Lee County legislators tout 2025 accomplishments

MONTROSE – Lee County’s three elected Iowa legislative officials met with a group of voters Wednesday in a recap of the 2025 legislative session.
The event, hosted and sponsored by the Lee County Economic Development Group, gave State Reps. Matt Rinker (R-Burlington), Blaine Watkins (R-Donnellson), and State Sen. Jeff Reichman (R-Montrose) a chance to highlight some of the accomplishments of the 2025 session which went a few extra days this year. And it could go a few more if legislators are recalled to try to override Governor Kim Reynolds' veto of a controversial eminent domain bill.
Rinker said he was one of 30 state representatives who did not sign a petition to convene a special session to override the veto of House File 639, which was written to protect Iowa landowners by restricting the use of eminent domain for carbon pipeline projects, requiring greater accountability and insurance for hazardous liquid pipelines, and ensuring projects serve the public interest. 
Rinker said he was one of eight in the House to vote against the bill when it came up for a vote.
“Two years ago, I supported legislation that limited eminent domain specifically for carbon capture pipelines,” he said.
But he said the restrictions in the current legislation are too far-reaching and will harm the state’s ability to attract economic development outside of carbon sequestration.
Rinker said that the state should never allow eminent domain to be used in any circumstance that is not in the “extreme public interest”.
“I wish the bill said exactly that. This bill does not do that,” Rinker said.
“I believe whole-heartedly in land owners' rights, but I also believe that the legislature has a responsibility to support the number one driving economic piece of this state, which is agriculture, and these are two things that are really starting to collide with one another in a not so fun way.”
Watkins is one of the 70 state representatives to sign off on the petition to override the veto, and voted in favor of the bill.
“This is a very basic bill in my opinion,” Watkins said.
He said landowners should be able to choose whether they want to do something with their land or not.
He said the House heard nothing from the Senate leadership until 12 senators stood up and said they weren’t going to have a vote on a budget until the conversation was had on the eminent domain legislation.
“The last thing I’m going to do is get up and say you have to do this. Nobody put me in this position to get up and say you need to do X, Y, and Z with your ground.”
He said he was fine going back up to have a conversation on a new piece of legislation or overriding the governor’s veto.

Reichman has been against the eminent domain legislation that went to the governor’s desk. He said the Senate’s version was a better bill. He said that bill did give landowners protection, but also provided additional leeway and economic development growth.
“Unfortunately, by that time, people were already entrenched and had set up their lines and their mind on what they were going to vote for and what they wouldn’t vote for.”
Rinker also touted his felons with firearms bill which became Senate File 105 that was signed into law on May 28. The law sets mandatory minimums for felons committing other crimes with firearms. The bill establishes minimum sentences for second, third, fourth, and subsequent violations of possession of a firearm or other offensive weapons. The maximum penalty is 10 years incarceration. The minimums go from two years to four years, to seven years, and then the maximum 10 years.
He said he ran three years ago on a platform of giving law enforcement more tools to be able to put felons who constantly carry firearms behind bars.
“This year I filed legislation that increases those penalties,” he said.
“We saw circumstances where people would go to jail and would be back on the street in 12 months. And guess what, they would go get another firearm and put law enforcement and the public at risk.”
He credited Reichman with help in getting the bill passed through the Senate.
Reichman said there was a fiscal note attached to the bill, but he asked what’s the cost of another victim.
“What’s the cost of another crime? These habitual offenders are going to get out and reoffend anyway. They’re going back,” Reichman said.
“I was glad to work with Rep. Rinker and get that through to the governor’s desk.”
Property taxes were also again a major topic of discussion.
Rinker said property tax reform is going to take some time, but still remains a priority in Des Moines.
“We are dedicated to this as a legislature and we have a lot of really smart people working on it. But I’d like to think we’ve learned a little bit from the past. We don’t just want to throw something out there and see what sticks and live with the consequences,” he said
Reichman agreed with Rinker saying property tax reform will continue to be a priority in the next session, but legislators need to be diligent in process and consider the state as a whole.
Watkins said the education system makes up half the property tax bill and schools are continuing to spend while other agencies are trying to lower their respective rates. He blasted Central Lee for building an $829,000 administration building, however, that building is being paid for out of the district’s allocation of local options sales tax funds and not property tax revenues.
“I’m sitting here thinking to myself. Keokuk came out and said, ‘We’re having students leaving the school and we have to raise the property tax’. And then Central Lee comes in and says we have an influx of students. So, we’re gonna lower it? No, we're gonna keep raising it. And then I hear they're building an $829,000 office. $829,000 - that's crazy. I understand trying to make the school better. I went to Grandview University and that was a great school, I learned a lot, but it doesn’t hold a candle to what they’ve got at Central (Lee). And a lot of the farmers are going how much longer am I going to do this,” he said.