Gov. Kim Reynolds laid out her agenda for her final legislative session Tuesday evening, including a plan for $3 billion in property tax relief, requiring Iowans to swear they are U.S. citizens when registering to vote and banning certain food dyes from school meals.
But Reynolds started her ninth Condition of the State address by honoring the two Iowa National Guard soldiers who were killed in an ambush in Syria, Staff Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard and Staff Sgt. Edgar Torres-Tovar.
“Tonight, we do not remember our fallen soldiers only in sorrow, but in gratitude,” Reynolds said. “We do not speak their names only in grief, but in honor. And we do not pause simply to mourn, but to celebrate their lives and give thanks for the gift they’ve given all of us.”
Reynolds said the condition of the state is strong, and at the start of her final legislative session, she said she couldn’t be prouder to be the governor of Iowa.
“As I enter my final legislative session as your governor, I do so deeply grateful, fully committed and determined to finish strong,” she said. “There will be time to look back and time to say thank you. But tonight, our focus is forward — on what still needs to be done, and on doing it together.”
Property taxes
Reynolds called on lawmakers to limit overall city and county revenue growth to no more than 2% each year, excluding new construction, debt service and school funding.
She said local government spending is driving a rise in property taxes, and spending must be reined in.
“It’s simple but effective,” Reynolds said. “You remember when we were kids, our parents would tell us that money doesn’t grow on trees? Well, I think it’s time governments learn that lesson, too.”
She also wants to freeze property taxes for Iowans 65 and older whose homes are valued at $350,000 or less.
“Seniors who did everything right — who worked hard, paid their taxes and saved — are at risk of being taxed out of the very home they hoped to grow old in,” Reynolds said. “That’s not how it should work.”
She proposed having home values assessed every three years instead of every two years, and the homestead tax credit would be changed to an exemption.
Reynolds’ staff said all of this, along with some other provisions, would save Iowa property taxpayers $3 billion over six years. That is also $3 billion that cities and counties would not be able to raise over the next six years to pay for local services.
Reynolds’ proposal includes a $10 million grant program to provide incentives for local governments to share services and lower costs. It would also allow county boards of supervisors to appoint county treasurers, auditors and recorders rather than requiring them to be independently elected by voters.
She also proposed creating a tax-deductible savings account for first-time homebuyers, similar to Iowa’s 529 program for college savings. Families could contribute to the accounts to save up for a down payment and closing costs.
Immigration
Reynolds did not mention her immigration-related priorities in the speech, but her staff and her written agenda described new proposals related to immigration.
She wants the Legislature to make permanent an executive order she issued in the wake of Des Moines Public Schools Superintendent Ian Roberts’ arrest last year. It would require the state to use E-Verify and SAVE to verify the immigration status and employment eligibility of state employees and those receiving professional licenses from the state.
Reynolds plans to ask lawmakers to require Iowans to swear they are a U.S. citizen when registering to vote. It is a crime to vote or register if you are not a U.S. citizen. Her proposal would specifically make it a class D felony to falsely claim to be a citizen when registering to vote.
She is also proposing legislation to establish a rebuttable presumption that immigrants without legal status would be held without bail if arrested and accused of crimes that are not simple misdemeanors.
Health and nutrition
Reynolds called on lawmakers to ban certain food dyes and preservatives from K-12 schools.
She also wants to require future governors to follow her lead in applying to the federal government to ban certain foods like soda and candy from food assistance programs. Iowans who receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits and who will receive Summer EBT cannot currently use that money for taxable food items.
Reynolds said one out of six children in Iowa are obese.
“The days of government programs that enable chronic illness are over,” she said. “It’s time for a new era of accountability and health.”
Reynolds’ health proposals include allowing Iowans to purchase birth control and ivermectin without a prescription.
She also described how she plans to use the $209 million in federal health care funding Iowa received through the “Big Beautiful Bill” to partly offset cuts to Medicaid.
Reynolds said Iowa will invest $50 million of that in cancer screening, prevention and treatment in one year, with the potential to grow that to $183 million over four years.
“We’re making early detection the norm, not the exception,” she said. “Replacing fear with hope, and making sure that if families hear the word ‘cancer,’ they also hear, ‘We caught it early and we can treat it.’”
The state’s plan includes a hub and spoke model of cancer treatment in rural Iowa, money for radon testing kits and for training radon mitigation specialists, providing cancer screenings for uninsured and underinsured Iowans, and recruiting cancer specialists to rural areas.
Reynolds also said the initial findings of a study on Iowa’s cancer rates, commissioned by the Legislature last year, are expected to be issued in the coming weeks.
