(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Congressman Randy Feenstra, a Republican from Hull, has introduced a bill he says would keep American welfare benefits from being sent out of the country. “To codify what Trump did to ban welfare recipients from sending money abroad. I mean, think about what happened over the last several months, nine billion dollars of fraud in Minnesota. You know, this is our taxpayer dollars,” he says. Feenstra says his “No American Benefits Abroad Act” is being considered by a House committee. He says Democrats in Minnesota are to blame for allowing the fraud.

“And to me it’s different from night and day. I mean, you have liberal progressive running that state in Minnesota and you got true conservatives here in Iowa. I mean, it’s just apples and oranges. And that’s what happens when you have liberal progressives running your state,” Feenstra says. Feenstra is a member of the House Ways and Means Committee and has joined chair Jason Smith and Republican members of the committee in sending a letter to the acting I-R-S commissioner Scott Bessent to urge stronger oversight and accountability of the nation’s nonprofit sector.

“If someone has money to send to a foreign country, they should not be on welfare in the first place, and they surely should not be sending in abroad. And that’s what we’re trying to stop,” Feenstra says. Feenstra says he was disturbed along with many Iowans by the headlines of the rampant taxpayer fraud in Minnesota.

The Ways and Means Committee has referred 11 nonprofit to the I-R-S through its investigations of fraud, terrorism ties and foreign influences, which found that stolen funds may have been wired to regions of Somalia with links to an Islamic terrorist group. Feenstra is running for the republican nomination to be governor.

(Radio Iowa) – House Republicans have released a property tax plan that includes the main element of the plan Governor Reynolds proposed a week ago — a two percent limit on property tax revenue growth. House Speaker Pat Grassley says that will provide certainty for the taxpayers. “If you set that number so high, you’re basically just continuing status quo,” Grassley said. “By putting a true two percent cap, (that’s) certainty for Iowans, also I think it will make our local governments become more efficient.” There would be limited exceptions for public school projects and new home construction — the same exceptions Reynolds included in her plan. UNLIKE the proposals from the governor and Senate Republicans, the plan from House Republicans does not target major property tax relief to older Iowans. Instead, it would give every homeowner a 25-thousand dollar exemption on their property.

Representative Carter Nordman, a Republican from Dallas Center, is chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee and helped guide the bill’s development. “This plan gives relief to everybody,” Nordman said. “It gives relief to seniors. It gives relief to the working families. It gives relief to young couples who are buying a new home.” Governor Reynolds has called for freezing property taxes for Iowa homes below 350-thousand dollars in value that are owned by Iowans above the age of 64. The Senate’s plan calls for erasing property taxes for Iowans above the age of 60 who’ve paid off their mortgage and own their home. Senate Republicans would raise the homestead credit to half of a home’s value and let local governments raise the local option sales tax by half a percent and raises the gas tax, providing more money to cities and counties for road projects.

The plan from House Republicans contains none of that. Grassley says it does NOT include the governor’s 10 million dollars in grants for city and county efficiency projects either. “The Senate, the governor are going to have different ideas that we obviously have to consider,” Grassley says. “We wanted to stick to what I’ve been saying for the last month, which is certainty, simplicity and get it out early in session and that’s why we landed on this position.” Grassley says there’s nothing included in any of the plans that he’d immediately declare unacceptable. “From my perspective, if any of us come into this setting out a certain line of things that are deal breakers, I don’t think that’s the right way we should start the conversation,” Grassley says. “Once we get down the road of everybody looking at each other’s bills, having the committees working on them and get to those points, we may get there, but I don’t think that’s how we should start this process if we’re serious about getting something done.”

The House G-O-P bill requires changes in the mailer sent to every property taxpayer. Grassley says the changes will make it easier for taxpayers to understand where property tax dollars are being spent.

(Glenwood, IA) – A woman from Nebraska was arrested Tuesday night on drug charges, in Glenwood. According to the Glenwood Police Department, 33-year-old Chelcee Marie Hotz, of Omaha, was arrested at around 11:53-p.m. in the vicinity of Hilman Road/Highway 34 East in Glenwood. She was charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance – 2nd offense, and Possession of drug paraphernalia. Hotz was being held in the Mills County Jail on a $2,300 bond.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa hit an air quality goal in December that had been in the works for more than ten years. The D-N-R’s Don Tormey says the E-P-A determined that the Muscatine area reached the federal mandated level for sulfur dioxide emissions. “With that action by E-P-A, the entire state of Iowa is now in full attainment with all the federal national ambient air quality standards, the entire state,” he says. “that was the one part of Iowa, and that was the one criteria pollutant that was not attainment.” Tormey leads the D-N-R’s Environmental Services Division and says the E-P-A tests air quality for particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, and carbon monoxide, along with sulfur dioxide.

He says it has been a long time since the entire state met the E-P-A goals.  “We have not been in that status since December 30th, 2011, or 14 years ago. We are now the 17th state in the Union to be in full attainment with all those standards,” Tormey says. Tormey says there is a big difference in the air quality in Muscatine now compared to back then. “So actual sulfur dioxide annual emissions in the Muscatine area are down 13-thousand tons compared to 2011,” Tormey says. “And the measured ambient monitoring data values are currently at 17 parts per billion for this part of Iowa, which is well below the standard of 75 parts per billion. And back in 2011, it was 217 parts per billion.” Tormey says it took a lot of work and cooperation to bring the numbers down in Muscatine.

“Of course, this just didn’t happen overnight. We’ve been working with the Muscatine area businesses for the last ten years to make this happen, because they obviously needed to reduce emissions in the area for this to happen. And so it’s been a really good partnership between those businesses and our air quality staff, “Tormey says. Tormey says everyone is very proud of achieving this air quality standard. He made his comments during the Environmental Protection Commission meeting.

(Radio Iowa) – A bill that would give state and local law enforcement officers who stop a vehicle going over 100 miles an hour authority to immediately take the driver’s license away from the driver. Senator Mark Lofgren says state troopers, police and county sheriff’s departments ticketed about two-thousand drivers last year who were caught driving at triple digit speed. “There’s no reason to go over 100 miles an hour,” Lofgren says. “I mean that’s just ridiculous.” A spokesman for the Iowa State Patrol says troopers have recorded vehicles going 142, 151 and even 164 miles an hour. Lofgren says the data about excessive driving is alarming.

“I remember in high school some kids drove fast, but boy when I looked at those numbers, nobody would think this is reasonable,” Lofgren said. Under Lofgren’s bill, the officer would take the driver’s license, give the motorist a temporary 10 day license and send driver’s license to the D-O-T. The Iowa D-O-T would be required to revoke that person’s driver’s license for 30 days, once the paperwork is processed. There would be an appeals process for the driver.

Lofgren, a Republican from Muscatine, notes that for the past seven and a half years he backed a bill to make it illegal for motorists to have a cell phone in their hand while driving. “After we got that done, I do think excessive speeding is really big concern,” Lofgren says.

Lofgren’s bill also would classify going 20 miles or more over the posted limit as reckless driving and make the crime a simple misdemeanor.

(Des Moines, IA via the IOWA CAPITAL DISPATCH) – A House panel advanced legislation Tuesday that would require land restoration efforts following the initial construction of electric transmission lines in Iowa. According to the Iowa Capital Dispatch, under House Study Bill 526, transmission line owners would be responsible for repairing tile drainage, tilling impacted soil and reseeding cover crops or other ground cover in the easement area following construction.

Kevin Kuhle, speaking on behalf of the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation, said land restoration following electric transmission projects is a “really important issue” for Iowa farmers.  The bill language states that electric transmission owners must “restore the land to its original condition to the extent practicable.” The Iowa Utilities Commission would implement the rules and impose civil penalties if electric transmission owners do not comply with the restoration requirements.

Similar language was included in Gov. Kim Reynolds’ proposed energy bill from 2025, which did not make it to the floor for debate.  Several other farm groups, and environmental groups registered in favor of the bill, while utility companies remained undecided on the bill. While HSB 526 applies only to electric transmission lines, Kuhle with Iowa Farm Bureau Federation said “it’d be great” if lawmakers extended the restoration requirements to other projects, including natural gas and liquid hazardous pipelines.

The bill passed unanimously from the subcommittee, led by Rep. Shannon Latham, R-Sheffield.

(Des Moines, IA) – Townhouse complexes with six or fewer units would not be required to have sprinklers for fire protection under a bill given initial approval Tuesday by an Iowa Senate subcommittee. The IOWA CAPITAL DISPATCH reports Senate File 310 proposes eliminating from the state building code required installation of fire protection sprinkler systems in “a series of attached single-family residences consisting of fewer than seven units” — meaning townhouses with six units or less in the property. The measure would also prohibit local building regulations from requiring sprinkler systems for these townhouse properties.

Sen. Scott Webster, R-Bettendorf, said this proposal is an amended version of legislation discussed in 2025, which had language saying six or less residential “units” would not have to have sprinklers installed. The previous language would have removed sprinkler requirements for multi-level apartment and condominium buildings. The changed language specifies that only townhouse properties — residences with multiple attached units that share one or more wall — will not have to install sprinklers. While several firefighter and public safety advocates said they appreciated the changed language, many of these groups still registered in opposition to the measure.

David Schipper, fire rescue chief of Le Mars and past president of the Iowa Fire Chiefs Association, said removing this requirement also means new townhomes being constructed in rural Iowa would not be subject to building inspections for fire safety standards that currently come with sprinkler installation. In Le Mars, he said, fire marshals conduct inspections of new construction for sprinklers, which may not occur if this requirement is removed. “Who is going to be inspecting then in rural Iowa … I don’t think the Legislature plans on adding a bunch of inspectors to (the Department of Inspections, Licensing and Appeals) making sure that if we’re not sprinkling them, we’re doing the proper sheet rocking for fire protection?” Schipper said. He said removing this provision and not having building inspections in place will make fires more dangerous “for volunteer firefighters, especially, that show up maybe 13 to 15 minutes after a fire started in one of these, and instead of having one on fire, one condo on fire, we have all six on fire, making it more risky for people who live there, of course, our firefighters who have to put these fires out.”

Lobbyists with organizations like the Iowa Association of Realtors and Home Builders Association of Iowa said they supported the measure as a means to make housing more affordable in Iowa. However, Chelsea Hoye with the Iowa League of Cities said while she understood concerns about housing affordability, she said “possible higher insurance costs might offset that cost savings” from not installing sprinklers. Webster said he personally has had experience as a home builder, insurance agent and insurance adjuster, and said the insurance company he worked for issued a surcharge for properties with sprinkler systems because of mold concerns. He said the sprinkler requirements, alongside many other building code requirements, were brought up at at International Residential Code, Federal Building Code or other regulation-setting meetings where private enterprise and business officials and gave lunches and gift cards to public officials as “the way that private enterprise gets their product shoved into the building code and required all in the name of safety.”

He said the sprinkler requirement “went overboard,” and that while many local entities have attempted to remove the provision, they are “getting forced to put it back in” by state regulation. But removing this provision is part of the balance as lawmakers try to “find a way to make more affordable in Iowa while holding on to safety standards.” He and Sen. Mark Lofgren, R-Muscatine, signed to move the measure to the Senate Local Government Committee. Senate Minority Leader Janice Weiner did not support the bill advancing, pointing to “serious safety concerns” about fires spreading in these properties as well as perspectives that this provision may not reduce housing costs.

DES MOINES, Iowa —President Donald Trump will make a visit to Iowa next week. According to KCCI-TV, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles told pool reporters during Trump’s visit to Switzerland that the president will travel Tuesday to Iowa. He will give a speech focused on energy and the economy. Officials have not yet provided details on the time or exact location of Trump’s speech.

Trump last spoke publicly in Iowa in July when he delivered an hour-long speech at the Iowa State Fairgrounds to kick off America250.