Earlier this year, I wrote that I didn’t have high hopes for this Iowa legislative session. In that regard, they didn’t disappoint when they gaveled out on May 3rd!

After a lot of bluster last session with no action, this year lawmakers finally passed some form of property tax reform. But don’t try and figure out how it’ll work in the long run. Based on how some lawmakers are pitching it, I don’t think they’re too sure how it’ll work. And the people who have to make it work for their counties (the Supervisors) feel under attack.

Lawmakers gave families on SNAP more purchasing power for fresh fruits and vegetables through Double Up Food Bucks. That’s the good news. The bad is they paired this with more restrictions on what can be purchased with SNAP. Walk down the aisle of your grocery store and you’ll get a sense of how confusing it is to determine what is and is not eligible.

That’s about it for the “good” news. Another session adjourned without action to curb eminent domain abuse threatened by Bruce Rastetter’s pipeline project. It seems too many lawmakers lack the courage to stand up to bullies wanting to tear up our land, use and pollute our water, and leave us holding the bag. Heck, they couldn’t even pass House File 2447 to require data centers to report on their water and energy use.

Iowa’s farmers almost got some good news out of the legislative session. On a bipartisan vote in the House, lawmakers passed a long overdue “right to repair” bill. This would have likely ended the manufacturer-imposed repair monopolies to allow us farmers to fix our own machinery. So what did the Senate do? Nothing.

On education, our legislature once again gets a failing grade. While our public schools cut staff, extracurricular programs, and even schools themselves, the legislature handed them another cut in the form of 2% in State Supplemental Aid. With diesel prices over $5.50 a gallon, let’s see how far that goes to run buses for miles across our rural school districts.

But they didn’t stop there. Our state’s once prized AEAs lost another $32.5 million in funding. Then there’s House File 2754 that directs even more public money to charter schools and removes nearly all oversight of independent private instruction, aka homeschooling.

There’ll be plenty of folks seeking reelection saying they took great strides to improve Iowa’s water quality. I know a snake oil salesman when I see one, and this fits the description to a T. Senate File 2487 is about as “easy” to understand as the convoluted property tax reform bill. What doesn’t take long to figure out is that, at best, it allocates millions to voluntarily address symptoms of our bad water quality while leaving the problem in place. And it sends the University of Iowa begging to the DNR for funding to operate our water quality monitoring system.

This was another legislative session of missed opportunities, misplaced priorities, and gifts to corporations and special interests that bleed our communities dry. I’ve had enough. And I’m not going to buy into the fluff too many legislators will try to sell us when they come to ask for our vote this November.

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Barb Kalbach is a fourth generation family farmer, retired registered nurse, and board member of CCI Action. She can be reached at barbnealkalbach@gmail.com.