Some bills die quietly in the Iowa Legislature. HF 2206 did this year. It attracted minimal attention among lawmakers when it was introduced on Jan. 29, even though the bill had 15 House members as sponsors. It drew even less attention outside the Capitol Building, despite the fact it would have done something polling suggests most Iowans want: legalize the recreational use of marijuana.
Gov. Kim Reynolds
Posted inElection Coverage
Voters can now request an absentee ballot for the June 2 primary; three counties face new districted supervisor elections as a result of GOP law
Registered voters in Iowa can now request absentee ballots for the June 2 primary election from their county auditor’s office. The first day auditors can mail the ballots to voters who have requested them will be May 13, the same day early in-person voting begins. Printable absentee ballot request forms are available on the Iowa […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Gov. Kim Reynolds kicks off her ‘Legacy Tour’ just days after signing bill undermining the rights of trans Iowans
The “Governor Kim Reynolds Legacy Tour” kicks off in Cedar Rapids on Thursday at the Hotel at Kirkwood Center. The 90-minute event starts at 6 p.m. “Hors D’oeuvres will be served,” according to the Iowa Republican Party’s ticket page for the event. “Do not miss your chance to show Governor Reynolds our appreciation for her […]
Posted inStatewide
‘Chipping away at the rights of Iowans’: House passes bill to eliminate local civil rights protections for trans people
On Thursday, the Iowa House approved a bill that prohibits local governments from having any civil rights ordinances that provide greater protections for rights than state law does. Eliminating the power of local governments to protect the rights of transgender and nonbinary people is one of Gov. Kim Reynolds’ stated priorities for her final legislative session as governor.
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa House Republicans advance bills to eliminate local civil rights protections, allow parents to force LGBTQ kids into ‘conversion therapy’
Republican members of two Iowa House Judiciary subcommittees advanced two bills on Monday that continue the anti-LGBTQ agenda Gov. Kim Reynolds and legislative Republicans have enshrined in state law since 2022. As the hearings were underway, supporters of transgender rights and advocates for LGBTQ Iowans protested in the rotunda and halls of the State Capitol. […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa House passes bill to restrict use of eminent domain for Summit’s CO2 pipeline
Companies would no longer be able to use eminent domain to appropriate privately owned land for carbon pipeline projects under a bill approved by the Iowa House on Wednesday. HF 2104 passed with bipartisan support, 64-28. Ten of the House’s 33 Democrats joined 54 of the chamber’s 67 Republicans in voting for the bill. “I […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Reynolds poses plans to ‘change how local government works’ in Condition of the State speech preluded by protests
“As I’ve declared every time I’ve been at this podium, the condition of our state is strong,” Gov. Kim Reynolds said the Condition of the State Address on Tuesday night. This is the last legislative session in which Reynolds, who announced in April she was not running for reelection, will have the power to sign […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa GOP leaders stress unity, throw digs at Rob Sand as 2026 legislative session opens
As the state Legislature is set to tackle some potentially contentious issues in the 2026 legislative session, Iowa Republican leaders emphasized “unity” as they gathered for the GOP legislative breakfast Monday before gaveling in. There have been multiple leadership changes leading into the session that could shift dynamics in the Legislature. Iowa Senate Majority Leader […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Debates over property taxes, eminent domain and cancer rates expected during 2026 legislative session
Iowa lawmakers are heading into the 2026 legislative session with several new leaders — but many of the issues expected to take top priority are subjects left unresolved in 2025, namely eminent domain and property taxes. Lawmakers presented legislation on both of these issues during the 2025 legislative session, but neither became state law. Republican […]
Posted inCommunity/News
New president of the Iowa Board of Regents opposes ‘woke left stuff,’ ‘the homosexual agenda’ and Maya Angelou in schools
Robert Cramer was unanimously elected president of the Iowa Board of Regents by his fellow regents at a special meeting on Wednesday. Cramer was appointed to the board by Gov. Kim Reynolds two years ago. The special meeting was called after Sherry Bates, who had served president of the Board of Regents since February last […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Public defender sues state, claiming she was fired for comments about Charlie Kirk
The State of Iowa is being sued by an attorney who claims she was fired from the Office of the State Public Defender for online comments made in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s murder in September. Maria Ruhtenberg, an attorney for the State Public Defender, is suing the State of Iowa and State Public Defender […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Many stores stopped redeeming empties after Republicans gutted Iowa’s ‘bottle bill.’ Three years later, the Sierra Club is calling for a review.
It’s been three years since Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law a bill gutting an important recycling law that had been in place for four decades. SF 2378 changed “the bottle bill” that another Republican governor, Robert Ray, signed in 1978, creating a 5 cent deposit on bottles and cans of soda, beer and wine […]
