The potential for taking property by eminent domain and the taxing of property are major issues facing the Iowa legislature this year.

The Iowa House of Representatives has already approved a bill banning the use of eminent domain to acquire land for the construction of a carbon dioxide pipeline. State representatives Wendy Larson, R-Odebolt, and Ann Meyer, R-Fort Dodge, supported it.

In the Senate, a measure has been introduced to try to avoid the use of eminent domain by enlarging the corridor that a pipeline could be built in.

“Anything that is carbon specific on eminent domain I will support,” state Sen. Jesse Green, R-Boone, said.

-Messenger photo by Britt Kudla
Amanda Allen, right, of Pocahontas, discusses the hands-free bill that Iowa passed in 2025 with state Rep. Ann Meyer, R-Fort Dodge, during the Eggs and Issues legislative forum on Saturday on Iowa Central Community College's Fort Dodge campus.

Senate Republicans, House Republicans and Gov. Kim Reynolds have all introduced property tax reform bills.

State Sen. Tim Kraayenbrink, R-Fort Dodge, said there is a lot of work remaining to be done on property taxes because there are so many proposals.

“A bill that comes to committee in a single house or from the governor is a long way from the finish line,” he said. “Don’t take anything in any one of the bills as the gospel truth at this point.”

All of the lawmakers agreed that local law enforcement agencies should be cooperating with their federal counterparts on immigration enforcement.

About 25 people attended the forum Saturday morning at Iowa Central Community College. Eggs and Issues is sponsored by the Greater Fort Dodge Growth Alliance and the college.

-Messenger photo by Britt Kudla
Al Hayek, of Fort Dodge, discusses land rights with state Sen. Jesse Greene, R-Boone, during the Eggs and Issues forum Saturday morning at Iowa Central Community College in Fort Dodge.

Eminent domain

Eminent domain is a method that can be used to obtain real estate from unwilling sellers. When it is used, the buyer gets an appraisal of the property, pays the land owner that amount and takes ownership of the land.

Summit Carbon Solutions has proposed to build a pipeline through Iowa to collect carbon dioxide from ethanol plants and transport it to North Dakota and Wyoming.

When the pipeline project was announced, it was reported that the carbon dioxide would be sequestered underground. Kraayenbrink said Saturday that isn’t true because the “Green New Deal is a hoax.” He said the carbon dioxide will be pumped into oil wells to enable them to produce more oil.

The Iowa Utilities Commission granted Summit Carbon Solutions the power of eminent domain to acquire land for its proposed pipeline. That decision touched off a political storm in Iowa.

-Messenger photo by Britt Kudla
State Sen. Tim Kraayenbrink, R-Fort Dodge, speaks during the Eggs and Issues forum Saturday morning at Iowa Central Community College in Fort Dodge.

A U.S. Supreme Court decision allows eminent domain, typically reserved for governments needing land for roads and utilities, to be used for economic development. Green said he has signed onto a lawsuit that seeks to overturn that decision.

“Nobody in either caucus wants to use eminent domain,” Kraayenbrink said.

The House bill banning eminent domain awaits action by committees in the Senate. The Senate’s own bill on widening the pipeline corridor also awaits action by committees in that chamber.

Property taxes

While lawmakers sort through various property tax reform proposals, Larson called on residents to communicate more with local officials about the levies.

-Messenger photo by Britt Kudla
State Rep. Wendy Larson, R-Odebolt, meets with area residents during the Eggs and Issues legislative forum on Saturday inside Iowa Central's BioScience and Health Sciences Building in Fort Dodge.

“It’s the local people that really set the property tax levies,” she said. “I think there needs to be more community involvement at the local level, and that’s not happening.”

Kraayenbrink said he worries about home owners who face the choice of investing in their houses or paying the property taxes.

“Those are the people that I think are truly being hurt by property taxes,” he said. “Those are the people I want to help first.”

Law enforcement

Meyer said people voted overwhelmingly to deport criminal illegal aliens and local law enforcement should cooperate in that effort. She said illegal aliens that are arrested by local authorities should be handed over to federal authorities.

“It should be a transfer right at the police station or the jail,” she said.

Because that is happening, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are having to make arrests in the streets and the result is the kind of chaos now being seen in Minneapolis, she said.

But Meyer also said that federal agents need to be held accountable for their actions.

“In any profession, there needs to be accountability,” she said.

Green said a lack of cooperation between federal and local law enforcement agencies creates an invitation for the president to invoke the Insurrection Act and send in troops.

“All sides need to deescalate,” he said.