Robin Opsahl covers the state legislature and politics for Iowa Capital Dispatch, where this article first appeared.

Many of the laws advanced during the 2026 legislative session took effect July 1, including measures restricting access to abortion-inducing medication, increasing the speed limit on two-lane highways and limiting future governors’ powers during public health and disaster emergencies.

July 1, the beginning of the state’s fiscal year, is the default date for new laws to be enacted, unless otherwise specified.

Several measures passed this session went into effect immediately, including laws banning public entities from hosting warrant resolution clinics and shifting some K-12 funding from public to charter schools to follow students. Other new laws have a different start date specified. For example, the 5-cent tax on vapes and alternative nicotine products will go into effect January 1, 2027.

Here’s a look at some of Iowa’s new laws that took effect July 1:

Randy Evans is executive director of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that promotes openness and transparency in Iowa’s state and local governments. He can be reached at DMRevans2810@gmail.com. This essay first appeared on his Substack newsletter, Stray Thoughts. 

City leaders in Des Moines are making it difficult to understand why they selected the current police chief, considering how they have imposed a code of silence about their recent $975,000 payout to one of the candidates who did not get the job.

The payout and, even worse, the sealed lips are just another example of how common sense and good government suffer whenever public officials refuse to detail how and why they spend taxpayer money.

This textbook example of misplaced priorities began in 2024 when Des Moines Police Chief Dana Wingert announced his retirement after nearly a decade leading the department.

Randy Evans is executive director of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that promotes openness and transparency in Iowa’s state and local governments. He can be reached at DMRevans2810@gmail.com. This essay first appeared on his Substack newsletter, Stray Thoughts. 

It was Christmas Eve. The gifts were laid beneath the Christmas tree at the home of Merlin and Nelda Powers in Urbandale.

But the family’s holiday celebration ended abruptly that day in 1968 when the Powers’ 10-year-old daughter Pamela disappeared from the YMCA in downtown Des Moines while the family attended her brother’s wrestling meet.

Two days passed before the family received the horrible answer to their “where is Pamela” question. Police located the girl’s body in a roadside ditch just off Interstate Highway 80 near Mitchellville.

Lauren Whitehead serves on the Solon City Council.

Earlier this month I toured the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office and Johnson County Jail. In 2026, voters will likely decide on a bond to replace this failing facility, which serves all of Johnson County—including my city of Solon (population 3,000), about ten miles north of Iowa City. I’ve served for eight years as a city councilor and two as mayor pro tem.

What I saw during that visit was disturbing—but what concerns me even more is the growing pattern of political resistance to public safety infrastructure as a whole on the Board of Supervisors. This essay is both a fuller account of what I saw at the jail and a broader commentary on the challenges facing law enforcement, infrastructure, and rural governance in Johnson County today.

Gwen Hope is a corn-blooded central Iowan prone to independent research and petting cats.

AI seems inescapable in 2025. Since 2023, easily-accessible LLMs like ChatGPT have soared as the common public concept of AI. The less public face are the AI tools that governments increasingly use to control and manage the populace. One of the most increasingly ubiquitous uses of these are AI mass surveillance systems.

Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) systems are preeminent examples of these tools. These systems are already along roadways across Iowa. In the United States, Flock Safety, a tech start-up founded in 2017 currently valued in the billions, develops, licenses, and leases the most common ALPR system software and hardware. Flock is an increasingly visible example, but they are one in a smattering of tech companies across the country cashing in by cashiering citizen privacy.

Flock’s system automatically records and processes still images and/or video through AI to create a unique “Vehicle Fingerprint™”. This “fingerprint” allows users to track a vehicle by license plate plus “type, make, color, state registration, missing/covered plates, bumper stickers, decals, roof racks, and bike racks” (source, pg. 5, 10). The company website boasts of more wide-ranging capabilities in addition.

Governments using ALPR systems are performing ongoing indiscriminate mass surveillance against anything vehicle-shaped (including bikes) on roadways, parking lots, and everywhere in-between. Private businesses and neighborhood associations can join these networks in support of this mass surveillance as well. This may concern you, this may not. However, these companies are developing far more intrusive systems that incorporate data panopticons and drones as part of a largely unchecked, unregulated tech boom. Let’s put the scale of surveillance into focus, shall we?

Rekha Basu is a longtime syndicated columnist, editorial writer, reporter, and author of the book, “Finding Your Voice.” She was a staff opinion writer for 30 years at The Des Moines Register, where her work still appears periodically. This post first appeared on her Substack column, Rekha Shouts and Whispers.

As of July 1, a new law signed by Iowa’s first female governor will make it illegal for Des Moines to intentionally recruit, hire, or retain female police officers.

It’s a sad day when Governor Kim Reynolds, a member of an underrepresented group who has benefited from efforts to broaden the mix in power, shuts the door behind her. The very institution of policing will suffer for it and so, besides the women excluded, will those who depend on it to protect us, fairly and equally.

This happens just a year after the Des Moines City Council voted unanimously to pay nearly $2.4 million to four female Des Moines Police Department employees who had suffered discrimination at work. Settled days before it was to go to trial, their lawsuit claimed men in the department were promoted over better qualified women, female employees were subjected to sexual harassment and retaliation for complaining, and harassment was known, tolerated—and in some instances encouraged—by higher ups.

Randy Evans is executive director of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that promotes openness and transparency in Iowa’s state and local governments. He can be reached at DMRevans2810@gmail.com. 

Governor Terry Branstad was frustrated eight years ago with what he believed was the inability of officials to tell the public why a government employee was fired or resigned under pressure.

In 2017, the first year of the Republican trifecta, Branstad shepherded through the legislature a bill overhauling public sector collective bargaining, which also included important new language in the public records law. It brought needed transparency and accountability to state and local government. No longer would “no comment” be an acceptable response when a journalist or interested citizen asked why the school superintendent, or a local police officer, or some other government employee was pushed out.

But a case now pending before the Iowa Public Information Board has the potential to reinforce Branstad’s and the legislature’s wisdom — or to weaken this important tool.

Randy Evans is executive director of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council and can be reached at DMRevans2810@gmail.com. 

I have fielded a bunch of emails, text messages and phone calls in the days since the school shooting in Winder, Georgia.

Each one is from Perry, Iowa. Each one had the same question for me and the Iowa Freedom of Information Council. Each one came from a parent, teacher or other concerned person asking, why isn’t the public allowed to read the official findings by state agents about the shooting at Perry High School and Middle School last January 4?

Jason Benell lives in Des Moines with his wife and two children. He is a combat veteran, former city council candidate, and president of Iowa Atheists and Freethinkers.

Many are concerned about the direction the Des Moines City Council is taking, particularly concerning the homeless population—some of our least fortunate neighbors and fellow citizens. This approach lays bare the apparent goal of the sitting councilors who support this policy: they do not believe unhoused folks deserve the same level of respect and dignity as other citizens. They are willing to cast them outside of the Des Moines city limits, if not completely outside of our society.

The proposed ordinance, to be considered at a July 22 meeting, flows from a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that in effect allows local governments to criminalize homelessness. In the case known as Grants Pass v Johnson, six conservative justices held that enforcing criminal laws against sleeping in public does not violate the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on “cruel and unusual punishment.”

Strange that a city council consisting entirely of registered Democrats is eager to oust their most vulnerable constituents as soon as a Republican decision is handed down.

Randy Evans is executive director of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council and can be reached at DMRevans2810@gmail.com. 

The increasing secrecy by Iowa law enforcement and their lawyers about identifying people by name raises important questions underlying public confidence in the critical work of first-responders.

The question deals with whether police can or should refuse to identify persons involved in incidents and crimes. Despite Iowa’s history of openness about crimes and accidents, with increasing frequency public officials refuse to provide names of people who end up in these events, whether as victims or perpetrators.

A few examples illustrate this trend:

Alexandra Dermody is a Davenport based Gen Z activist, nonprofit director, and small business owner.

A promising figure has emerged in Davenport’s political tapestry: Jasmine Schneider. A stalwart community organizer and advocate for change, Schneider has thrown her hat into the ring for this year’s mayoral election. With a comprehensive, ambitious agenda, she brings a breath of fresh air and dedication to her vision of a more inclusive, thriving Davenport.

Schneider’s steadfast resolve is woven throughout her political platform, from her commitment to restorative justice to her focus on Davenport’s economic development. Her key priorities, distilled from her understanding of the city’s most pressing challenges, are both inclusive and innovative.

Randy Evans can be reached at DMRevans2810@gmail.com. 

Every few months, someone is killed or injured by police somewhere in the United States under circumstances that lead to inevitable questions about what exactly occurred.

Typically, answers come when video from the law officers’ squad car cameras or their uniform cameras is made public. Each time this occurs, there are two inescapable conclusions:

First, police in most states realize it is their obligation to release this video. They know that public faith and respect for law officers will suffer if citizens and journalists are prevented from viewing the footage, especially when an incident results in death or injury, most notably when the person was not armed.

And second, each time such video is released somewhere in the United States, it becomes obvious Iowa is out of step with most other states — because in Iowa, law enforcement agencies and government attorneys insist the video must forever remain off-limits because it is part of a confidential investigative file.

RJ Miller is an advocate, activist, and executive director of Greater Opportunities Inc, a Des Moines-based nonprofit. He was an independent candidate for the Iowa House in 2022.

I’m running for the at-large Des Moines City Council seat now held by Carl Voss, because I believe the council needs more diversity and more council members who come from a grassroots background, for and from the people they represent.

I’m running because our city needs real leadership. Des Moines needs someone who will unify and truly fight for the people’s best interests. Residents deserve someone who will fight against gentrification, redlining, and eminent domain. More important, the city deserves an anti-sellout, anti-establishment councilman.

Governor Kim Reynolds, the state legislature, and Iowa Supreme Court rulings inspired the majority of Bleeding Heartland’s most-read posts from this year.

This list draws from Google Analytics data about total views for 570 posts published from January 1 through December 29. I wrote 212 of those articles and commentaries; other authors wrote 358. I left out the site’s front page and the “about” page, where many people landed following online searches.

In general, Bleeding Heartland’s traffic was higher this year than in 2021, though not quite as high as during the pandemic-fueled surge of 2020. So about three dozen posts that would have ranked among last year’s most-viewed didn’t make the cut for this post. Some honorable mentions from that group:

Randy Evans can be reached at DMRevans2810@gmail.com.

Many of us have trouble mustering empathy for people who have complaints about the way police treated them.

This lack of empathy probably occurs because many ordinary folks do not think they will be in situations like people accused of crimes.

If that description applies to you, allow me to introduce you to Anthony Watson, 43, of Coralville, and Jennifer Pritchard, also 43, of Fort Dodge.

Jaylen Cavil and Alejandro Murguia-Ortiz co-authored this commentary. Cavil is a Democratic candidate in Iowa House district 36. Murguia-Ortiz is an independent candidate in Iowa Senate district 17.

Dog whistles have been a feature of U.S. politics for decades. President Ronald Reagan’s “welfare queens,” President Bill Clinton’s “law and order” campaign, and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich calling Barack Obama a “food stamps president” are all examples of racist talking points. Politicians use coded language when trying to garner support by triggering racial anxiety. 

Today’s version of the “war on crime”—a reaction to nationwide calls to defund the police and fund communities instead—is no different from the racist wars on drugs and poverty that have led to the incarceration and deaths of millions.

With the introduction of the Invest to Protect Act, U.S. Representative Cindy Axne (D, IA-03) and U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley have joined forces to re-employ this dog whistle strategy.

RJ Miller: I chose to run to take the voices of my community and make their voices louder.

I am a community activist who’s been organizing in Des Moines since 2019 around the issues of racial discrimination, civil and human rights, and urban violence.  Originally a victim of gun violence in Minneapolis, I overcome the obstacles of gang activity and incarceration in order to inspire and support my community in a collective effort to defeat the issues that plague the inner city. 

My mission is to uplift, empower, and transform the Des Moines community through restorative justice, empowering the youth, and investing in solutions that will combat the forces of colonization and oppression at large.

Tanya Keith is an activist and small business owner in Des Moines.

We find ourselves at a pivotal point in history, and Indira Sheumaker is the right leader for this moment in every capacity.

As Des Moines looks to the future, we are poised to be a beacon for the possible, but we need the right leaders to bring us to the next level. In my work revitalizing homes in the urban core of Des Moines, I have become concerned with the direction of the current City Council’s “Blitz on Blight” campaign. What I thought would be funding and policy to support neighborhood revitalization has become a wrong-headed race to destroy our architectural history while traumatizing the people in marginalized neighborhoods.

When done properly, blighted houses can become a source for affordable house and good paying jobs. Ms. Sheumaker is the candidate who understands that potential.

Brandi Webber is a candidate for Des Moines City Council in Ward 3.

So about the Des Moines City Council meetings… You may have seen coverage (again) about distractions, protests and arrests. “Why is this happening?” you may be asking yourself. I certainly can’t answer that alone, but I can add some important context as someone who was inside the chamber during the July 19 meeting.

The council has continually attempted to limit public comment and abuses the consent agenda to push through controversial items, items on police funding, criminalizing and punishing the houseless, denying accessibility concerns and much more. This has been happening over the course of the last year and a half, while the public has been speaking up and begging to be heard. During the virtual meetings the council was able to silence the public. Now that meetings are back to in person, there is no mute button to silence and control the public.

Brandi Webber is a local artist, volunteer, mother, and candidate for Des Moines City Council in Ward 3. -promoted by Laura Belin 

A community’s priorities can be made visible by looking at the breakdown of the city budget. Looking at Des Moines’ city budget, you see that our largest single priority, at roughly 39 percent of spending, is policing.

With such a large portion of our budget devoted to policing, examining the effectiveness of police and their role in our community should be non-controversial. When we talk about “defunding the police,” many will conjure an image of a city in disarray as the pillars of society crumble to the ground. The reality is, our society relies too heavily on a policing system.

Bruce Lear: A bipartisan policing reform law enacted last year was supposed to be a start. As it turned out, that bill was also the the end. -promoted by Laura Belin

When a police officer pulls me over for a traffic stop, I don’t think death sentence. I think where is my registration and insurance card, and what did I do now?

That’s white privilege, and that’s not how any of this should work.

I know it’s possible to honor and respect the police, and still be horrified when unarmed person of color is murdered by a police officer, often on video, and then the officer is exonerated by internal investigation or by the courts.

I also know there is a middle ground between the “Defund the police” crowd and those who know we need strong, fair, well trained, law enforcement not required to play the role of social worker or psychologist. 

Something has to change in this country. Iowa lawmakers took a first step in 2020, but didn’t follow through this year.

Iowa’s seven largest cities are spending more on policing per capita and a greater portion of their municipal budgets on law enforcement compared to the 1990s, according to a new report by the Iowa Policy Project. Over the same time period, spending on social services per capita and as a share of the municipal budget has declined in six of those cities.

Colin Gordon and Peter Fisher authored “Policing, public safety and community priorities,” published on July 22 (also available in pdf format). They examined budgets for the 24 Iowa cities with populations of at least 20,000, because “it is in our larger urban settings in Iowa that the problems with policing — including a well-documented pattern of disproportionate minority contact — are most acute.”

Seven of the cities studied are “metropolitan”: Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Davenport, Sioux City, Waterloo, Council Bluffs, and Dubuque. Seven are suburbs in large metro areas: West Des Moines, Ankeny, Urbandale, Bettendorf, Marion, Coralville, and Johnston. Three are college towns: Iowa City, Ames, and Cedar Falls. Seven are micropolitan cities: Mason City, Marshalltown, Clinton, Muscatine, Burlington, Fort Dodge, and Ottumwa.

Independence Day was established to celebrate the July 4, 1776 vote by the Second Continental Congress to adopt Declaration of Independence. But many other noteworthy historical events also happened on this day. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams both died on July 4, 1826. New York state abolished slavery on this day in 1827.

July 4 has also been a significant date in Iowa history. Two of the events described below happened within the lifetimes of many Bleeding Heartland readers.

Joe Henry is a community activist who served on the Des Moines Civil Service Commission from 2013 to 2020. -promoted by Laura Belin

The City of Des Moines’ hiring practices do not reflect the diversity of our community.

Nearly 90 percent of the city’s police department employees (472 total) are white. Only 57 officers are Black or Brown. In addition, the majority of police officers do not live in the city and have never lived here!

Most bills lawmakers introduced this year to address Iowa’s notorious racial disparities didn’t get far before the Iowa House and Senate suspended their work in mid-March, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. By the time the legislature got back to work on June 3, large protests were underway daily in Iowa and across the country, in response to the horrific killing of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police.

Democratic lawmakers unveiled a “More Perfect Union plan” designed to prevent “violent conflicts between law enforcement and Iowa residents” on June 4. A bill incorporating their proposals sailed through both chambers unanimously a week later, with a group of Black Lives Matter protesters watching from the public gallery.

Herb Strentz comments on reactions to George Floyd’s killing, including “a white person’s headline” in the Sunday Des Moines Register. -promoted by Laura Belin

Ten reactions to the killing of George Floyd and protests around the nation, including, of course, in Des Moines:

1. Recall the names of four kids: Addie Mae Collins (14), Cynthia Wesley (14), Carole Robertson (14) and Carol Denise McNair (11). We’ll get back to them later.