Friday, May 16, 2025

Update provided by Tom Cope of Cope Murphy + Co. - contracted lobbyist of the chapter.

The 2025 session of the Iowa Legislature concluded on early Thursday morning of this week, wrapping up work on several major items that had been major stumbling blocks the entire session. The major news of the week was that the legislature did act on the issue of the using eminent domain for carbon capture pipelines but did not take action on property tax legislation.

Senate File 651 was the Senate property tax bill. It was approved by the Senate Ways and Means Committee, but did not get voted on the Senate floor. The House had a similar bill, but never took it to a subcommittee meeting or full committee vote. The Senate bill includes the same elements as previous versions but phases out the residential rollback over a ten-year period, and also changes the homestead exemption. The bill remains a work in progress, which makes projecting the full impact of the bill very challenging.

House File 639 is the legislation regarding the use of eminent domain for pipelines. This was one of the more high profile issues this legislative session, with significant number of Iowans coming to the Capitol every week to put pressure on the Senate to approve the bill.

In the closing week of session, we did see four other issues of interest get considered in the closing week of the session. Two of those issues were approved by both chambers and sent to the Governor for her consideration. Those issues include:

House File 856 is a bill that prohibits governmental bodies in the state from spending money to implement diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) plans or policies.

Senate File 303—this legislation requires local governments to allow for the use of fireworks on July 3, July 4, and December 31.

Two bills that did see some activity in the last couple weeks of session but that were not approved and thus died for this session were:

https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislation/BillBook?ga=91&ba=sf652 is a bill that would make significant changes to Iowa’s Tax Increment Financing law. The bill started out as bill that would fix some of the TIF challenges for housing, but the Senate significantly modified the bill to restrict the use of TIF overall. In the end, the House did not go along with the Senate’s proposed changes, and the bill died for the year.

House File 1008/Senate File 655 is legislation allowing for the creation of land use trusts. The House did pass their version (HF 1008) on the floor, and the Senate Ways and Means Committee also approved their version (SF 45, now SF 655) earlier in the closing weeks of session. This bill got caught up some of the tension generated by the eminent domain issue, and thus did not get approved by the full Senate before the session shut down.

In addition to these issues, a handful other issues of interest to members of the Iowa Chapter of the APA have either been approved by both chambers and are awaiting signature by the Governor or have been signed into law by Governor Reynolds. Those issues include:

• Senate File 592—this legislation requires local governments to allow for construction of accessory dwelling units (ADUs) in their communities. The bill has been approved by the House and Senate and was signed into law by the Governor on May 1.
• House File 652—this legislation changes the standard that local Boards of Adjustment shall use when considering a variance request to a practical difficulties standard. The bill was approved by the House and Senate and signed into law by Governor Reynolds on April 25th.
• House File 706—this legislation increases penalties on local government officials who knowingly go into a closed session on an item that is not eligible for consideration in a closed session. The bill also adds mandatory training for newly elected officials on closed session requirements. This bill has been approved by the House and Senate and is awaiting the Governor’s signature.
• Senate File 588—this legislation makes technical corrections to publication deadlines for certain local government meetings. This bill has been approved by the House and Senate and is awaiting the Governor’s signature.

If you have any questions about any items being discussed at the Capitol, please feel free to contact Tom Cope at tom@lobbyiowa.com or 515-975-4590, or Jon Murphy at jon@lobbyiowa.com or 515-422-6494.