).

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The group’s final report recommended commissioning a regular study on public compensation and benefits similar to those conducted in the private sector, to “benchmark and optimize the total rewards package for public sector employees.”

Reynolds and GOP legislative leaders have made clear that they are not interested in making any changes to IPERS.

But Bagniewski said he is concerned the proposal will come up in future legislative sessions and laid out a slate of bills House Democrats will introduce this year to protect IPERS as it is, including a constitutional amendment barring either party from making changes to it.

“The concern for us is, even if they're (Republicans) saying they don't want to do it, they probably want to do it,” Bagniewski said. “We're going to make Iowa Republicans put their money where their mouth is.”