Iowa

D.C. Dispatch: Iowa lawmakers tackle school safety, small business assistance – Iowa Capital Dispatch

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2 years ago

February 16, 2024

D.C. Dispatch: Iowa lawmakers tackle school safety, small business assistance – Iowa Capital Dispatch

Following the shooting at Perry High School, Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks reintroduced a bill that seeks to increase school security, while other Iowa lawmakers focused on increasing access to credit for rural areas and assistance for small businesses.

The Senate was on break this week and returns Feb. 26. The House is out next week, returning Feb. 28.

Here’s what Iowa’s lawmakers were up to this week:

Miller-Meeks reintroduces school security initiative

The Securing Our Schools Act, a bill that would make available state and local fiscal recovery funds for measures to make schools safer, has been reintroduced by Miller-Meeks.

The measures to make a school safer are defined in the bill and include some of the following:

Metal detectors
Training to prevent student violence against others and self
Training for local law enforcement officers
Security assessments
Reinforcing or replacing classroom doors
Hiring retired law enforcement officers or military veterans to serve as armed school resource officers

“Every child deserves a safe and secure environment to learn and grow,” Miller-Meeks said in a news release. “The Securing Our Schools Act, will allow states to utilize unused, expiring State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds to invest in security measures on campus, as well as hire and train more school resource officers.

The bill would also develop a school threat assessment and intervention team and specialized training for school officials in responding to mental health crises.

Nunn proposes increased rural credit access

With the backing of credit unions, Rep. Zach Nunn introduced a bill that would change how community development financial institutions (CDFI) function.

The Rural Credit Access Act bill would create an ombudsman’s office to help CDFIs navigate the application process.

The bill would also develop a process to notify a CDFI if they are at risk of losing their certification, except for instances of fraud or inappropriate behavior.

“CDFIs play a critical role in supporting rural small businesses, community centers, schools and more that may otherwise be considered too risky to receive loans,” Nunn said in a news release. “By improving this program, we can continue to strengthen rural communities by generating jobs and creating new opportunities for families at a time when that investment is needed.”

A CDFI can be designated by the Department of the Treasury if a financial institution serves a rural, underserved or low-income community. A CDFI can then invest in community development projects.

Iowa is home to nine CDFIs of the 1,462 nationwide. Nunn announced the bill in Des Moines on Monday.

Farmers face financial formula change under new FAFSA form

Claiming a misunderstanding by the Department of Education of how farm families operate, Sens. Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst joined a letter to the department to ask for explanations on decisions in the new Federal Application For Student Aid (FAFSA) form.

Ernst and Grassley joined 12 other senators on behalf of families who farm or have small businesses.

The senators point out one specific part of the application, which requires students to report the net worth of a family’s business or for-profit agricultural operation, calculated with a formula different than the previous application.

“This question fundamentally misunderstands how farm families operate, as the stream of revenue for crops and livestock varies significantly year-over-year, and assets cannot be cashed out to support a loan in the same capacity as traditional investments,” the senators wrote.

The previous formula, the expected family contribution formula, calculated lower expected family contributions compared to the new formula, the student aid index. Assets necessary for inclusion include fair market value for livestock, unharvested crops and machinery.

“These assets can range well into the millions of dollars, with the price of a combine harvester alone often exceeding $400,000,” the senators wrote. “This, in combination with projected declines in revenue for nearly every agricultural sector for 2023 harvest, indicates Ed lacked critical insight needed to develop this asset reporting requirement.”

Ernst calls for review of small business lending

Ernst and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat from New Hampshire, are calling for an examination of the role of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) in the broader federal effort to assist veterans, reservists and their spouses with financial literacy and increasing access to capital.

The senators sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) Comptroller General Gene Dodaro, in which they claim despite the programs available to help veterans operate a business, veterans experience issues starting businesses, particularly when building capital and accessing capital.

The senators are requesting more information on what challenges stand in the way of veterans accessing capital and the financial literacy programs available to them. Additionally, the senators are asking the GAO to investigate the impacts of deployment and other military responsibilities on credit scores.

“On Dec. 21, 2023, the GAO released a report titled, ‘Small Business Administration: Procedures for Reporting on Veteran-Owned Businesses Need Improvement,’ which details problems with SBA’s operation of programs designed to support veteran-owned small businesses,” the senators wrote. “The report states that SBA is required by law and regulations to give special consideration to veterans in its lending programs, but the agency has not developed policies and procedures to do so.”

The senators claim the December 2023 report from the GAO shows broader issues created by federal programs tasked with support veterans and their families who are trying to grow small businesses.

Tax credits for small businesses

Rep. Randy Feenstra introduced a small business-centered bill to create tax credits for offering an employee benefit program.

The bill would provide credits for start-up costs to businesses offering Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts.

The credits would be limited to businesses with fewer than 100 employees.

“I’m proud to work with my colleagues to introduce legislation that will make it easier for small businesses to help their employees cover the cost of childcare,” Feenstra said in a news release. “It can be harder for small businesses – which employ the vast majority of Americans – to offer the same types of benefits as larger companies, but with smart policies like this, we can level the playing field and lower childcare expenses for our families.”

Mayorkas impeachment passes House

The House voted a second time to impeach Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, this time passing the vote 214-213.

Each of Iowa’s four House delegates voted for the impeachment both times.

“I regret that Secretary Mayorkas has failed to uphold his oath of office and protect our nation from foreign threats,” Feenstra said in a news release. “For this reason and many more, I voted to impeach him for his dereliction of duty to the American people.”

The Senate will address the impeachment next, when the body returns from recess Feb. 26, according to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York.

“[Mayorkas] has willfully ignored immigration law and released hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants into our country who should have been detained and deported,” Rep. Ashley Hinson said in a news release. “He has continually lied to Congress and the American people about bending and breaking our immigration laws to undermine border security and jeopardize the safety of every American.”

The White House and Democrats in Congress have criticized the impeachment proceedings as politically motivated.

Iowa delegation joins Reynolds’ call for disaster declaration

All six delegates wrote to President Joe Biden, calling for him to grant a request for a disaster declaration for 18 Iowa counties.

Severe winter storms with blizzard conditions between Jan. 8 and 14 caused “significant damage to public infrastructure and private property,” the lawmakers wrote to Biden.

Reynolds submitted the request that would activate the Public Assistance Program, saying the weather and its damage were “of such severity and magnitude that effective response is beyond the capabilities of the state and affected local governments.”

The counties affected include Adair, Black Hawk, Cedar, Clinton, Davis, Delaware, Dubuque, Jefferson, Johnson, Jones, Linn, Lucas, Montgomery, Polk, Scott, Story, Wapello and Washington.

Ernst probes USDA funding for Chinese research

Ernst sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), asking for information regarding “a collaboration with a Chinese Communist party-linked researcher involving dangerous bird flu experiments and recent support for other animal labs in adversarial nations.”

Ernst said she learned about a link between the USDA and China from the White Coat Waste Project, a nonprofit that opposes the use of taxpayer funds for experiments on animals. The project series Ernst is concerned about is the US-UK-China Collab: Predictive Phylogenetics for Evolutionary and Transmission Dynamics of Newly Emerging Avian Influenza Viruses.

The project started in 2021 and is set to finish in 2026. According to the USDA, the project is a series of experiments to “assess the effects of innate and adaptive immunity of evolution of avian influenza viruses, in vitro, and in vivo.”

Ernst asked the USDA for answers, including how much U.S. taxpayer money the project received, a list of activities conducted in conjunction with the “CCP-run Chinese Academy of Sciences and researchers affiliated with the Wuhan Institute of Virology” and if any experiments for the series of projects will be conducted in laboratories in China.

Ernst said she supports research for avian influenza, though she also believes the research “should not involve the forced mutation of a virus to become more deadly, especially in unsafe Chinese labs that do not adhere to the absolute highest safety standards.”

Grassley seeks clarification on Hur report

Grassley is continuing concerns that the Department of Justice special report on its investigation into the mishandling of classified documents by Biden.

Grassley wrote a letter to the Department of Justice and FBI along with Sen. Ron Johnson, a Republican from Wisconsin. In the letter, Grassley and Johnson ask for clarification of whether additional boxes involved in the Biden classified documents investigation were reviewed by special counsel Robert Hur.

The senators claim there is a “significant factual omission in Hur’s report, and ask for the FBI and Department of Justice to release the contents of the aforementioned additional boxes.

Last yr in response 2 Grassley-Johnson oversight the Natl Archives said they picked up 9 boxes of potentially classified Biden docs & FBI reviewed the contents Where were those 9 boxes mentioned in Hur’s report? NOWHERE Im asking for an explanation We need 2 know what was in them
— Chuck Grassley (@ChuckGrassley) February 12, 2024

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Iowa

Iowa women’s wrestling star Kylie Welker on competing for official NCAA championship

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9 hours ago

March 5, 2026

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Iowa women’s wrestling star Kylie Welker on competing for official NCAA championship

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March 5, 2026

Iowa women’s wrestling star Kylie Welker on competing for official NCAA championship

March 5, 2026

Kylie Welker chats with NCAA Digital’s Sophie Starkey about the success of Iowa women’s wrestling and the possibility of winning the inaugural NCAA sanctioned championship.

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Iowa

Iowa House OKs ‘3 strikes’ bill with 20-year prison terms. What to know

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21 hours ago

March 5, 2026

Press Room

Iowa House OKs ‘3 strikes’ bill with 20-year prison terms. What to know

Iowans who commit multiple serious crimes would face a mandatory 20-year prison sentence under a “three strikes” bill passed by House lawmakers.
Republicans said the bill would keep Iowans safe and “prioritize victims and public safety over criminals.”
A nonpartisan state agency says the bill would disproportionately impact Black Iowans and could require the state to spend millions to build a new prison.

Repeat offenders convicted of multiple serious crimes would receive a mandatory 20-year prison sentence under a bill passed by House lawmakers.

House lawmakers debated for more than an hour about high costs, lack of prison space and the bill’s impact on Black Iowans before voting 68-23 to pass House File 2542, sending it to the Iowa Senate.

Seven Democrats, including Minority Leader Brian Meyer, D-Des Moines, joined Republicans in voting in favor of the bill.

“It will put public safety first,” said the bill’s floor manager, Rep. Steven Holt, R-Denison. “It will ensure that the debt to victims and society is paid. It will prioritize victims and public safety over criminals. It will establish real and effective deterrence that is nonexistent in our current system. It will reduce chaos and violence in our society.”

Here’s what to know about the bill.

What would the House Republican three strikes bill do?

Iowans who accumulate three strikes would face a mandatory 20-year prison sentence, with no parole, under the bill.

That would replace Iowa’s current law that says habitual offenders must serve a minimum three-year prison sentence before they are eligible for parole.

All felonies, as well as aggravated misdemeanors involving sexual abuse, domestic abuse, assault and organized retail theft would be considered level-one offenses that are worth one full strike.

Other aggravated misdemeanors, as well as serious misdemeanors involving assault, domestic abuse and criminal mischief would be considered level-two offenses worth half a strike each.

Lawmakers amended the bill to remove theft, harassment and possession of a controlled substance from the crimes that would count toward a person’s strikes.

And the amendment specifies that the bill would only apply to convictions that occur beginning July 1, 2026.

If someone is arrested and convicted of multiple offenses, only the most serious charge would count towards the defendant’s strikes.

Convictions would not count toward someone’s total if more than 20 years passes between a prior conviction and their current conviction.

Rep. Ross Wilburn, D-Ames, tried unsuccessfully to amend the bill to say that only a violent crime would qualify as someone’s third strike, but Republicans rejected the amendment.

“The bill still scores murder, felony embezzlement and felony theft the same, even though they are very different crimes,” Wilburn said. “One point is one point and three gets you 20 years with no ability for parole or judicial discretion.”

Holt said the legislation leaves room for judicial and prosecutorial discretion.

“There are deferred sentences, there are plea bargains,” he said. “There is plenty of opportunity for grace and judicial discretion in the legislation that we are proposing.”

Bill could cost millions, require Iowa to build a new prison, agency says

A fiscal analysis of the bill by the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency said it could cost Iowa nearly $165 million more per year by 2031 based on the cost of housing inmates for longer prison stays.

FY 2027: $33 million
FY 2028: $66 million
FY 2029: $99 million
FY 2030: $132 million
FY 2031: $164.9 million

The agency said if the bill had been in effect between fiscal year 2020 and fiscal year 2025, there would have been 5,373 people who qualified for the 20-year mandatory minimum sentence.

“An increase in the prison population due to increased (length of stay) will require the DOC to build additional prison(s),” the agency states. “The size, security and other features that a future prison may require cannot be determined, but costs would be significant.”

The analysis noted that South Dakota appropriated $650 million last fall to build a 1,500-bed prison.

As of March 1, the Iowa Department of Corrections’ website describes the state’s prison system as being overcrowded by 25%, with 8,705 inmates compared to a capacity of 6,990.

The Office of the State Public Defender could see a projected cost increase of $1.6 million due to an increased number of trials resulting from the legislation.

But the agency’s estimates come with a caveat — the Department of Corrections did not respond to its requests for data.

“The LSA has not received a response to multiple requests for information from the DOC,” the note states. “Without additional information, the LSA cannot estimate the total fiscal impact of the bill.”

Holt called the fiscal note “an embarrassment to the Department of Corrections” and “an agenda masquerading as math.”

“It is clear, in my judgment, that because they did not like the legislation they went all out and extreme to create a fiscal note that cannot be taken seriously in its assumptions,” he said. “It assumes that nothing will change, that there will be no deterrent factor and that the numbers will continue as usual.”

Black Iowans would be disproportionately impacted by the law

The Legislative Services Agency analysis says the bill “may disproportionately impact Black individuals if trends remain constant.”

Of the 29,438 people convicted in fiscal year 2025 of felonies and aggravated misdemeanors that constitute a level one offense under the bill, the agency said about 70% were White, 22% were Black and 9% were other races.

Iowa’s overall population is 83% White, 4% Black and 13% other races, the agency said.

It’s not clear how the bill’s impact would change to account for the House amendment removing some crimes from counting towards the three strikes.

“Expanding three-strike laws will intensify disparities — and that’s what this statement shows — by mandating longer sentences, limiting judicial discretion,” Wilburn said. “We already have a habitual offender statute. We already have one in place. We have a 10-year low in recidivism in our correctional system.”

Rep. Angel Ramirez, D-Cedar Rapids, said California’s three strikes law, passed in the 1990s, worsened racial disparities, and “Iowa is about to repeat the same mistake.”

“I urge every member here, do not pass legislation that our own minority impact statement tells us will deepen inequality in our state,” Ramirez said.

Holt said minority communities in Iowa are impacted by crime and that the legislation “will make citizens of all colors safer.”

And he said the minority impact statement “tells only one side of the story, doesn’t it? It tells the criminal’s story. What about the victim’s story?”

“What about the mother who will continue to tuck her kids in at night and read them Bible stories because she never became the next victim of a violent career criminal?” he said. “Where is that data point in the minority impact statement?”

House lawmakers also approved separate legislation that would increase Iowa’s statewide bond schedule, Senate File 2399.

That bill passed on a vote of 74-19.

Iowans could see more information on judges’ rulings

Iowans would have access to more information about judges’ rulings ahead of the state’s judicial retention elections under a separate measure, House File 2719, which passed on a 73-19 vote.

The Iowa secretary of state’s office would be required to publish information including:

The percentage of cases in which the judge set a bond amount lower than the state’s bond schedule
The frequency that the judge releases someone on their own recognizance for a violent offense compared to a nonviolent offense
The frequency that the judge’s final sentence is lower than statutory recommendations or a prosecutor’s recommendations
The number of times the judge issues a deferred judgement, deferred sentence or suspended sentence
The number of times the judge’s rulings are reversed on appeal due to abuse of discretion or error of law
The average time it takes the judge to rule on a motion or case
The number of cases the judge has resolved compared to the number of cases on the judge’s docket

The data would have to be displayed with a five-year trend line beginning five years after the bill takes effect.

The Secretary of State’s Office would also be required to maintain a searchable database of all judicial opinions and orders for the judge’s current term and the preceding six years. The decisions would be redacted when appropriate.

And judges would have the opportunity to write a 2,000-word personal statement on their judicial philosophy or data trends present in their rulings.

Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@registermedia.com or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on X at @sgrubermiller.

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Iowa

Man sentenced for killing 4 people appeals his sentence to the Iowa Supreme Court

Published

1 day ago

March 4, 2026

Press Room

Man sentenced for killing 4 people appeals his sentence to the Iowa Supreme Court

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – Luke Truesdell’s attorney has filed as of Sunday to appeal his sentence to the Iowa Supreme Court.

Truesdell was sentenced last week to three consecutive life sentences plus 50 years for the deaths of four people killed in rural Linn County.

A jury convicted Luke Truesdell, 36, in November on the first-degree murder of Brent Brown, 34; his girlfriend, Keonna Ryan, 26, of Cedar Rapids; and Amanda Parker, 33, of Vinton. They also found him guilty of second-degree murder in the death of Romondus Cooper, 44, of Cedar Rapids.

His attorneys previously argued multiple reasons for a retrial that could potentially be brought up again.

They said that one juror was overheard talking about news on the case.

They also said the prosecutors inflamed the jury, rather than focusing on the facts.

His lawyers said there is no direct evidence that Truesdell committed the murders.

Truesdell’s defense also pointed to Truesdell’s father, Larry Tuesdell, who was found covered in blood at the scene but never fully investigated. Authorities have not been able to locate Larry.

The state disagreed, citing overwhelming evidence including DNA on the murder weapon, eyewitness testimony and video of Truesdell entering the garage where the four people were found dead.

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