Close to 40 people attended the second Meet Your Legislators that took place this past Saturday at the Welcome Center with the Thomas Jefferson Gardens of Greene County.

One of the first topics was about raising the sales tax to fund the Natural Resources and Outdoor Recreational Trust Fund that was passed in 2010 by Iowans. Senator Jesse Green said there was a concern by lawmakers that in the long-term there could be too much money in the trust by using three-eighths of a penny and spending $250 million annually. He stated that there have been other programs developed to address water quality, which he will continue to advocate for, but he wanted to force a conversation about raising the sales tax to offset property tax relief.

Another main topic that was addressed was about the recently new law that was signed by Governor Kim Reynolds about removing gender identity from the Iowa Civil Rights Act. House District 47 Representative Carter Nordman brought up several points, including one of the most important aspects of why he voted in favor of the legislation.

“I believe that all individuals with dignity and respect period. This bill is not discrimination or targeting a certain group of people, it is about aligning our state with federal civil rights code, along with the majority of other states who do not have this in their civil rights code. This bill is about protecting common sense laws that Iowans overwhelmingly support.”   

Senator Green also detailed another major reason for the change.

“From a public policy standpoint, we are one of two states that had conflicting laws when it comes to, whether it’s girls sports, bathrooms, Medicaid dollars, things like that versus the civil rights code and they’re in conflict with one another. It was just a matter of time and the (Iowa) Supreme Court was going to knock down our laws with that. So of the states that have civil rights, we were one of two states in this weird predicament.” 

Other topics that were asked by the audience included access to mental health services, obscene materials in public libraries, increasing homeowner insurance premiums, restrictions on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and not using eminent domain for agricultural land for underground carbon dioxide pipeline projects. The final Meet Your Legislators event will be held on April 5th.