Meeting Public Comments

Names and comments are public records. Remaining information is considered a confidential record.

Comments Submitted:

02-23-2026

Doug Reed [Pottawattamie County Emergency Management]

This bill is wrought with unintended consequences. A single jurisdiction with veto authority over all jurisdictions when it comes to their health, safety, welfare, peace, and security will put all Iowans, infrastructure, property, & economic security at risk. In many programs that also fund 911, support for that system, and enduser equipement that would be the first funding to be dropped. In my case that would immediately add an additional 3.6 million to the county general fund. Additionally, handing over decisions from a citycounty, or citycounty across multiple counties, service & resource sharing commission to one entity spits in the face of priority recommendations laid out in the Iowa DOGE Task Force report. This bill is fundamentaly flawed and dangerous to the physical and economic security of the state.

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02-23-2026

Jill Shudak [City of Council Bluffs- Mayor]

Please vote against this bill.Emergency management in Iowa is a joint (shared) city/county public safety agency. Use of the General Supplemental Levy is the only nonduplicative equitable tax among municipal, rural, residential, and commercial taxpayers. The funding that supports emergency management knows no political boundaries it is for all.HSB 689 is inconsistent with DOGE Task Force recommendations and could lead to additional taxation for programs,and will certainly put Iowans, Municipal Governments, and Infrastructure at risk. It eliminates current and effective intergovernmental service sharing and collaboration contrary to DOGE recommendations.Emergency management funding needs to be stable and predictable. If levy approval becomes subject to county board approval, budgets can be delayed or leveraged during unrelated political disputes. Public safety capability should not hinge on political dynamics.Please vote against this bill.

02-23-2026

Brant Miller [City of Oakland, Mayor]

I urge the members of the committee to vote no on this bill. This bill would strip the authority of multiple jurisdiction and would impact their individual decision making ability. County Supervisors should not be making decisions that directly affect our communities. This bill goes against the recommendations of the DOGE task force and will be in no way beneficial to the individual citys that it will have the greatest impact on.

02-23-2026

Lee Geertz [City of West Liberty ]

Dear Representatives,I am writing on behalf of the City of West Liberty to strongly oppose **HSB 689**. This bill would strip our city of its longstanding equal vote on the county Emergency Management Commission by giving the County Board of Supervisors unilateral veto authority over the budget. Under the proposed change, **West Liberty residents would still pay their full share of the Emergency Management Agency budget, but our Mayors vote would effectively be rendered meaningless.

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02-23-2026

Cynthia Mansager [City of Melbourne IA]

Please oppose HSB 689. IA Emergency Management Commissions are multijurisdictional governing bodies as established under IA state law, and serve as the fiscal authority for local Emergency Management (EM). EM protects people and property across the county, represented by the Board of Supervisors (BOS),the Sheriff, and the mayors of each city within the county. Under proposed HSB 689, authority for a unilateral county BOS veto over an IA EM Commission budget effectively permits one (1) BOS member of the EM Commission to completely override the various cities and Sheriff, after a proper and public vote. HSB 689 is a proposal that will undermine public trust and confidence, concentrates authority and capitalizes power in one county office to the detriment of equal, voting partners, and drastically eliminates a collaborative, successful system in place currently. Please oppose HSB 689.

02-24-2026

Michael Carson [Mayor, City of Elliott]

I find the potential passage of this legislation both ridiculous and harmful. We have a system in place that works quite well, and has for many years. We are duly elected officials empowered to make decision on behalf of our constituents, yet you want to take that away from us by having a Board of Supervisors pass judgement on a budget created properly under the law.Our commission has a Supervisor as a member, so the Board of Supervisors already has a say in the creation of the budget.I see no reason why they should get another vote on the matter.I strongly urge you to vote no on this legislation, and allow us to continue to represent or constituents as we were elected to do.Regards,Michael Carson

02-24-2026

Mark Tomlinson [Worth County Emergency Management]

I urge the members of the committee to vote no on this bill. The reasons why are well stated in all of the comments by others that have also left comments. I don't need to repeat those same issues. It is important to note that nobody has left a comment of support for this bill as of the time I posted my comments. The EMA budget coming from the supplemental levy of a county should not ever cause an issue for a county and the budget restrictions imposed by recent legislation. I don't see where this bill solves any issues but actually could cause some.

02-24-2026

Alexander Londo [Shelby County Emergency Management]

While framed as an accountability measure, the practical effect is to insert an extra layer of political approval into emergency preparedness funding. Local emergency management commissions exist precisely to keep these lifesaving functions professional, nonpartisan, and focused on public safetynot subject to the same budget battles and political horsetrading that happen at the county supervisor level. Requiring supervisors to sign off on special levies for emergency management creates unnecessary delay and risk: a single county board could block or water down critical funding for disaster planning, training, equipment, or response capabilities due to unrelated spending priorities or electionyear politics. This bill weakens that stability and undermines the very independence that makes these commissions effective. I respectfully urge the House Ways and Means Committee and all legislators to reject HSB689 in its entirety.