Lawmakers hear concerns at public meeting

By PHIL MONSON
HUMBOLDT - As the Iowa Legislature in Des Moines enters its third and final month of the 2025 session, area lawmakers Dennis Guth and Mark Thompson shared their thoughts and answered questions at a town hall gather-ing in Humboldt last Saturday, March 8.

Guth, a rural Klemme farmer, serves in Iowa Senate District 28, which includes the following counties: Humboldt, Hancock, Wright, Franklin and Hamilton, along with the cities of Roland and Story City.

Thompson, of Clarion, grew up near Eagle Grove and serves in the Iowa House of Representatives District 56.

Guth serves on the following committees: agriculture, health and human services, state government, local government and is chairman of administration and regulations, which oversees 16 different budgets.

“Yesterday (Mar. 7) was our first legislative deadline, which we call funnel week. When everything that’s going to stay alive for the rest of the year has to pass through both sub-committee and full committee in one chamber,” Guth said.

“Two days ago we passed 18 bills in health and human services and a dozen in state government. On local government the next day, we had another dozen bills that we passed. There’s been a lot of reading and processing of all of the stuff that comes before us,” Guth said. “Even though I’ve been through a lot of bills, the majority of the ones in the sub-committees, I haven’t even heard about yet.”

“One that might be of interest to you that passed out of agriculture, Senate Study Bill 1158, modifies the K-12 curriculum to include instruction on the nutritional benefits of animal-based protein, and the role of real meat, dairy, vegetables and fruit in a balanced diet,” Guth said.

“I was disappointed to see Senate Study Bill 1166, which deals with eminent domain. Both for pipelines, transmission lines and location of windmills and any use of eminent domain, including roads. That did not make it out of committee. It included a minimum level of voluntary easement at 90 percent. Evidently the committee felt the 90 percent level was too high to get projects done in the state of Iowa,” Guth said.

“That is a bill I have worked on for three years. It is a disappointment. I don’t think we should be surrendering our property rights to anyone wishing to make a buck,” Guth said. “They have to show a benefit to the people of Iowa before we use eminent domain.”

Thompson
“Not to be a civics teacher, but we have a quite a process to get laws passed. The house and the senate and then the governor has to sign the bill,” Thompson said. “We get a lot of inquiries about bills that are active and sometimes I’ll get one in the senate and I don’t know that one, so I have to look it up. Bills in the house might not be close to my committee but those are easier to look up.”

“When you send inquiries, let us know where that bill resides. Senator Guth and I will both try to answer, regardless,” Thompson said.

“Like Senator Guth said, the authors of these property tax bills want input. It’s not a done deal. If you have a better idea, we need to hear about it. Our emails are running over but we will still take note of that,” Thompson said.

Humboldt resident Phil Mayo, who served in the United States Marines, shared his concerns about federal cuts pro-posed for the Veterans Administration and how it would im-pact veterans like himself. Mayo encouraged the lawmakers to stand up against the federal cuts.

“We’re hearing 83,000 jobs are going to be cut in the Veterans Health Administration. We’re hearing about a hiring freeze on 3,000 additional jobs. We’re hearing about ending the GSA leases, which most of the veterans’ clinics, like you see in Fort Dodge. If these cuts go through, the hammer will fall most on rural veterans,” Mayo said.

“My cancer care is through the VA. My mental health care is through the VA. My primary health care is through the VA. I ask you to work against these cuts,” Mayo said.

“I’ve been in VA health care for a long time and it literally saved my life. I sat in my garage thinking about how I was going to write a note to my wife, to my kid, to try to explain to them how the pain I was feeling was not going to keep me here for them. I called the VA and I talked to a VA psychiatrist for five minutes and she gave me the PTSD questionnaire and immediately referred me. In a day and a half, I had an appointment, a diagnosis and a plan of care,” Mayo said. “It literally saved my life.”

“If those kinds of services go, we already know 22 veterans each day on average commit suicide. That number will rise. PTSD and the associated conditions are already under-reported,” Mayo said. “Without the VA, I could never get the level of care that I have access to now.”

“I ask that you act in whatever capacity you have to ensure veterans in these rural communities do not lose access to these services,” Mayo said.

“I sit on the veterans committee. I will get with the head of the Iowa Department of Veterans Affairs who is in the capital almost weekly, and ask him what he’s going to do to mitigate if those cuts actually happen,” Thompson said.

“Iowa has some ability to make up for that, but not completely. There’s probably something we can do at the state level,” Thompson said.

“When you think about the generations of veterans. My father fought in World War II. My brothers were Vietnam era. When you look at what happened with Agent Orange in Vietnam, those people are still suffering horribly. We now have the burn pits from Afghanistan and Iraq that bivouacked people downwind. My wife and I spent five years in Camp Lejeune when I was in the service and now we’ve found out about the water issue there, so it hits home. I understand what you are saying and we’ll press on with it,” Thompson said.

Read this week's issue of the Humboldt Independent for the full story!