The Duane Arnold Energy Center in Palo, which ceased operations in 2020 and is currently projected to be restarted by 2029 by NextEra Energy. (Photo via NextEra Energy)
Lawmakers in the House and Senate reached agreements on several policies Thursday, including tax exemptions to restart nuclear energy facilities, radon mitigation and felony penalties for torturing companion animals, sending these measures to the governor.
Lawmakers in both chambers approved House File 2757, a bill to grant sales and use tax exemptions for restarting a nuclear energy facility in Iowa, with a requirement to direct some money to nuclear energy related training at Iowa higher education institutions. The measure would provide sales and use tax exemptions for projects to restart a decommissioned nuclear facility in the state, as well as any efforts to start new nuclear energy facilities in Iowa.
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There were some debates over what appropriate restrictions to include on these tax exemptions. When the measure initially passed in the House, it included restrictions like subjecting the tax exemptions to a a 25-year sunset and a clawback provision stating that if a facility receiving a tax exemption does not commence or restart operations within 12.5 years, the facility owner would have to repay the state for the entire amount of the sales and use tax exemption received.
The Senate amended the bill to include a proposal requiring a nuclear energy facility to contribute funding to a Nuclear Energy Workforce Fund established within the state Board of Regents in order to qualify for the tax exemption. The amount established under the bill would be $2,200 “for each megawatt of nameplace capacity the nuclear electric generation facility is approved to produce by the Iowa Utilities Commission” annually for a period of up to four years.
Sen. Dan Dawson, R-Council Bluffs, who advanced the idea, said Tuesday during previous Senate debate on the bill that discussions on the bill started as a means to incentivize building up the nuclear energy generation industry in the state. But, he added, “at some point in time when you try to incentivize an industry, the incentive turns into a subsidy. And that’s what we’re trying to prevent here in this bill.”
“The investment into this field is not importing a workforce temporarily, but home growing a workforce here in our state for this highly skilled industry, and as I’ve said before, not to be too lofty — but hope that Iowa, our regents can build a program or at least participate in what might take place nationally and build out upper education here,” Dawson said.
The Nuclear Energy Workforce Fund would go toward creating and maintaining programs and equipment for nuclear energy workforce programs at the state’s public higher education institutions. During subcommittee meetings on the bill, officials with the Iowa Board of Regents said this funding could be used to bring back the Iowa State University nuclear engineering program that ended in 1996, or to make minor certificates or other programs that could support training for jobs at nuclear energy facilities.
The measure would apply to a current effort by NextEra Energy to restart the Duane Arnold Energy Center in Palo, which ceased operations in 2020. NextEra Energy officials said they aim to make the facility operational by 2029.
The House approved of the Senate proposal, amending it Thursday to include language requiring the Board of Regents to consider recommendations made by the Iowa Nuclear Energy Task Force established by Gov. Kim Reynolds in January when determining how to use funding to support nuclear energy workforce programs.
Rep. Dave Jacoby, D-Coralville, said he supported the amended measure, saying, “I think the amendment is a great way to move Iowa forward with some new, high-demand occupations — in fact, I think that raises the intellectual level at all three schools,” and said he believed it would bring “hundreds of good union jobs” to the state.
Rep. David Young, R-Van Meter, said he believed the bill will strengthen Iowa’s “all of the above, diverse” approach to energy generation through the tax exemption, as well as supporting Iowa’s workforce in the future through the creation of the new fund.
“It will provide Iowa homes and businesses and farms and towns in Iowa with affordable and reliable electricity and power,” Young said. “This is not just a theory, this is really going to happen. It will provide educational and expertise avenues, and great paying jobs in the nuclear industry here in Iowa. This legislation will help propel and strengthen Iowa’s economy and future.”
Less than two hours after the amended bill passed the House, it was approved by the Senate, sending it to Gov. Kim Reynolds’ desk for final approval.
Lawmakers made final tweaks a number of bills other Thursday, finding resolutions to send measures to the governor in the expected final days before adjournment. Other legislations sent to the governor Thursday include:
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Penalties for animal torture: The House approved a Senate amendment to House File 2348 Thursday, legislation establishing a Class D felony charge for committing torture of a companion animal. The bill defines animal torture as a crime where a person “intentionally, willfully, and maliciously mutilates, burns, poisons, drowns, starves or causes intensive or prolonged pain or death to a companion animal, or provides anything of value to another person to do the same.”
The penalty would be raised to a Class C felony in cases where an individual has been previously convicted for animal abuse, animal neglect, animal torture, injury to or interference with a police service dog, bestiality or “an act involving a prohibited animal contest” — referencing animal fighting events.
House lawmakers from both parties celebrated the bill making it back to their chamber with the amendment, as some advocates and lawmakers were concerned the Senate would not pass the measure. Rep. Samantha Fett, R-Carlisle, said she believed the bill “strengthens Iowa’s commitment to protecting animals and ensuring that the most heinous acts are punished, rightfully so.”
Radon mitigation: The House also approved the Senate’s amendment to House File 2297. The bill would require newly constructed single- or two-family residences in Iowa to have passive radon mitigation installed, which legislators in both chambers said will help address a major cause of lung cancer in Iowa.
“This is an issue that we can actually lead on and be preventative in our fight with cancer here in Iowa,” Rep. Hans Wilz, R-Ottumwa, said during floor debate Thursday. “We know that radar is the number two leading cause of (lung) cancer in Iowa — number one leading killer, if you will, of lung cancer if you don’t smoke. It’s in 99 counties, it’s everywhere. … This amendment makes it even better, I will admit, by making sure that this code that we put into place supersedes anything else out there, whether it be a city or a county.”
Rep. Austin Baeth, D-Des Moines, also praised the measure. He said in the three years since Iowa has been found to have the fastest-rising new cancer instance rates in the country, the bill was “one of the first specific anti-cancer steps we are taking from a policy standpoint, and let’s make this one of many steps to come.”
Age verification: House File 864 would require that websites and online platforms containing a substantial portion of pornographic content to implement “reasonable” age verification steps for users, to ensure minors are not accessing this material.
Rep. Skyler Wheeler, R-Hull, said the Senate amendment to the bill was a “simple change to try to ensure this would be upheld in court” by specifying that “substantial” means 33% or more of the content on the website or platform is pornographic in order to require age verification.
Rep. Megan Srinivas, D-Des Moines, said the changes to the bill also help address concerns about data privacy issues about social media platforms or other online entities collecting age verification information.
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