Legislative session opens at Iowa Capitol

The 2026 Legislative got underway this week with the usual pomp and circumstance of speeches from the House leadership and the addresses from Gov. Reynolds, Chief Justice Christensen of the Iowa Supreme Court and Major General Osborn, Adjutant General of the Iowa National Guard.

Gov. Reynolds assured us that the Condition of the State is Strong. She honored our fallen National Guard soldiers and addressed topics such as property taxes.

Chief Justice Christensen outlined her priorities, particularly what she sees as a crisis regarding low pay for judges across the state. Major General Osborn began his address by recognizing our fallen ING heroes Staff Sargent’s Nate Howard and Edgar Torres-Tovar by asking the ING Chaplain to come to the podium and offer a prayer for the soldiers and their families.

Between all the speeches, I have been busy researching and filing bills on behalf of my constituents, including bills to deal with the growing epidemic of “deadbeat dads” that don’t pay their child support. These delinquent support payments now total nearly $900 million state wide, an enormous impact on vulnerable children.

There are no easy answers to this problem, but I hope to make some progress with these bills.

I’ve also filed a bill to deal with the flashing red lights on the windmills. Currently the lights flash all night long, creating a significant light pollution nuisance at night. My bill would require all new windmills to use an Aircraft Detection Lighting System that turns the flashing lights on only when and aircraft is detected in the area.

This is just a sample of the many bills I’m working on.

One of the biggest issues I’ve heard about back home is that of rising property taxes. Iowans have been loud and clear about the impact these increases are having on their lives. Seniors are being priced out of their homes, young people are struggling to buy their first house and families are seeing their bill rise with no predictability and no way to know if that money is being used effectively.

This week (Jan. 16) we saw property tax proposals released from the Governor’s Office and the Iowa Senate Republican caucus. Our House Republican caucus has been working on a proposal of our own that we will release as early as next week. The fact that the Governor, the Senate Republicans and the House Republicans are all leading with property tax plans shows Iowans how committed we are to delivering significant relief this session.

The House Republican caucus is working on a proposal that puts the taxpayers first. For too long, the system has prioritized the “certainty” of government budgets over the “certainty” of family budgets. House Republicans are flipping that script.

Stay tuned in the coming weeks as these conversations continue and House Republicans release our own proposal.

Another hot topic that House Republicans will be addressing is that of Public Safety. Central to our state’s identity is that Iowa is a safe place to live and raise a family. We’ve seen what happens when our neighbors in Chicago and Minneapolis go soft on crime.

We will not let those failed policies cross our borders. We are taking action now to ensure Iowa remains a safe place to call home. We see headlines that pop up on our phones everyday about the horrors that take place across our country.

In too many of these incidents, the perpetrators are repeat offenders with a long history of violent crime. Too often, these career criminals are released back onto the streets where they become a risk to our children and loved ones.

For those of you who say “this isn’t really a big problem in Iowa,” I say that even one victim is too many. There are instances of this kind taking place in Iowa, and we refuse to sit back and wait for the tragedies to pile up before we take action.

That’s why House Republicans will be pursuing a tough on crime agenda this session. We will be proposing a three-strike policy that keeps dangerous criminals repeatedly breaking the law off the streets. This legislative session, career criminals will get the message — they are not welcome here in Iowa.

As always, I look forward to seeing you at the Capitol, or in the district.