January 2 "Capitol Week" and a question for readers

What would you like to read here in 2023?

Happy new year! It’s been almost sixteen years since I started writing about Iowa politics at Bleeding Heartland, and almost two years since Dennis Hart and I began broadcasting “Capitol Week” on KHOI Radio. But this Substack is only a few months old, so I’d like to hear from readers about the content you’d like to see here, in addition to recaps of our weekly radio show.

Should I get back to writing “What I’m reading” posts about once a week and posting occasional “Ask me anything about Iowa politics” threads? Once the Iowa legislature is back in session, should I highlight bills that are mostly below the radar?

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On to the first “Capitol Week” of 2023…

Here’s what Dennis and I discussed during our January 2 show:

• Governor Kim Reynolds welcomed the U.S. Supreme Court’s intervention to keep the Trump-era “Title 42” immigration policy in place (for more on that shadow docket action, I recommend Chris Geidner’s write-up at Law Dork; Steve Vladeck explained the basic facts of the case here);

• The Iowa Democratic Party’s uncertainty about who will be the next state chair and how they will handle the Iowa caucuses, given changes to the Democratic presidential nominating calendar (last month, John Deeth suggested a good way to square the circle);

• What Iowa’s U.S. House representatives want to work on in the next Congress (Iowa’s delegation could hardly have less seniority and won’t be calling the shots, even with Republicans in control of the chamber);

• Hot topics for the coming legislative session, which opens on January 9; I’m still not convinced Governor Kim Reynolds will be able to get her school voucher proposal through the Iowa House;

• GOP plans to cut property taxes, and how the legislature’s approach will likely be very different from 2013, when lawmakers approved a large commercial property tax cut;

• Why Republican leaders say they will hold off any further legislative action on abortion until the Iowa Supreme Court decides on a standard for review (that almost certainly won’t happen before the end of the 2023 session, and it’s possible that the Supreme Court will decide a pending case on narrow procedural grounds, without clarifying how justices might rule on a near-total abortion ban)

• Top GOP lawmakers have said they won’t move forward with a state constitutional amendment on abortion (I wonder whether a group of Republican lawmakers will demand a vote on the amendment, in exchange for supporting other bills);

• Possible legislative action on guns;

• Two “tort reform” bills that leaders will try to push through this session (last May I wrote about the failed effort to cap medical malpractice awards and limit trucking companies’ liability)

• What Brenna Bird plans to work on as attorney general, and Bird’s move to fire nineteen senior employees in the office before she’s sworn in (Jared Strong scooped me on this at Iowa Capital Dispatch, but I will have a post coming later in the week at Bleeding Heartland);

• The Hancock County Republican Central Committee’s formal objection to carbon dioxide pipelines, and why it matters (I wrote more about this at Bleeding Heartland and wonder whether eminent domain legislation may be a bargaining chip for Iowa House members who are resisting other bills);

• The latest COVID-19 trends in Iowa;

• For the last several minutes, Dennis and I revisited the topics we discussed on our first show of January 2022—including a COVID-19 surge, and previews of the legislative sessions and some campaigns for state or federal offices—and how things developed on all of those stories over the past year.

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The Iowa Writers Collaborative continues to grow, most recently with Jane Nguyen, whose newsletter is called The Asian Iowan. Here’s the whole list of columnists, in alphabetical order.

Iowa Writers’ Collaborative Columnists 

Laura Belin: Iowa Politics with Laura Belin, Windsor Heights

Doug Burns: The Iowa Mercury, Carroll

Dave Busiek: Dave Busiek on Media, Des Moines

Art Cullen: Art Cullen’s Notebook, Storm Lake

Suzanna de Baca Dispatches from the Heartland, Huxley

Debra Engle: A Whole New World, Madison County

Julie Gammack: Julie Gammack’s Iowa Potluck, Des Moines and Okoboji

Joe Geha: Fern and Joe, Ames

Jody Gifford: Benign Inspiration, West Des Moines

Beth Hoffman: In the Dirt, Lovilla

Dana James: New Black Iowa, Des Moines

Pat Kinney: View from Cedar Valley, Waterloo

Fern Kupfer: Fern and Joe, Ames

Robert Leonard: Deep Midwest: Politics and Culture, Bussey

Tar Macias: Hola Iowa, Iowa

Kurt Meyer, Showing Up, St. Ansgar

Kyle Munson, Kyle Munson’s Main Street, Des Moines

Jane Nguyen, The Asian Iowan, West Des Moines

John Naughton: My Life, in Color, Des Moines

Chuck Offenburger: Iowa Boy Chuck Offenburger, Jefferson and Des Moines

Barry Piatt: Piatt on Politic Behind the Curtain, Washington, D.C.

Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Buggy Land, Kalona

Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Emerging Voices, Kalona

Cheryl Tevis: Unfinished Business, Boone County

Ed Tibbetts: Along the Mississippi, Davenport

Teresa Zilk: Talking Good, Des Moines

To receive a weekly roundup of all Iowa Writers’ Collaborative columnists, sign up here (free): ROUNDUP COLUMN

We are proud to have an alliance with Iowa Capital Dispatch.