Iowa Cattlemen celebrate legislative wins

AMES — The Iowa Legislative Session adjourned in the early morning hours of Friday, April 19. The 103-day session resulted in several major legislative wins for Iowa cattlemen.

The Association is thankful to Gov. Kim Reynolds and legislative leaders like Speaker Pat Grassley and Senate President Amy Sinclair for their leadership and support of cattlemen priorities.

A cohort of livestock producers that serve as state legislators led important discussions related to ICA’s priorities with support from ICA’s contract lobbyist, Jake Swanson, and director of government relations, Cora Fox.

Legislation signed into law

Senate File 2204: Sen. Dan Zumbach, Senate District 34 and Rep. Derek Wulf House Distrcit 76, managed legislation to enhance state laws by giving the Attorney General more oversight to investigate suspected violations of foreign ownership of agricultural land.

Legislation sent to Gov. Reynolds:

Sente File 2391: Sen. Dawn Driscoll, Senate District 46 and Rep. Heather Hora House District 92, successfully led legislation to protect against misbranding of fake meat products and to keep experimental, lab-grown protein out of supplemental nutrition programs and schools.

House File 2465: Sen. Ken Rozenboom, Senate District 19, and Rep. Chad Ingels House District 68 worked to include agriculture instruction as part of the science curriculum for grades 9-12.

House File 572: Sen. Annette Sweeney, House District 27, advanced legislation to prohibit surveillance of homes and livestock facilities by use of drones from individuals that do not have consent from property owners. This legislation was first passed by Rep. Wulf and members of the Iowa House in 2023.

House File 2649: Driscoll and Wulf initiated legislation to prevent a new tax on producers by reinstating the livestock capital gains deduction. Collectively, this will save livestock producers millions of dollars in taxes.

Each of the aforementioned bills were passed by the legislature with bipartisan support. The future of beef cattle production in Iowa depends on the relationships we maintain and seek to build, and we look forward to continuing this work in the interim.