The Iowa legislative session has ended.

Now, all the bills that lawmakers passed are headed to the governor's desk.

A look at some of their decisions impacting people living in the cities.

We'll.

Iowa lawmakers approved a $9 billion budget.

It includes a 2.25% increase in per pupil school spending.

Lawmakers also struck civil rights protections for transgender citizens from the state.

They focused on eliminating D-I programs in schools.

And in a rare fight among Republicans.

They passed eminent domain reform to prevent a private carbon capture pipeline company from forcibly acquiring property.

Last month, we talked with a top Republican in the legislature about these legislative moves.

Now it's the Democrats turn.

We wanted to get a perspective from two of the newest members of the legislature.

Democratic State Senator Mike Zimmer from DeWitt.

And Democratic state Representative Daniel Gosa from Davenport.

Well, Senator, representative, this is your first term, your first, days in the state legislature.

Sarah, let's start with you.

I mean, you're in the super minority.

There's not much you can do.

Yeah, you don't have much of a voice there.

So was it worth running?

Well, I would say I would say contrary.

We have a voice.

That's what we have.

But as far as impacting decision making and pieces of legislation, very little, if we don't, speak up and, get the right folks at the subcommittee where the public can actually weigh in on a bill right from the very get go.

Once it comes out of that subcommittee and into committee, when you've got a supermajority, they've already counted the votes, and they know pretty much where they're heading.

And, when a piece of legislation gets to the floor for floor debate, at least in the Senate side, it's already going to pass.

That's just a given.

So that's the time in which we had an opportunity to speak up and, at least express maybe a different point of view as far as the House is concerned.

This was your first session as well.

So it was like drinking from a fire hose again, right?

It's a lot different from being on the school board.

One of the biggest things was kind of learning.

What?

I guess being a union guy, I was, like, going through an apprenticeship all over again, right?

I had to earn my stripes.

You know, legislators on the other side of the aisle had to see how it was to work with and things like that.

I did, you know, I built a rapport over the years, being on the school board with a lot of our local legislators.

So that kind of helped out quite a bit.

And, it was just kind of learning the, how everything works, the whole process.

And who you can work with on certain things.

But yeah, the same thing when it came to the floor, the votes were there.

You knew it was there, whether it was good, bad or, you know, indifferent.

Build.

I will say probably where you think 85% of the legislation is bipartisan, it's that 15%.

That's the really, nasty stuff that gets pushed through.

And sometimes it goes through like in the 11th hour and things like that.

That was a little disheartening when there was so many things that we could have worked on, whether it's property tax relief and things like that, that really impact our constituents.

When you get up there and you kind of see how you're handcuffed on certain things.

But again, I've always been a firm believer in being an advocate for your constituents.

And that's what we do every day up there when we're there.

Well, one area that Republicans were split was eminent domain with, Senate Republicans really pushing it, and demanding, a discussion and a vote, or else the budget was going to be held hostage.

In a way, the governor has, vetoed, the eminent domain.

Were you supportive of it?

And did it surprise you?

And do you think there's going to be a special session?

So I did vote against it.

There are a lot of good jobs associated with the pipeline and things like that.

That was the thing for me.

I was only one of.

I think there was four people in the House that voted against it.

It was a political, all politically motivated vote.

And sometimes you see that up there was one of another big surprise.

You know, they try to get you certain ways on votes because that's how they're going to use against you for the next political cycle and things like that.

I was very surprised to see how it got locked up on the Senate side, but it was very, must say this, it was very interesting to see because you see the process on how people are threatened.

If you don't vote this way, they're going to pull your bills.

They're going to remove you.

And then when Senator Lofgren had sent that email out about that, that let everybody know, you know, that kind of pulled the curtain back.

And you could actually see, because that is a real thing.

You do see that?

I mean, when you see some votes, you'll see them run down the floor to grab somebody and pull them back and, you know, change your vote and things like that.

So that's a very real thing that does happen.

So I was glad that that kind of got put out there.

So people understand that.

Yeah.

And on the Senate side, personally, I really did reinforce that when we pledged to serve that we support the Constitution, and the Fifth Amendment is very clear about using eminent domain, not using eminent domain for private gain.

And when the Iowa utility Board, defined the carbon sequestration pipeline as a public utility, that really brought into question.

So what are the appendages, so to speak, like a gas line that you tap off of and goes to homes?

What's being tapped off of the CO2?

There is nothing.

So that was my first and foremost, support.

I made it very clear in my floor speech, in support of, eminent domain bill that we were not using eminent domain as the vessel to kill the pipeline.

Iowa needs ethanol production.

They have to have it.

Iowa needs those, union jobs to build the pipeline.

What they don't need is to be using eminent domain to take someone's property that they don't want it coming across.

I will say that there were two pieces of legislation that were presented.

The House had actually, initially passed at a subcommittee a simple two paragraph bill that just said you cannot use eminent domain for the pipeline.

That was it.

We actually took that house.

Bill and the Democrats offered it as an amendment, and it was voted down.

By a Republican colleagues to just make it clean.

And I also have to say that the, senator that had been on the House side before that was on the Commerce Committee that killed the pipeline there and then got voted and moved over to the Senate side of it.

He was there also to kill that bill the same way.

And that's what he was trying to, leverage.

And when we affectionately referred to as the 12 apostles, when the 12 Republicans stepped forward and said, we're not going to, let this go another year because this is year four, that they have been that the, property owners have been showing up to the Capitol every day.

And that's why I would say to the audience that if you don't think your voice matters, if you're persistent and you're there and, you show up and you let your representatives know it can make a difference, it does make a difference.

Well, the eminent domain vote is expected to have some repercussions when it comes to, people voting, and the governor's decision to veto it.

She's now not running for reelection.

What kind of political repercussions do you think there's going to be in regards to, the eminent domain vote at the local level as a senator and also as a representative?

I think it's going to be very interesting to see what that those political repercussions.

And to your point, the governor's not running against.

So she was safe to do that.

How that's going to impact, the, the, Republican caucus, I think that's going to remain to be seen.

What's going to happen.

I do know on the Senate side to Representative Ghost, this point, it has torn the Republican caucus apart and just as, watch the what would I say, the repercussions that they, that the Republican leadership did to their own caucus members about removing them from leading a bill, to identify a representative ghost as point, State Senator Mark Le Pen, that letter saying, hey, here's what happened.

It's not done.

So I'm going to be curious to see what chairmanships are removed and how that gets moved around, and also to see what type of new, leadership on the Senate side emerges heading into, 2026.

Because to your point, I mean, we also kind of saw some of the strong arming when it came to the, school voucher vote, among Republicans, in the last a few sessions ago, you're in a more urban district.

But you still have a rural constituency.

It really seems to be an urban, rural issue as well when it comes.

I do have a little bit of rural on the western side of my, district.

I did not personally get a lot of emails from local constituents.

Any of the emails I received were from, like the Des Moines area and things like that.

And, you know, to Senator Zimmer's point, I do think there are going to be a lot of repercussions.

It's going to be very interesting.

But and wanting to reconvene the set, the special session and things like that.

Folks are doing some of this stuff now.

They're politically motivated, right?

You got people jockeying to run for governor and different things like that.

And you know that that was a learning curve up there, seeing who's trying to get to where whatever instead of at the end of the day, doing the right thing for your constituents that elected us to do these jobs, you know, and to, you know, call us up and chew us out if we do the wrong thing or send us emails and different things like that to educate us.

So it's going to be very interesting to see how things go the next session, because it's an election year, obviously, for everybody in the House and, what, half of the Senate or something like that.

So it would be very interesting to see how things shake out with the, you also approved, or the legislature approved a $9.43 billion budget, $478 million increase from the last 15.

3%, but still expecting a $900 million deficit.

When we talked to, Representative Moore in regards to there's a Republican who's in the Appropriations Committee chair, he was pointing out that, yeah, there is a deficit, but we have this large fund that we need to draw down.

What did you like about the budget and what did you not like about this budget that that passed?

And once again, Democrats do not have much of a role when it comes.

So one of the big things for me about, obviously, was public education funding.

I thought that that should have been more, all the time.

You hear the governor talk about how, they had to do the vouchers because the public education wasn't meeting the student's needs and things like that.

Or if you continually underfund those things, you're not able to have reading interventionist math interventions, things are going to directly affect those kiddos.

And to some of the other stuff, you know, running in a deficit.

I can remember being on the damn school board.

We got in a lot of trouble for running in a deficit.

I mean, we're under a partial appropriations.

At the time I became the board president.

So it's very interesting to me how people sometimes are going to say, speak out of both sides of their mouth.

It's hey, you shouldn't do this.

But then when we do it, it's okay to do that.

We should use those rainy day funds and things like that.

Now, you know, and it's all going to even out later on.

But if someone else does that, heaven forbid they're going to go after you for it, and they're going to say, you know, you aren't using funds wisely and things like that.

So it was very interesting to see those different perspectives.

Very interesting.

We should point out that people are and we should point out that you both are, former school board, presidents of Davenport and Central DeWitt.

I'm assuming that education funding was one of the areas that you thought that Iowa fell behind on.

Oh, absolutely.

What you're seeing as a decade of one party rule and the result of that is underfunding not only education, but also the judicial branch, and using that underfunding to build up the $7 billion, rainy day fund to provide this, an economic experiment where now, once we get into year 8 or 9 of this, underfunding, we're using those dollars now we're going to implement the, income tax cap at 3.8%.

We went through and cut corporate tax from eight, 8.5% down to in the 5%.

And so now all of a sudden what the only tax bucket left is, sales tax as far as from the state revenue.

And I knew that was coming.

I knew it was coming.

And that's when there was, a Senate joint resolution to, remove the, what would I call the, fund that was approved ten years ago, where the first 3/8 of a cent on the next property tax increase will go to improving parks and and conservation and that kind of stuff.

And, they tried to make a play at it, about removing that, and it didn't make it, but that was my first indication that now what we're going to be talking about is increasing sales tax.

Republicans don't want to talk about that.

But as you start looking down the barrel of a nine, $917 million deficit, I don't care how much money you have in reserves, there are two economic principles that you do not violate.

One, as you don't spend more money than you have bringing in, and two, you don't use one time funding to backfill.

You just do not know those two things.

Those are conservative fiscal, bedrocks that I'm just I feel like I'm in Alice in Wonderland.

Where up as down and down as up and left us right and right.

It's left.

Where?

What's going on?

It's like, what are you doing?

Well, they'll find out.

And the other piece that represented.

And I respect Representative Moore, a lot.

I've worked with him, when his kids went through Pleasant Valley High School and as administrator there.

But the piece that they're not taking into account is that every single one of those appropriations bills always had the state side and it had the federal grant side, or we're going to get these federal dollars that we're going to do continuing child care, that we're going to do, Head Start, that we're going to do a whole bunch of stuff.

Well, then I would be looking at the DOJ's report coming out saying, this is going to be cut.

This is going to be cut, this is going to be cut.

So if there's going to be a special session called, I'm waiting until, this year's fiscal federal fiscal dollars, which usually goes from October 1st to September 30th.

I'm going to be watching real closely the month of October and November, where all of a sudden now we actually see what federal dollars are are not, coming.

And then all of a sudden we're going to be looking at how are we going to backfill, because the budget was based upon those two pots of money, state funding and federal funding.

You move, remove the federal fund.

Now, what are you going to do?

Well, and especially also when you look at the possibility of FEMA being defunded, and if there is a natural disaster of any sort in the state of Iowa that, that the state may have to, at least after the hurricane season, we're told, would have to perhaps find the money.

Is that worrisome to you?

Well, we'll start with you, Representative Grosso, is that worrisome to you that we're seeing federal cutbacks?

We're not quite very concerning.

So I actually served on the appropriations subcommittee, the federal and other funds where they talking about, money would come in and block grants from the federal government.

You know, one of the big ones was like from the Department of Education, if they wind up getting rid of that and different things.

And right now at the state of affairs at the federal level, I mean, we don't know.

And we can't count on anything right now because there's so much uncertainty and unknown out there on what, programs are getting cut and different things like that.

So it's going to be very hard.

And, same as Senator Zimmer said, it's going to be very interesting to see how things shake out.

When we go back in this next session.

So when we go back and let's talk about something that went through the legislature, let's talk about something that went through the legislature very quickly and that a removal of, civil rights protections for transgender, citizens.

Were you surprised at the speed that that was done?

And and what do you think it says now about the state of Iowa?

That was probably one of the most, upsetting, pieces of legislation to come through in approximately 72 hours, especially when you understand the process that you need to go through on both chambers, starting with the subcommittee committee and then working through and have reconciliation between two bills.

This was all planned out right from the get go.

And the governor, for her to sign that so fast.

I mean, I swear they must have, the clerk must have ran it over to her, down to her office to have it signed.

Here was taking a sledgehammer to a civil rights that has been in Iowa's constitution.

And when you look at Iowa's history, most people don't understand that before Iowa's, even a state was a territory, it was on the leading edge of recognizing women's right to own property.

To recognize that Iowa had the first woman lawyer received, passed the bar exam and receive, a law license.

We were the first to have, black officers in the Civil War out at, Camp Dodge and went our history is just littered with, being way ahead of the rest of the country and recognizing civil rights for a whole array of groups here.

We're talking about dealing with the bathroom issue, which can be resolved with unisex bathrooms, and then resolving, transgender, male athletes playing in a female sports.

We could address those two issues.

We did not have to remove the, civil rights for work and for housing, from the Constitution, for my Constitution to do this.

It was just horrendous, and especially for me to sit in a seat in the Senate and know the history and know the people that sat in that seat before me, that did the right thing.

And for that to happen was just an absolute travesty.

There is a lot of discussion about Iowa losing, young people.

Oh, absolutely.

I mean, just asked every day at the Capitol that that discussion was going on or subcommittees or whatever.

The capital was packed.

I've never seen that many people.

I'm talking wall to wall.

They had to bring in.

I think there's over 250 law enforcement officers there just to make sure if there's anything going on.

They were there to walk legislators to their vehicles if they felt unsafe.

And my personal opinion, if you felt you needed to be walked your vehicle, then you took the wrong vote on that issue.

And I know they're hammering point that they kept going on about was, men and women's restrooms.

And again, that could have been addressed with unisex bathrooms and things like that.

And what I did talk to a few of the legislators about, you know, there so hard core about, men being in women's sports.

But I had asked them, where were you at when we were trying to get girls state wrestling sanctioned in the state of Iowa.

You're okay with them getting thrown around on mats, having to wrestle with guys, but then all of a sudden this is a huge thing and they're making it over restrooms and things like that.

With so much hate going on in the country as a whole, this just threw gasoline on the fire.

And it's not something that, you know, we should be raising our kids on and things like that.

I mean, you're going to love who's going to love, you know, that's everybody's right.

We're all, you know, citizens of this country and that's, you know, one of your rights.

And to make it such a polarizing an issue like that, I mean, and to see all the hateful things and things like that, it's just it just blew my mind away and, again, how fast it went through, because there is a process of going through both chambers.

I mean, I think you have almost 12 different opportunities that a bill could get killed and something to get rammed through like that.

But yet we couldn't talk about property taxes, school funding, other things like that.

All we got to take time.

We got to do all this.

But this stuff that, people really want, we'll get through.

No problem.

But then, hey, reelect us again because we need to have more time to go to these things so you can tell, what the priorities are and different things like that.

And a lot of it is it's just upsetting people, making them mad.

So then they go out and vote.

I mean, I'm going to say this, I compare it to, wrestling, right?

Whoever's the maddest, you go hard for your heel.

Then you go hard for the hero.

And I mean, that's what this stuff is.

I mean, we'll all my getting fights and stuff on the floor, but then we might be, out having a beer together afterwards and things like that.

We might not be very far off on our views, but on certain sticking points or pressure pressure points that, get people to do that again, being removed from committees, different things like that.

You might have your you might be primaried.

I mean, we saw that if you didn't go to governor's way, I mean, she was even get involved in school board races.

So I mean, that's very real going after people like that.

It's it's sad that it has to be like that.

We have to make everything so political and polarizing, that it really does a disservice again, to the folks that elected us to these offices.

You still want this to be possible?

Yes.

We have just one minute left.

I just want to get a representative go.

So what was your impression of this?

It was very, extreme on some aspects of this, a lot of learning, a lot of things to take in.

I think I learned a lot on the process and different stuff.

And you could definitely tell the issues that, the, the special interests wanted they went through and other things that your common constituent needed, you know, to address their concerns.

They were kind of put on the back burner.

I would say they were kind of your own.

Yeah.

Senator Zimmer, same just a few moments left.

Yeah.

I would say I was really surprised at how tight the Senate Republican caucus held together and that I was yearning during a floor debate to hear, other side, I really listen to people when they're talking on the floor because I was like, oh, I hadn't thought about that or I hadn't thought of it.

But when only the floor manager was allowed to speak and no other Republican senator was allowed to talk about, anything related to that bill, that was really disappointing.

And then after the fact, to talk to some of the, folks that I was trying to build relationships with to say, yeah, I wouldn't have voted for that, but I was told we vote as a block.

And on top of it, they would not accept or vote for one Democratic amendment at all, period.

Every single one of them, even if it was a very good thing for Iowans, didn't matter if it didn't come from them, it was not accepted.

Zimmer, from DeWitt and Iowa State Representative Daniel Gosa from Davenport.

Still to come, a civic spark that ignited one man's career in helping children thrive in the cities.

But first, a look at area events.

Thanks to visit Quad Cities, check out the things to do this week in the Quad Cities.

Start off with the Quad Cities River bandits game at Modern Woodmen Park on June 18th, then join the Juneteenth celebration at the figgy Art Museum on June 19th.

Next, head to play Crafters Barn Theater to watch Miss Nelson is missing on June 20th.

After that, the Rock Island County Historical Society will be hosting an open house on June 21st and finally attend the Great Race Watch Party at the Skinner Block Courtyard on June 22nd.

For more events like these, check out our Events Calendar app.

Visit Quad City Star.

Next year marks 250 years since America declared its independence in 1776.

Now, throughout the coming year and leading up to the 4th of July next year, we're asking people about their civic spark, why they chose their career and how it impacts our society.

Danielle Sheridan now leads the United Way of the Quad Cities Community Impact programs.

Before that, he was the long time leader of the Davenport Youth Theater.

His work has impacted thousands of young people's lives.

And we asked Danielle Sheridan, what is your civic spark?

Well, for me, storytelling has always been a really important part of my life and the opportunity to share a story and an idea and understand other people.

And my work at junior theater for 16 years allowed me to build the voices of kids so that they could participate in the Democratic process.

They can participate by thinking about others and speaking with clarity and confidence.

And then the work at the United Way of the Quad Cities is about convening and lifting voices to make sure that, you know, a democracy doesn't just happen at a federal, national level.

It happens on a hyper local level.

We have to engage every citizen and respect them and understand them and give them a seat at the table.

And I think that that those conversations, those stories are what make America, America and helps build the fabric of a great country.

Our thanks to Danielle Sheridan, senior vice president of community impact with the United Way of the Quad Cities.

On the air, on the radio, on the web, on your mobile device, and streaming on your computer.

Thanks for taking some time to join us.

As we talk about the issues on the city's.