(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds says she expects rancor from some fellow Republicans over her veto of carbon pipeline regulations will subside by the time the 2026 legislative session begins. Last month, a key G-O-P lawmaker said he no longer trusts the governor’s judgement and vowed to work against and kill every bill Reynolds proposes next year. “There’s just passionate feelings on both sides of this issue,” Reynolds says. “It’s a really difficult issue and how you move forward with it and, you know, time and separation does a lot of good.”

Reynolds says Iowans are tired of the kind of political stalemates they’ve seen in Washington. Reynolds predicts she and Republican legislators will unify around common objectives before the Iowa legislature convenes in January. “Most importantly I think all of us have the same goal and that really is serving Iowans,” Reynolds says, “and making sure we’re being impactful and we’re getting things done.”

After the 2025 legislative session ended, Reynolds indicated she plans to hold meetings around the state to solicit ideas about property tax reform. She’s formed a government efficiency task force to review recommendations. “We’re doing a lot of fact finding right now that will help us when we start to put that puzzle together so we know what that looks like,” Reynolds said. “I need to be a little bit further down the road before I actually get out and start meeting in communities, but that’s my goal next is to have some different options that I can go out and actually have those discussions.”

Reynolds says she hopes to have discussions with the Trump Administration about how to address immigrant labor on farms and food production facilities, but will wait and weigh in once the U-S-D-A releases a specific recommendation. “When you’re trying to talk about change, there are always moving variables and it’s kind of a moving target,” Reynolds says. “And I think they’re just taking input and we’d like to provide some of that input as well.”

U-S Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins announced this week there would be no amnesty for ag industry workers who entered the country illegally, but Rollins said deportation efforts would be strategic, so the U-S food supply isn’t compromised. Reynolds points to the ag secretary’s remark that it’s up to congress to come up with a permanent fix to the immigration system for industries like agriculture that depend on migrant labor.

“We had an open border for four years. There’s no way that you can bring two parties to the table to even talk about next steps and what that looks like. And the numbers speak for themselves, what we’ve seen since President Trump was sworn in…and made that a number one focus,” Reynolds said. “…As they continue to remove some of the criminals and bad people…it just creates a different environment where you can, I think, have some of those healthy discussions to see what that looks like.”

Reynolds spoke with reporters after the groundbreaking for the new location of the Italian-American Culture Center of Iowa.