Meeting Public Comments

Subcommittee meeting and times are as follows:

A bill for an act relating to the department of administrative services’ historical resource research center in Iowa City, and including effective date provisions.(Formerly SSB 3033.)

Subcommittee members: Lundgren-CH, Bloomingdale, Jacoby

Date: Thursday, April 30, 2026

Time: 3:00 PM - 3:30 PM

Location: House Lounge

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

Comments Submitted:

04-30-2026

Leslie Schwalm

The Iowa City location is an essential resource for eastern Iowans, including the general publuc as well as students and scholars at the University. I have relied on its materials and knowledgeable staff for several books and articles about. Iowa history, and hundreds of my students have conducted research there. To close it is to deprive a large portion of the state of its important and irreplsceable sources materials.

04-30-2026

Lisa Heineman

Please kill SF2293. It's incredibly important to the writing of Iowa history to have SSHI in Iowa City, where there are so many researchers and students to work with the materials.If we want to encourage the preservation and writing of Iowa history, then closing SSHI in Iowa City is shooting ourselves in the foot.

04-30-2026

Stephen Stimmel [Member: American Institute of Architects, Iowa Chapter; Iowa Genealogical Society]

I write to support maintaining the Iowa City Research Center in operation. Handson personal access to research materials and facetoface contact with vested paid or volunteer staff is critical for the understanding of Iowa's history when that curriculum has nearly disappeared from many of our K12 schools. The physical proximity to the University invites easy and convenient student and educator access. It is very important to serve the large and growing Corridor population and all of eastern Iowa. The Iowa City Research Center and its collection provided me the spark to personally connect to my ancestors arriving to Johnson County before the Civil War.

04-30-2026

Dave Baker [The 29th State]

My name is Dave Baker. Im an Iowa writer, and I am exhausted by the legislatures disregard for our states history. As a former Republican, I was raised to believe conservatives protected what came before us. I dont see that here.I work to connect people to Iowas past, and that only works if they can access the records. The Iowa City Research Center is not interchangeable with Des Moines. There is not the space or infrastructure to absorb that collection without loss.This bill makes it harder to access our history, and in some cases it will ensure it is permanently lost. Materials will be separated, misfiled, damaged, and some will disappear.I was in the room when more than 150 people spoke against this and were ignored.This is a deliberate choice, and it is a bad one.Do not pass SF2293.

Attachment

04-30-2026

Larkin Christy [Kellogg Historical Society ]

Dave Baker brought this to my attention and I cannot believe that for the 2nd time this year the Iowa City Historical Center is under fire. Iowa heritage is some of the richest most interesting of any state in the union and to not prioritize that at the state level is a shame. I am also a proud city council member and I believe giving Iowans a history to be proud of is vital to our identity as the people of Iowa. I request that every representative in a role that determine the future of the Iowa City location, ensure that it can continue to be funded to the highest possibility.

04-30-2026

Matthew Krantz

I am writing to voice my wish to kill this bill. I find it incredibly ironic that at a time when Iowa history has been recently added to our school curriculum around the state that we also have things such as this to take away our access to it.