Governor Kim Reynolds says she and her staff are assessing legislation that would establish new regulations for carbon pipelines.
“There’s a whole lot of passionate advocates on both sides of this issue,” Reynolds said this morning during taping of “Iowa Press” on Iowa PBS, “so I have been meeting with stakeholders on both sides. We started that this week. We’ll continue that next week.”
The governor has until June 14 to make decisions on all the bills that cleared the legislature this year. Reynolds indicated for “at least another week” she plans to continue what she describes as listening sessions with advocates of the bill and those who are asking her to veto it. “I’ll make an informed decision based on the conversations we’ve had,” Reynolds says, “but we’re still in the midst of doing that.”
The governor said almost every meeting has led to additional research by her legal counsel and other staff to learn more about the details of the bill and its impact. “We’ve reached out to some individuals to have them come in, so I’m getting a good view of both sides of the issue,” Reynolds said, “and just talking to me about what the impact of the bill means to them.”
After four years of action on pipeline-related bills in the House, this is the first year the Senate passed one to the governor’s desk.
Law enforcement groups and first responders are urging the governor to veto another bill that would have local 911 systems pay a new fee to the Iowa Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. Reynolds said one issue to consider is that 911 systems have $66 million in reserves. “So we have to take all of that into account and make sure we understand what their concerns are, what Homeland is looking at, and find a compromise that works for everyone,” Reynolds said, “but most importantly that keeps that system sustainable and makes sure that we are taking into account the safety of Iowans.”
Local boards oversee the 110 public safety answering points in Iowa that answer 911 calls and those local boards say they need that reserve money to cover the cost of replace expensive equipment and software needed to run the 911 systems. The bill requiring the systems pay a fee to the state does not say how much the fee is to be or whether it would be a one-time fee or more frequently collected by the state. The legislation does say once 911 systems are notified by state officials of the amount, it must be paid within 30 days.