Reimbursing agencies that responded to Marengo explosion

This week was the fifth week of the legislative session. We focused on moving bills through the legislature and meeting with constituents at the Capitol.

I was excited to start the week off by delivering some good news on Monday morning. The Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management will coordinate with the Iowa County Emergency Management Agency (EMA) to replace expendables and damaged equipment of those response agencies that were on scene and directly affected by the explosion and fire in Marengo.

A total of 25 agencies responded to the incident and funds have been authorized to pay for the replacement of damaged equipment or expended goods associated with the response, not to exceed $640,121.

This includes damaged or expended goods like turnout gear, boots, gloves, hoses, porta-tanks, SCBA gear, and foam. Iowa County EMA will function as the local grant manager and complete all purchases on behalf of the local impacted agencies. Iowa County EMA will coordinate the subsequent distribution of goods to impacted agencies. The process for purchase of replacement damaged goods and expendables will begin immediately.

Retention Basin Remediation

The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will coordinate with local officials and the Iowa County Drainage District to promptly remediate contaminated water currently held within the Marengo stormwater retention basin.

DNR will reimburse the Iowa County Drainage District actual costs for construction of temporary earthen berms and stormwater and wastewater diversion measures, not to exceed $57,739. This measure is necessary to avoid additional water from entering the basin during the treatment process.

The drainage district has identified a contractor for this work and plans to begin work in the coming days. DNR will contract with a specialized third party firm to treat the contaminated water in the affected basin, with costs not to exceed $834,740.

Approximately 12M gallons of water require treatment prior to spring rains and subsequent discharge into the Iowa River. The contractor intends to mobilize within 10 days (by 2/17), with treatment complete within 30 days (by 3/8).

This has been a work in progress with a lot of people working behind the scenes but I am excited that we were finally able to get these departments some much needed assistance.

In the Legislature

Tuesday morning, I met with some eighth-graders from Lutheran Interparish School. We discussed my role as a state senator and what my days look like when I am in Des Moines. We also talked about the long and often difficult process of a bill becoming a law. I was happy they took the time to come to Des Moines to tour our lovely Capitol and took some time to meet with me as well.

Tuesday afternoon, I spoke with Andrea Weber, MD for Physician Day on the Hill. We had a great conversation on SSB 1096.

Andrea explained to me the spirit of this bill is to increase naloxone (an opioid antagonist) in our state. She also explained that naloxone is the only medication known to reliably save lives after an opioid-related overdose — whether the overdose is intentional or not.

She told me how important the increase of naloxone is, especially in rural Iowa. Lastly, Andrea explained her concerns with the language of the current bill and informed me on what language she thinks would improve the current bill.

I really enjoyed speaking with Andrea about this piece of legislation and loved hearing her opinion on the bill based on her professional experience.

Along with the constituent visits, I continued to stay busy in the Senate with subcommittee and committee meetings as well as floor debate on Wednesday afternoon.

I was also excited to hear that a bill I had drafted on behalf of one of my constituents, SF 179, had a subcommittee on Thursday morning. SF 179 requires school districts, charter schools, and accredited non-public schools to grant excused absences for students absent from school due to involvement in an activity sponsored by a 4-H club or the FFA and to allow students to make up any classwork missed during the excused absence.

Farmers Hen House Visit

Last Friday, Representative Hora and I took a tour of the Farmers Hen House. Here are some facts we learned:

• Around 40% of the eggs we process go to California, and only 8-10% stay in the state of Iowa.

• The Farmers Hen House ships all across the country except the northeast. Right now the closest they get is Pennsylvania, but otherwise they go from Florida to Washington and everywhere in between.

• They process between 500-550k dozen per week (around 6.25 million eggs)

• They work with around 80 farmers in Iowa, Wisconsin, and Missouri, most of which are in Kalona, Bloomfield, and Creston IA.

• All of their eggs are considered specialty with 95% having some type of outside access (either 2-5 sq. ft or 108 sq. ft per bird outside).

It was a fun experience taking a tour and I loved getting to learn more about the Farmers Hen House.

As always, feel free to reach out to me if you would like to have a discussion on a piece of legislation and/or have any questions or concerns on a piece of legislation making its way through the Senate.