Iowa

Iowa Republicans set up a shell game to mask the costs of tax cuts | Opinion

Published

1 year ago

December 22, 2024

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Iowa Republicans set up a shell game to mask the costs of tax cuts | Opinion

It is not “taxpayer relief” to use previously paid taxes to pay help pay for budget shortfalls caused by a “tax cut.”

Tom Walton
| Guest columnist

This month, the state Revenue Estimating Conference reported new estimates showing Iowa revenue will drop by $602 million (6.2%) compared with fiscal year 2024. Further, state revenue is expected to drop by a further $428 million (4.7%) in fiscal year 2026, which begins July 1, 2025. Republicans attribute the fall in estimated revenue to the start of their 3.8% flat income tax rate next year. Republicans have promoted reducing the state income tax — which Sen. Jack Whitver derisively calls a “confiscation” — down to zero.

But Republicans have amassed a $2 billion budget surplus, $961 million in its reserve accounts, and $3.75 billion in the Taxpayer Relief Fund, which was supposed to be used to reduce taxes. All told, about $6.75 billion. One good question is: Why?

Republicans enacted a long-term commitment to reduced revenues due to the flax tax at an extremely volatile time during and after the COVID-19 epidemic. The federal government’s $5.2 trillion infusion into states and their economies was the largest fiscal stimulus package ever. One-time federal financial supports reduced state costs and artificially bolstered revenues. Recently, Pew Charitable Trusts observed: “The combination of temporary funds propping up budgets and the adoption of new recurring expenditures or tax cuts has left many states in a precarious position. Policymakers now must grapple with the possibility that their states’ finances are structurally imbalanced and vulnerable to deficits as one-time funds dry up but new commitments remain.”

Not wanting to “waste a good crisis,” as they say, Republicans rushed to enact a flat tax during an extremely uncertain economic time when the level of likely future tax revenues was cloudy at best.

As the COVID economic booster begins to fade, several states have experienced significant decreases in tax revenue as compared to their 15-year trend. Iowa was among states experiencing a negative difference in the fourth quarter of 2023 — mind you, before the flat income tax kicked in. Iowa experienced a 6% decrease in revenue from its historical trend, the fourth-highest difference among states that went negative, according to Pew.

Researchers explained: “State tax collections have been on a downward trajectory since their mid-2022 peak, reflecting, in large part, a decline from the unexpected highs of the pandemic revenue wave. … One question is whether states will be able to afford the budgetary commitments they made in the past three years — such as tax relief and pay raises for public employees — over the long term.”

Yet, Iowa Republicans want to enshrine their COVID-fueled tax cut into the Iowa Constitution. Last session, Republicans passed a constitutional amendment to require a two-thirds vote of both chambers of the state Legislature to pass a bill that would increase the individual or corporate income tax rate. They are expected to pass the legislation a second time this session, which would likely put it on the ballot for voters in November 2026. What a way to saddle future Iowans with a hasty tax cut enacted during a most abnormal period of artificially high revenue and reduced state expenses.

It is a sure thing Republicans will hoard Iowa’s surpluses and use it to cover predicted revenue gaps before the November 2026 vote on the constitutional amendment to mask from the voting public the true and lasting impacts of their opportunistic push for a flat tax.

In fact, Republicans and Gov. Kim Reynolds passed Senate File 2442 this year, which, among other things, changed the law regarding how the Taxpayer Relief Fund could be used. Tucked away in the second-to-last division of a 35-page bill is a section that provides that, if the actual net revenue is less than budgeted expenses “there is transferred from the taxpayer relief fund to the general fund of the state an amount equal to fifty percent of the difference or the remaining balance of the taxpayer relief fund, whichever is lower.” That is a preemptive coverup of the probable result of the Republican flat tax as conceded by Republicans, themselves.

Iowa Republicans are not using the Taxpayer Relief Fund as it was originally intended. It is not “taxpayer relief” to use previously paid taxes to pay help pay for budget shortfalls caused by a “tax cut.” Most would call that a shell game. It is like giving yourself a “raise” by moving a dollar from one pocket to another. Why not just give those “confiscated” funds back to Iowans directly via refunds? Ah, but that would spoil the game, wouldn’t it?

Unmet needs and underfunded state accounts exist now. That will get worse.

Governor Reynolds states Republicans have a “commitment to shrinking the size and scope of government.” However, should not elected officials be committed first to ensuring that our government is the “right size,” before deciding it should be shrunk? That is, the right size to fully accomplish basic functions that individuals cannot meet themselves —no matter how much of their own money they have in their pockets — such as prevention and mitigation of natural disasters, ensuring safe bridges and roads, making sure promised pensions are not underfunded, cleaning up Iowa’s fouled waters, and helping public schools at least meet their costs of operation.

Tom Walton is an Iowa lawyer.

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Iowa

Iowa woman accused of pandering for prostitution and harassment after incidents at Casey’s and a daycare

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10 hours ago

January 8, 2026

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Iowa woman accused of pandering for prostitution and harassment after incidents at Casey’s and a daycare

AURELIA, Iowa (KTIV) – A Northwest Iowa woman is facing charges of harassment and pandering for prostitution after two incidents took place in December 2025.

Forty-seven-year-old Kristal Miller of Odebolt was taken into custody on an arrest warrant and faces three charges: one count of pandering for prostitution and two counts of first-degree harassment, according to court documents.

Kristal Miller(Cherokee County Jail)

The charges stem from two separate incidents that took place on Thursday, Dec. 18. 2025.

According to court documents, at 6:15 a.m., Miller reportedly went to the Casey’s General Store, located at 100 Pearl St. in Aurelia. Documents state Miller approached an employee and customers, requesting money from them.

Authorities state Miller claimed she was wanted by the FBI and told people, if anyone called the police, “she would kill them.”

During this encounter, she also allegedly asked an employee to remove the string from her hooded sweatshirt. Documents state when the employee refused this request, she threatened to strangle them.

That same day at 7 a.m., Miller reportedly approached a female employee outside an Aurelia daycare and asked them for money.

Court documents stated Miller suggested the unnamed employee leave her boyfriend. Miller reportedly told the employee, if she did, then she and Miller would both be paid.

Authorities say when she was told no by the employee, Miller became upset and started yelling at them.

Miller also allegedly threatened to “steal her car” and ”take her away to her guys to start a new life.”

She was booked into the Cherokee County Jail on a cash-only bond of $5,000. A preliminary hearing has been scheduled in Cherokee for Friday, Jan. 9, at 10 a.m.

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Iowa

Iowa law on police appeals ‘constitutionally vacuous,’ prosecutor says

Published

22 hours ago

January 8, 2026

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Iowa law on police appeals ‘constitutionally vacuous,’ prosecutor says

The Iowa Supreme Court is reviewing a 2024 law that allows law enforcement officers to appeal their placement on a Brady-Giglio list.
A dispute between Jefferson County’s attorney and sheriff led to the sheriff being placed on the list, which identifies officers with credibility issues.
The county attorney argues the law is unconstitutional because it lets judges interfere with a prosecutor’s duty to disclose evidence to defendants.

A feud between two Jefferson County officials has landed before the Iowa Supreme Court, which must decide if a 2024 addition to Iowa’s Rights of Peace Officers law is unconstitutional.

Jefferson County Attorney Chauncey Moulding is asking the state’s high court to overturn what he calls the “constitutionally vacuous” law, which allows officers to petition the courts to be removed from their county’s Brady-Giglio list.

Named for two U.S. Supreme Court decisions, the lists compiled by prosecutors identify law enforcement officers and others whose credibility is in question, and it can provide grounds for questioning their testimony in court.

After a dispute over a case involving a sheriff’s deputy’s use of force, Moulding in 2024 notified Jefferson County Sheriff Bart Richmond he was placing him on the Brady-Giglio list. Richmond petitioned a court to reverse Moulding’s decision, and a district judge did, finding Richmond’s actions in connection with the case, while unprofessional, did not bring his honesty or credibility into question.

In his appeal, Moulding argues that’s not up to the court to decide, and that the law lets judges improperly intrude on prosecutors’ professional judgment and, ultimately, defendants’ rights.

“The practical real application of (the 2024 law) is to create a Kafkaesque scenario where a criminal defendant could face the prospect of criminal charges involving a State witness who is so lacking in credibility that the State’s attorney has qualms about even calling him to testify, but is prevented from disclosure,” Moulding wrote. “Such a situation is unconscionable, and underlines the constitutional vacuousness of the statute itself.”

The court has not yet scheduled arguments for the case, which could have impacts far beyond Jefferson County. Attorney Charles Gribble, representing Richmond, said this is just one of three Iowa Brady-Giglio appeals he personally is involved in.

What is a Brady-Giglio list?

Under the Fifth Amendment, criminal defendants are entitled to due process of law. In Brady v. Maryland in 1963 and in subsequent cases the U.S. Supreme Court held that due process requires a prosecutor to disclose any known exculpatory evidence to the defense. That includes anything giving rise to doubts about the credibility of the prosecution’s witnesses, including law enforcement officers.

In 2022, Iowa formalized that process by mandating prosecuting agencies maintain a Brady-Giglio list of officers whose credibility can be questioned due to past dishonesty or other misconduct. The law requires agencies to notify officers when they are being put on a list and allows them to seek reconsideration.

Being placed on a list can damage or destroy an officer’s career, as prosecutors generally will decline to call them as witnesses or to bring charges that would depend on their testimony.

2024 law gives courts a role in Brady-Giglio lists

Iowa’s 2024 law went beyond requiring officers be notified of their placement on a Brady-Giglio list by giving them the right to appeal to a district court if their prosecuting agency refuses to take them off a list. The law requires judges to confidentially review evidence and allows them to affirm, modify or reverse an officer’s Brady-Giglio listing “as justice may require.”

In less than two years, courts have reversed local prosecutors on several Brady-Giglio placements, including a messy Henry County dispute in which prosecutors accused a sheriff’s deputy of making misleading statements on a search warrant application.

What happened in Jefferson County?

The lawsuit before the Iowa Supreme Court involves an April 2024 traffic stop by a Jefferson County deputy. As laid out in a subsequent memo by Moulding, video recordings show the deputy handling the driver roughly and, when the man complains, telling him “I can do whatever I want” and, “You’re not going to tell me what I can and can’t do. … You’re going to learn what respect is, young man.”

After learning about the incident, Moulding wrote, he repeatedly emailed Richmond, asking if the deputy’s actions had violated any county policies. Richmond did not respond. Concerned about possible litigation against the county, Moulding then asked another county to conduct an investigation. While the details are disputed, Moulding accuses Richmond of stonewalling both his office and the outside investigators and instructing his subordinates also not to cooperate.

“A county sheriff ordering deputies not to cooperate with an inquiry into a deputy’s use of force represents a fundamental lapse in judgment and raised serious concerns regarding the Sheriff’s honesty, candor and ethics as a law enforcement official,” Moulding wrote.

He scheduled a meeting that Richmond did not attend and then placed him on the county’s Brady-Giglio list. In an emailed statement, Moulding called the entire matter “unfortunate.”

“Frankly, I am shocked that instead of attempting to address this matter with my office cooperatively, the Sheriff instead decided to stonewall an investigation, stonewall the Brady-Giglio investigation, and then take this matter to court instead of sitting down and addressing the matter like an adult and an elected official,” he said.

In a letter, Moulding warned Richmond that he would no longer be called as a law enforcement witness and advised him to limit his involvement with criminal investigations, as “your engagement in such activities could likely negatively impact the outcomes in court.”

Judge disagrees with sheriff’s placement on list

After Moulding denied Richmond’s request for reconsideration, Richmond filed suit. In February 2025, Judge Jeffrey Farrell ruled Richmond should be removed from the list.

Farrell’s order criticized both parties, finding that Moulding had failed to comply with some procedural elements of the law but that Richmond could have avoided the whole situation with “basic and professional” responses to Moulding’s emails. Nonetheless, he found Richmond’s actions did not demonstrate dishonesty or deceit that would justify placement on a Brady list.

“This is not a case in which an officer lied to a court, was convicted of a crime, manufactured or destroyed evidence, or committed some other act that would serve as the basis for impeachment in any criminal case,” Farrell wrote. “Game-playing the county attorney is not the standard of professionalism that Iowans expect of our elected county sheriffs,” he added, but does not constitute grounds for a Brady-Giglio listing.

Prosecutor appeals, argues law is unconstitutional

In his appeal, Moulding does not address Farrell’s factual findings, instead asking the court only to decide whether the law is constitutional.

“The most glaring constitutional defect in (the 2024 law) is that it impedes a criminal Defendant’s substantive and procedural due processes of law, and right to a fair trial,” the appeal says. “These fundamental rights constitute the bedrock raisons d’être for the entire body of Brady-Giglio jurisprudence in the first place.”

Iowa appears to be the only state with a law allowing officers to sue to be removed from a Brad-Giglio list, but Moulding cites a recent federal lawsuit where a judge rejected a South Dakota officer’s attempt to get removed from a list, finding the request “in essence, asks this Court to require a State’s Attorney to violate the constitution.” He further argues that the law violates the constitutional separation of powers and is “so poorly drafted as to be unenforceable and void for vagueness.”

Sheriff’s attorney says single lapse of judgment is not grounds for listing

Gribble, Richmond’s attorney, argued in his Supreme Court brief that the law is constitutional and that the sheriff’s actions fall well short of Brady-Giglio standards.

“Under (the 2024 law), placement on the Brady-Giglio list results not from a single lapse of judgment but rather from repeated, sustained, intentional and egregious acts over a period of time,” he wrote. “Thus, while a singular act of bad judgement may undermine a police officer’s credibility in a particular case, placement on the Brady-Giglio list places a permanent and unreviewable scarlet letter on the officer that he/she is unlikely to be able to ever overcome.”

He also suggests that a court order removing an officer from a list “does not in any way alter the prosecuting attorney’s duty to provide exculpatory evidence in all cases.” In an interview, he argued there should be a legal distinction between prosecutors disclosing concerns about an officer’s conduct in the case in which it occurred, and doing so in every future case involving them.

“To me, that’s what Brady-Giglio is for, not for occasional or first-time wrongs, even if established of a police officer, but those that have a history of that sort of thing,” he said.

The Supreme Court has not yet set a date for arguments in the case.

William Morris covers courts for the Des Moines Register. He can be contacted at wrmorris2@registermedia.com or 715-573-8166.

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Iowa

Univ. of Iowa students practice life-saving skills through realistic medical simulations

Published

1 day ago

January 7, 2026

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Univ. of Iowa students practice life-saving skills through realistic medical simulations

IOWA CITY, Iowa (KCRG) – Some students at the University of Iowa are getting hands-on medical experience before the spring semester officially begins — and they’re doing it inside a mobile simulation lab.

Wednesday, Simulation in Motion-Iowa (SIM-IA) brought its high-tech training truck to the university’s main hospital campus during what’s known as “transitions week,” just days before physician assistant students head out on clinical rotations.

Instead of practicing on classmates, students worked through simulated emergency scenarios using lifelike mannequins designed to closely mimic real patients. The mannequins can breathe, blink, sweat, and even go into cardiac arrest — giving students a realistic first taste of what they’ll soon face in hospitals and clinics.

“So they have pulses like you and I, they have lung sounds, breath tones, so they get to practice their patient assessments — their head-to-toes, what they think is wrong with that patient, determine what treatments they’re going to offer and do,” said Lisa Lenz, a Simulation in Motion-Iowa instructor.

Lenz controls the mannequins’ movements and symptoms behind the scenes, adjusting each scenario based on how students respond in real time.

“We can kind of assess and watch and make sure they’re doing the skills that we would expect them to do, we then get to change and flow through our scenario,” Lenz said. “So we start out with a healthy patient, maybe something like chest pains and continue through states of either progression or decline.”

Faculty members say the goal is to help students bridge the gap between classroom learning and real patient care — especially with clinical rotations beginning soon.

“This is now putting book work to the clinical practice,” said Jeremy Nelson, a clinical assistant professor in the university’s Department of PA Studies and Services. “We’re getting them ready to go out to various scenarios.”

Nelson says repetition is key, especially since some medical emergencies are rare while others are unpredictable.

“They may see them 10 times on rotation, they may see them once,” Nelson said. “This gives them that ‘first touch’ so when they do see it they have a better chance of learning more and being engaged and practicing.”

The spring semester at the University of Iowa officially begins January 20 for those students. Faculty say experiences like this help boost confidence and reduce anxiety before students ever step into a real emergency situation.

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